[2] Harvey was born Susan Jean Ashbrook in 1953 in Rochester, New York to a Baptist seminary professor.
Harvey's work focuses on the social aspects of Christianity, particularly issues affecting women.
According to Ross Shepard Kræmer, "Susan Harvey has almost single-handedly established an entire sub-field of studies on women and gender in the Syrian Orient".
[7] Harvey has also published widely on topics relating to asceticism, hagiography, hymnography, homiletics, and piety in late antique Christianity.
In recognition of this and other work, she was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Grinnell College in 2007.