Susan M. "Elli" Elliott is a writer, lecturer, workshop leader, and environmental activist based in Red Lodge, Montana. She began her doctoral work after years in urban ministry in Chicago where she served a local church, directed human rights organizations, worked in grassroots economic development, and organized direct actions on local and international justice issues.

Her scholarly work focuses on the pagan and Roman Imperial backgrounds of early Christianity, including Greco-Roman mystery cults—particularly the cult of Cybele—and central Anatolian popular religiosity. Her current book, Family Empires, Roman and Christian, is based on a lecture series offered in local churches and uses George Lakoff's work on the family metaphor in political discussion to understand early Christian family language in the context of the Roman Empire. Her first book, Cutting Too Close for Comfort, explores Paul's letter to the Galatians and the relation of the circumcision controversy to the practice of ritual self-castration.

See more about her at the Westar website.

See her book, Family Empires, reviewed on Goodreads.