Bio
Rev. Dr. Stephanie Rutt is a lifelong lover of the Mystery. In particular, she enjoys envisioning new programs and paradigms. For example, seeded in her doctoral dissertation, she conceived the Trilogy of Love which invites participants to become Lovers and enter into the Love, Sacred Sound, Ecstatic Movement, and Inner Spirit Journeys, to join with the Beloved, to create the conditions for moments of mystical unity with the Divine. She's a spiritual guide for many, an author, and a lover of dance in all forms. To that end, she has recently become a Silver Swan licensee to teach those 55+ ballet, a rediscovered love from years past.
Rev. Rutt earned the Doctor of Ministry degree in 2017 from Andover Newton Theological School (now a part of Yale Divinity School) where she graduated with honors and was inducted into the Jonathan Edwards Society. Her dissertation, “The Call of the Mourning Dove: How Sacred Sound Awakens Mystical Unity,” was awarded the Frederick Buechner Prize for Excellence in Writing. Dr. S. Mark Heim, nationally recognized theologian, contributed the Foreword. She is also the author of five other books listed on the MY WORK page and you can explore in depth on the "Books" link under the AUTHOR page.
In 2009, she founded the Tree of Life Interfaith Seminary, a two-year program focused on the integration of prayer, meditation and spiritual practices from the world’s major faith traditions. It was the first of its kind in the country. Rev. Rutt had been studying and experiencing spiritual practices across faith traditions for a number of years and wanted to share with others what she had discovered in the silence following the practices: Many are the ways we pray to one God. She wanted participants to not just learn "about" God but to actually "experience" the Mystery for themselves. In addition, her twenty–six module curricula, The Path of Crow: Journey to Your Inner Treasure, invited seminarians on the ultimate treasure hunt to discover their divine purpose and to offer their unique gifts in service to the greater good. She also created an optional third year, the Spiritual Mentoring Certificate Program, which trained seminarians, as well as health care professionals, in cultivating pastoral mentoring skills. In 2011, The Tree of Life Interfaith Temple was formed, initially to offer legal ordination to seminary graduates, but over the years has flourished into its own spiritual community. In 2018, she transferred the Tree of Life Interfaith Seminary and the Spiritual Mentoring Certificate Programs over to the Tree of Life Interfaith Temple, which has since moved forward under new leadership and new vision.
Rev. Rutt was ordained an Interfaith Minister by the New Seminary in New York City in 2005. In the 1980s and 90s, she worked as a mental health counselor and taught for many years on the college level in the behavioral sciences including eight years with the University of New Hampshire. During that time period, she also earned certifications in various yoga and meditation disciplines. In the late 90s, she opened the Tree of Life Yoga Studio which later became the Tree of Life School for Sacred Living, LLC, under which she offers all of her programs, classes, workshops and mentoring services.
Rev. Rutt posts regularly on her blog, “Become a Force for Good: Rev. Stephanie’s Blog,” WordPress.com, and publishes Guest Commentaries and Opinion pieces in local newsprint. Please see "Newsprint & Journal" link under the AUTHOR page for a complete listing. Also, over the years, she has created numerous sacred studies programs. Just a sampling is listed on the MY WORK page. She has lectured nationally on the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic and on Mantra Prayer, including at the Haden Institute in North Carolina, and at international conferences of World AWAKE, Inc., formally the International Organization for Interfaith Ministers.
As an Interfaith Minister, Rev. Rutt has served her local interfaith council through the years visioning initiatives and programs. A sampling: The 2025 "Lights On! Applying the Golden Rule to Bridge Religious and Political Divides" hosted faith leaders from various traditions to speak at the Milford Town Hall Auditorium. In 2016 and 2017, she led local faith communities in right action through the “Under One Sky Interfaith Peace Walk” which offered a visual demonstration of how people from across faith traditions could stand and walk together in unity and solidarity while, simultaneously, forging a common goal for peace. In 2005-2006, she sponsored the “To Hear How Others Pray” series which invited lay people and faith leaders of different faiths to share personal experiences of prayer as a way of highlighting all peoples’ common humanity while respecting religious difference.
In 2025, Rev. Rutt published her memoir, Dancing on the Moon: The Non-Ordinary Life I Never Saw Coming. You can read an excerpt on the "Books" link under the AUTHOR page. Today, she is just completing her first novel, The Marigold Society, a dystopian story of how one woman escapes the unquestioning obedience of a Christian Nationalist regime and how that personal transformation becomes the catalyst for the liberation of others.
Rev. Dr. Stephanie Rutt is a lifelong lover of the Mystery. In particular, she enjoys envisioning new programs and paradigms. For example, seeded in her doctoral dissertation, she conceived the Trilogy of Love which invites participants to become Lovers and enter into the Love, Sacred Sound, Ecstatic Movement, and Inner Spirit Journeys, to join with the Beloved, to create the conditions for moments of mystical unity with the Divine. She's a spiritual guide for many, an author, and a lover of dance in all forms. To that end, she has recently become a Silver Swan licensee to teach those 55+ ballet, a rediscovered love from years past.
Rev. Rutt earned the Doctor of Ministry degree in 2017 from Andover Newton Theological School (now a part of Yale Divinity School) where she graduated with honors and was inducted into the Jonathan Edwards Society. Her dissertation, “The Call of the Mourning Dove: How Sacred Sound Awakens Mystical Unity,” was awarded the Frederick Buechner Prize for Excellence in Writing. Dr. S. Mark Heim, nationally recognized theologian, contributed the Foreword. She is also the author of five other books listed on the MY WORK page and you can explore in depth on the "Books" link under the AUTHOR page.
In 2009, she founded the Tree of Life Interfaith Seminary, a two-year program focused on the integration of prayer, meditation and spiritual practices from the world’s major faith traditions. It was the first of its kind in the country. Rev. Rutt had been studying and experiencing spiritual practices across faith traditions for a number of years and wanted to share with others what she had discovered in the silence following the practices: Many are the ways we pray to one God. She wanted participants to not just learn "about" God but to actually "experience" the Mystery for themselves. In addition, her twenty–six module curricula, The Path of Crow: Journey to Your Inner Treasure, invited seminarians on the ultimate treasure hunt to discover their divine purpose and to offer their unique gifts in service to the greater good. She also created an optional third year, the Spiritual Mentoring Certificate Program, which trained seminarians, as well as health care professionals, in cultivating pastoral mentoring skills. In 2011, The Tree of Life Interfaith Temple was formed, initially to offer legal ordination to seminary graduates, but over the years has flourished into its own spiritual community. In 2018, she transferred the Tree of Life Interfaith Seminary and the Spiritual Mentoring Certificate Programs over to the Tree of Life Interfaith Temple, which has since moved forward under new leadership and new vision.
Rev. Rutt was ordained an Interfaith Minister by the New Seminary in New York City in 2005. In the 1980s and 90s, she worked as a mental health counselor and taught for many years on the college level in the behavioral sciences including eight years with the University of New Hampshire. During that time period, she also earned certifications in various yoga and meditation disciplines. In the late 90s, she opened the Tree of Life Yoga Studio which later became the Tree of Life School for Sacred Living, LLC, under which she offers all of her programs, classes, workshops and mentoring services.
Rev. Rutt posts regularly on her blog, “Become a Force for Good: Rev. Stephanie’s Blog,” WordPress.com, and publishes Guest Commentaries and Opinion pieces in local newsprint. Please see "Newsprint & Journal" link under the AUTHOR page for a complete listing. Also, over the years, she has created numerous sacred studies programs. Just a sampling is listed on the MY WORK page. She has lectured nationally on the Lord's Prayer in Aramaic and on Mantra Prayer, including at the Haden Institute in North Carolina, and at international conferences of World AWAKE, Inc., formally the International Organization for Interfaith Ministers.
As an Interfaith Minister, Rev. Rutt has served her local interfaith council through the years visioning initiatives and programs. A sampling: The 2025 "Lights On! Applying the Golden Rule to Bridge Religious and Political Divides" hosted faith leaders from various traditions to speak at the Milford Town Hall Auditorium. In 2016 and 2017, she led local faith communities in right action through the “Under One Sky Interfaith Peace Walk” which offered a visual demonstration of how people from across faith traditions could stand and walk together in unity and solidarity while, simultaneously, forging a common goal for peace. In 2005-2006, she sponsored the “To Hear How Others Pray” series which invited lay people and faith leaders of different faiths to share personal experiences of prayer as a way of highlighting all peoples’ common humanity while respecting religious difference.
In 2025, Rev. Rutt published her memoir, Dancing on the Moon: The Non-Ordinary Life I Never Saw Coming. You can read an excerpt on the "Books" link under the AUTHOR page. Today, she is just completing her first novel, The Marigold Society, a dystopian story of how one woman escapes the unquestioning obedience of a Christian Nationalist regime and how that personal transformation becomes the catalyst for the liberation of others.