Craig Alan Satterlee is bishop of the North/West Lower Michigan Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. He was the 2019 John S. Marten Faculty Fellow in Homiletics and Visiting Associate Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame. Craig served as the Axel Jacob and Gerda Maria (Swanson) Carlson Professor of Homiletics at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, dean of the ACTS Doctor of Ministry in Preaching program, and adjunct professor in the Department of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.
Ordained in 1987, Bishop Satterlee served congregations in Upstate New York and Michigan before teaching at LSTC. While a seminary professor, Bishop Satterlee served as interim or consulting pastor in Chicago area congregations. He is known for regularly leading continuing education events throughout the church.
Satterlee is the author of nine books and frequently contributes to scholarly and ecclesiastical journals. His scholarly interests include the relationship of preaching to areas of congregational life and mission, including liturgy, spirituality, stewardship, mission, and leadership. He also studies patristic preaching, most notably that of Ambrose of Milan, and the worship of the early church.
As a scholar, Satterlee is described as belonging "to the relatively small group of working homileticians whose work can justifiably be said to have changed the agenda of the discipline." His books are "superb examples of practical theology, remaining fully theological while engaging on-the-ground realities in the life of the church."
Satterlee is past president of the North American Academy of Liturgy and a member of Societas Liturgica, Societas Homiletica, and the Academy of Homiletics.
As a person who is legally blind, Satterlee has a passion for ministry with persons with disabilities and a unique perspective on the Christian faith, church, and world.
Craig A. Satterlee is professor of homiletics at the Lutheran School of Theology in Chicago. He was elected in 2013 to be bishop of the North/West Lower Michigan Synod of the ELCA.
