Sandra M. Schneiders has been a member of the Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary since 1956. She received an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Detroit in 1967; an S.T.L. in Patristics from Institut Catholique, Paris in 1971; and an S.T.D. in scripture and spirituality from Gregorian University, Rome in 1975.

She is currently professor of New Testament and Spirituality at the Jesuit School of Theology and the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California. She has written numerous articles and several books, including: Selling All: Commitment, Consecrated Celibacy, and Community in Catholic Religious Life (2001); Finding the Treasure: Locating Catholic Religious Life in a New Ecclesial and Cultural Context (2000); With Oil in Their Lamps: Faith, Feminism, and the Future (2000); Written That You May Believe: Encountering Jesus in the Fourth Gospel (2003); and The Revelatory Text: Interpreting the New Testament as Sacred Scripture (1999).