The Rev. Elizabeth Ford Friend, Ph.D., is a Senior Lecturer in the Doctoral Programs at Virginia Theological Seminary.
Dr. Friend holds a Ph.D. in Christian Spirituality from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. Her areas of interest and research include explorations of contemplative practices, narratives of spiritual autobiography, models of spiritual discernment, and approaches to hermeneutics and method in theological research.
She has enjoyed teaching at the Washington Theological Union, Georgetown University, the Jesuit School of Theology of Santa Clara University, and San Francisco Theological Seminary.
A graduate of Davidson College (B.A.), Union Presbyterian Seminary (M.Div.), and the Institut Protestant de Théologie (Lic), Dr. Friend is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She has been active in pastoral ministry in suburban Philadelphia, the San Francisco Bay area, and Virginia. Dr. Friend is also delighted to serve as a spiritual director to seminary students and local clergy and as a writing coach and consultant in the Academic Resource Center.