Michael Plekon

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| name = Michael Plekon

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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1948|4|3|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Yonkers, New York

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| occupation = Professor, priest, theologian, sociologist

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| known_for = Religious traditions, theology, sociology, anthropology, philosophy

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| alma_mater = Rutgers University
Catholic University of America

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| workplaces = Baruch College/Weissman School of Arts and Sciences/City University of New York, Douglass College, Rutgers University

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File:Michael Plekon preaching-300.jpg

Michael Plekon (Yonkers born April 3, 1948){{cite web|url=http://academicworks.cuny.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1109&context=bb_pubs|title=Michael Plekon|publisher=CUNY AcademicWorks|date=February 2, 2017|accessdate=September 28, 2017}} is an American priest, professor, author, sociologist and theologian. He has published more than a dozen books, as well as hundreds of journal papers, book chapters and reviews on faith and holiness.{{cite web|url=https://berkleycenter.georgetown.edu/people/michael-plekon|title=Michael Plekon |publisher=Berkley Center|accessdate=September 28, 2017}}

His works include religious social history, social theory and its connections with theology, the works of Søren Kierkegaard, contemporary Eastern Orthodox theology and theologians of the Russian emigration and saints. Living Icons, (UNDP, 2002){{cite web|url=https://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2012/7-september/books-arts/book-reviews/on-a-spiritual-quest-in-today-s-america|title= On a spiritual quest in today's America |publisher=Church Times|accessdate=October 7, 2017}}{{cite journal|jstor=24397739|title= Reviewed Work: Saints As They Really Are: Voices of Holiness in Our Time by Michael Plekon }} was one look at persons of faith in the Eastern Church. His research and publications have continued to explore persons of faith, seeking identity and God in their spiritual journeys.{{cite web|url=http://www.catholic-sf.org/CSF-home/article/csf/2017/09/26/granddaughter-dorothy-day-would-be-marching-today|title=Granddaughter: Dorothy Day would be marching today|publisher=Catholic San Francisco|accessdate=October 1, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171005050707/http://www.catholic-sf.org/CSF-home/article/csf/2017/09/26/granddaughter-dorothy-day-would-be-marching-today|archive-date=2017-10-05|url-status=dead}} These volumes include Hidden Holiness (UNDP, 2009), Saints as They Really Are (UNDP, 2012), and The World as Sacrament (Liturgical Press, 2017) These studies examine persons of faith struggling for social justice and for ways of rediscovering holiness in ordinary life. He is especially interested in the encounter with God in the everyday.{{cite web|url=http://ressourcement.blogspot.com/2013/03/fr-michael-plekon.html|title= Fr. Michael Plekon |date= March 6, 2013 |publisher=La nouvelle théologie|accessdate=October 7, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://apreachersbookshelf.com/2017/08/29/uncommon-prayer-plekon/|title= Uncommon Prayer (Plekon) |publisher=A Preacher's Bookshelf|accessdate=October 7, 2017}}

Plekon's efforts to describe what holiness looks like in our time, the distinctive characteristics of women and men of faith, have been praised by colleagues.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.firstthings.com/article/2012/12/the-%20orthodox-renaissance|title=Eastern Orthodox Cacophony in America |magazine=The American Interest|accessdate=September 28, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.the-american-interest.com/2016/02/10/eastern-orthodox-cacophony-in-america/|title=The Orthodox Renaissance |date=February 10, 2016 |publisher=First Things|accessdate=September 28, 2017}} They see this work as an important "new hagiography" or writing about saints who are our contemporaries, like Dorothy Day, Mother Teresa, Thomas Merton or Daniel Berrigan.{{cite web|url=http://www.booksandculture.com/articles/2012/novdec/solus-christianus.html|title=Solus Christianus, Nullus Christianus |publisher=Books & Culture|accessdate=October 2, 2017}}{{cite magazine|url=https://www.christiancentury.org/reviews/2012-10/saints-they-really-are-michael-plekon|title=Saints As They Really Are, by Michael Plekon |magazine=The Christian Century|accessdate=October 2, 2017}}

Plekon has had a long career as an academic, theologian and clergy member. Since 1977, Plekon taught at Baruch College, first as an assistant professor, and eventually as a professor within the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences since 1998. He retired in 2017 and is an emeritus professor. In addition to his academic work, he has served as an associate priest at several parishes since being ordained in 1983. He has been a priest in both the Western and Eastern Churches, serving parishes alongside teaching, research and writing. He continues writing about his pastoral experiences and is examining the importance of community, not only for church but for meaning in one's life in The Church Has Left the Building (Cascade, 2017) and Community as Church, Church as Community (Cascade, 2021). This work also deals with our need, in a diverse and conflicted America, to encounter other cultures and religious traditions with respect, learning from them and becoming deeper persons of faith from such experiences. This was something he experienced in his own family's ecumenical sensitivity.{{cite web|url=http://www.baruch.cuny.edu/wsas/academics/anthropology/mplekon.htm|title=Michael Plekon biography|publisher=Baruch College|accessdate=September 28, 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://easternchristianbooks.blogspot.com/2011/07/authorial-interview-fr-michael-plekon.html|title=Authorial Interview: Fr. Michael Plekon|publisher=Eastern Christian Books|accessdate=September 28, 2017}}

Plekon's book, Uncommon Prayer: Prayer in Everyday Experience, was named by Spirituality and Practice as one of the best spiritual books of 2016 and was the Gold Winner of the 2016 Foreword INDIES book of the Year Award in the Adult Nonfiction, Religion category.{{cite web|url=http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/books/features/view/28328/the-best-spiritual-books-of-2016|title=2016 Winners, Best Spiritual Books |publisher=Spirituality and Practice|accessdate=September 28, 2017}}{{cite web|url=https://www.forewordreviews.com/awards/books/uncommon-prayer/|title=2016 Foreword Indies Winner |publisher=Foreword Reviews|accessdate=September 28, 2017}} His latest book Ministry Matters: Pastors, Their Life and Work Today (Cascade) was published in 2024.