Kishundra King

Bio

Kishundra D. King, PhD is a womanist pastoral and practical theologian committed to embodied spiritual care practices and contextual theological reflection and action. Her work invites critical methodological interpretations of lived experiences as it explores various relational aspects and intrapsychic responses to the world. Dr. King’s commitments stem from her experiences as a clinical psychotherapist focused on youth and families as well as her work as a registered yoga
teacher.

Dr. King’s research focuses on Womanist pastoral theology grounded in Black girlhood experiences towards a Womanish pastoral theology. Dr. King asserts the value of Black girl voices and regards their unique ways of knowing as a valuable and necessary source for epistemology. Her current research project, Black and Womanish, is funded by the Louisville Institute’s Project Grant for Researchers and centers Black girlhood experiences as sources for pastoral theological reflection. In this work, Dr. King utilizes a womanist mixed-methods approach to ethnography and asks: (1) what are the spiritual concerns for Black girls and (2) what can Black girls teach us about God and God’s activity in the world?

Currently, Dr. King serves on the Pastoral Psychology journal editorial board, the Association of Practical Theology’s executive committee, and the American Academy of Religion as Co-Chair of the Childhood & Religion Studies Unit and a Steering Committee Member of the Psychology, Culture, & Religion Unit’s Steering Committee. In June 2023, Dr. King joined the faculty of Iliff School of Theology as Assistant Professor of Pastoral & Spiritual Care and Director of the Master of Arts in Pastoral and Spiritual Care at Iliff School of Theology.

Dr. King’s representative courses are:

• Womanist Pastoral Theology & Care
• Understandings of the Self in Pastoral Theology
• Spiritual Care for Black Youth