Sharon Gallagher, MTS

Sharon Gallagher (1946–2025) was an NCB founding board member, Professor of Christianity and the Media, and Associate Director (1994-2016). In addition to media studies, Sharon often taught on women’s issues, and on Celtic spirituality. She received her BA from Westmont College in Santa Barbara and her MTS from the Franciscan School of Theology in Berkeley. She wrote Finding Faith: Life-Changing Encounters with Christ, which explores “the mystery and miracle of conversion” through the stories of mid-life converts. She was also editor of Where Faith Meets Culture: A Radix Magazine Anthology.

Sharon was deeply involved in the Christian World Liberation Front and other Christian counter-culture developments in Berkeley. In 1970, she, David Gill and others started a Christian “street newspaper” called Right On! which became Radix Magazine in 1976, and for which Sharon was the editor and film critic for many years. She also interviewed many cultural icons, including Mother Teresa, Garrison Keillor, Wendell Berry, Anne Lamott, and Madeleine L’ Engle.

Sharon was the film and arts editor for Sojourners Magazine and her “Mars Hill” media reviews column ran in Eternity magazine. She contributed essays to the Dictionary of Practical Christianity and the Encyclopedia of Christian Ethics, and chapters to Our Struggle to Serve, What They Did Right, and The Best Preaching on Earth. Sharon also taught at Regent College and Ontario Theological Seminary and gave chapel talks and lectures at many colleges and seminaries, including Fuller and Gordon-Conwell. She was also a founding board member of Evangelicals for Social Action (now Christians for Social Action).

The legacy of Sharon’s courage, leadership, scholarship, cultural engagement, imagination, and tireless work continues at NCB, especially now with Radix Magazine as NCB’s official publication. She is greatly missed!