Michael Anderson

Michael Anderson is a PhD candidate in the Theological and Philosophical Studies in Religion (TPSR) area at Drew. His primary research interest lies in the intersection between philosophy and theology, especially in relation to concerns of intimacy, love, and desire. His dissertation examines the development of the concept of friendship as it emerged in Greek and Roman antiquity until contemporary times. This project presently imagines what it might mean to think of friendship as a kind of “everyday mysticism” shared between at least two people. This practice – in its phenomenological and existential expression – is, what he thinks, a mutual attempt at god-making, which is to say, a queer practice of freedom. Beyond his work on friendship, Michael is concerned with questions of identity and belonging.