At WIT we are happy to announce that we have six new regular contributors joining the blog! We received many applications from women around the world doing theology in exciting ways but unfortunately could not accept everyone at this time. Those who were not accepted did receive invitations to submit guest posts whenever they wish. If you are interested in contributing to WIT, please see our information about guest posts and follow the blog for notifications for future calls for regular contributors.
Thus, starting this month, we will be adding the following new contributors: Amelia Han, Christa Smith-Kingston, Cressida Ryan, Kiah Wakefield, Kristine Whaley, and Meagan Kim.
Join the rest of us at WIT in welcoming these new contributors to the blog!
Amelia Han recently received her Master of Theology from Lund University in Sweden after completing three years of ThM studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. Her master’s thesis, “Priestly Sanctity by Design in Leviticus 21: Discursive Constructions of Gender, Class, and Impurity,” contributes to the study of the interpretive mediation of biblical law in contemporary debates on power and human dignity. It demonstrates that the biblical legal discourse, represented by four textual witnesses: LXX, DSS, MT, and NRSVUE, encodes hierarchies of sanctity status and exerts control over female sexuality as instruments of priestly authority and centralization of the priesthood. Within this framework, she illustrates how these witnesses present nuanced textual divergences, each reflecting distinct emphases and ideological interests. Amelia also holds a BFA in advertising design from Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles and has worked as a pharmaceutical marketing manager. A cosmopolite, she has lived in five countries across four continents and feels at home in multiple places around the world, thus, she is familiar with various Christian denominations. Currently residing in Sweden, she serves as a ministrant (altar assistant) and gudstjänstsvärd (service host) in the Church of Sweden. Her interests include ecumenical dialogue, interfaith relations in secular society, postmodern formation of public theology, human rights and cultural memory, and the role of religion in political discourse. She enjoys cooking, Swedish summer nights, cozy winters with scented candles, and photographing nature.
Christa Smith-Kingston has a Doctorate of Transformational Leadership from Bakke Graduate University, focusing on practical theology. Her dissertation was on the discipleship of artists as transformational leaders in post-Christian francophone Quebec. She’s born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, with French and English as her first two languages. She’s the director of a nonprofit in downtown Montreal called Innovation Youth, a ministry of Christian Direction. She practices her theology through urban agriculture, food justice, child and youth empowerment. She teaches a course in the masters of practical theology of Presbyterian College of McGill University on the book of Amos and Justice in the City. She loves taking students to the various garden sites of Innovation Youth, teaching on climate resiliency as practical theology, gardens as teachers, the public-private divide of space, and rest. In her free time, she loves to garden at home on her balconies and in the community garden with her husband. She’s been a dancer for over 25 years, in jazz-ballet, contemporary and ballet. She enjoys taking classes at the studio down the street from her apartment, a ballet studio that creates wholesome space for all bodies, all genders, all levels. She loves to cook, loves brunch with her sisters, and enjoys sewing and fashion. Her favorite seed is the nasturtium, because it looks like a tiny brain.
Cressida Ryan is a Classicist by background, with a PhD in the reception of Sophocles in eighteenth-century England and France. She is a disability advisor at the University of Oxford, and supernumerary fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford, having previously studied at the universities of Cambridge, Nottingham, and Buckingham. She has taught New Testament Greek at Nottingham, Oxford, and for the Catholic Church, and now also researches the New Testament. Catholic by background, Cressida maintains an ecumenical approach to Christianity. She has a book on Luther’s Latin translation of the New Testament in preparation for Amsterdam University Press, which forms part of an academic interest in translation, pedagogy, and theology. She is interested in the role of women in the Church, and disability theology, especially with reference to neurodivergence. She has a particular interest in the Letter to the Hebrews, on which she hopes to publish a commentary, and 1-3 John and Luke, for which she is designing new multimodal workbooks. Beyond theology and education, Cressida is a keen singer, cadet officer, baker, paddlesports enthusiast, and snooker obsessive.
Kiah Wakefield is a mental health professional passionate about bridging the gap between mental health and faith communities. She has a masters in pastoral counseling from Ohio Christian University and wrote her thesis on destigmatizing mental health issues in the church. She is interested in work that sits at the intersection of the soul and psyche. She enjoys exploring how spiritual formation, sacred texts, and theological frameworks can inform and enrich mental health practices. Her counseling approach is rooted in a holistic view—body, mind, and spirit—and she is particularly drawn to the ways spiritual practices can serve as tools for healing, resilience, and meaning-making. Her academic interests include trauma and theology, spiritual development across the lifespan, moral injury, biblical counseling, contemplative psychology, and the theology of suffering and hope. When she’s not writing or sitting with clients, Kiah enjoys spending time with family, drinking tea, reading, hiking, and traveling. She currently lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and two children.
Kristine M Whaley earned her PhD in Literature and Theology from the University of Glasgow, where she worked specifically on understanding the doctrine of the imago Dei through Jean Rhys’ literature dealing with trauma, grief, and marginalization. Prior to her doctoral work, she earned her MA in Systematic Theology from Denver Seminary and then took graduate courses in literature at the University of Northern Colorado. She now teaches World Religions and humanities courses at St Petersburg College in Florida. Kristine continues to work in the interdisciplinary field of literature and theology and occasionally ventures into theopoetics as well. While Rhys’ literature was focused on economically marginalized groups, as well as women experiencing many types of abuse, Kristine’s current research tries to focus on redemptive and restorative agency for marginalized, traumatized, and/or oppressed peoples. In all her work, she is committed to listening to diverse voices and allowing for grace in differing experiences. Her book, Wounded Images: Revisioning the Imago Dei Through Reading Jean Rhys’ Interwar Novels (2024) is a launching point for the further work she is doing in looking at ways we can see empowerment from God after trauma. Her work teaching world religions also allows her to work in understanding how Christians can practice an authentic and thoughtful faith in a multi-faith world, including ways Christianity can be better understood by global theology. In her spare time, Kristine reads too many romance novels, watches a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and spends time with her dog, Penny. In the fall, she can usually be found cheering on her home state’s Denver Broncos.
Meagan Kim is eleven months away from graduating with her Master of Divinity from Wartburg Theological Seminary—though who’s counting (she is!)?! She entered seminary planning to be a chaplain and stay far, far away from church work… and then God, as God does, interrupted. Somewhere between Hebrew flashcards and field work, Meagan realized she was called to the pulpit—to preach a liberating word and help folks reimagine Scripture through a lens of love. Because yes, the Bible is holy—and it’s long overdue for a love-centered reimagining. She’ll be ordained in the ELCA, but her heart resonates with non-creedal, congregational spaces like the UCC. Her spiritual background is gloriously tangled: Episcopalians, Pentecostals, Christian Science, yoga, ashrams, kundalini meditation, and speaking in tongues all have chapters. Meagan holds a BA in African American Studies and Communication & Culture from Indiana University, is trained as a goldsmith, and has paralegal and HR certifications from Emory and Villanova. She lived many lives before. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and two young children, raising them on love, ocean breezes, liberation theology, and excellent snacks.
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