Don E. Saliers is Wm. R. Cannon Professor of Theology and Worship, Emeritus, at Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, and was recently named Theologian-in-Residence. A graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, Yale Divinity School, with doctoral work at Cambridge and Yale Universities, Don served as President of the Society for the Study of Christian Spirituality, and the North American Academy of Liturgy. Before joining Emory University, he taught at Yale Divinity School and has taught in the summer programs at St. John’s University (Collegeville, MN)--where he is an oblate of Saint John’s Abbey-- at Notre Dame, Boston College, Vancouver School of Theology, and more recently at Boston University School of Theology and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music.
For many years he directed the Sacred Music Program at Emory, and has been organist/choirmaster at Cannon Chapel for 35 years. Among his published books are Filled With Light ( 2008), Music and Theology (2007), Sounding Glory: Hymns for the Church Year (2006), A Song to Sing, A Life to Live (2005) with his daughter Emily of the Indigo Girls, Worship and Spirituality (1996), Worship Come to Its Senses (1996), Worship As Theology: Foretaste of Glory Divine (1994), and The Soul in Paraphrase: Prayer and the Religious Affections (1991). He has published more than 150 articles, essays, chapters in books and book reviews. Currently he is working on a theological commentary on the Psalms.
Don served United Methodist churches in rural Ohio and the inner city of New Haven, Connecticut. He has given numerous named lectures across the United States on matters of worship, spirituality and music, and has been involved in the development of United Methodist worship resources for forty years. He has been an editor of Worship, Weavings, and YISM on-line journals. In addition to being an active composer, performing regularly with the Emory Chamber Players in Atlanta, he continues to teach, lecture and lead retreats