Kimberly Vrudny joined the Theology Department at the University of St. Thomas in 2003, after teaching as an adjunct professor in 2001 and as a visiting professor in 2002-2003. She completed her Ph.D. in 2001 from Luther Seminary with the dissertation: "Scribes, Corpses, and Friars: Lay Devotion to the Genetrix, Mediatrix, and Redemptrix Through Mendicant Didactic Use of the Speculum humanae salvationis in Late Medieval Europe." Dr. Vrudny currently serves as project director for the University's HIV/AIDS initiatives through the office of service learning. Her primary responsibility is teaching undergraduate theology; she also teaches occasionally in the Aquinas Scholars Honors program, and for the M.A.T. program through the St. Paul Seminary.


Education

Ph.D. (2001), Luther Seminary, Historical Theology (with coursework from Cambridge University, England). Thesis: "Scribes, Corpses, and Friars: Lay Devotion to the Genetrix, Mediatrix, and Redemptrix Through Mendicant Didactic Use of the Speculum humanae salvationis in Late Medieval Europe." I presented arguments for considering Nicola da Milano as author of the Speculum humanae salvationis after studying medieval copies of the Speculum humanae salvationis in: Oxford (The Bodleian Library), London (The British Museum), Cambridge (The Fitzwilliam Museum), New York (The Morgan Library), Chicago (The Newberry Library). Director: James Kittelson, Ph.D.

M.A. (1995), United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, Theology and the Arts. Thesis: "The Medieval Treatment of the Queen: The Austrian Monastic Quest for the Biblical, Allegorical, and Historical Esther." I surveyed copies of the Speculum humanae salvationis in Austrian collections, and examined medieval biblical interpretation of Esther in texts and images. Director: Wilson Yates, Ph.D.

B.A. (1992), Gustavus Adolphus College, magna cum laude. Religion and Art History Majors; Studio Art Minor. Semester abroad at the University of Haifa, Israel. Director: Linnea Wren, Ph.D.


Areas of Expertise
Theology and Public Health (HIV/AIDS)
Theological Aesthetics
Theology and the Arts


Courses Taught

THEO 101	Introduction to the Christian Theological Tradition
THEO 200	Christian Belief: Ancient and Contemporary
THEO 397	Theology of Beauty (Undergraduate)
THEO 800	Theology of Beauty (Graduate)
THEO 397	Theology and Art
THEO 397	AIDS, Apartheid, and the Arts of Resistance (in Cape Town, South Africa)
IDSC 480	Community Action and Social Change
IDSC 480	Truth, Goodness, and Beauty: Philosophical and Theological Perspectives

Awards and Grants

2006	Outstanding Faculty Award in Service Learning
2006	Wabash Center Grant, for "Best Practices in Teaching Theology and the Arts"
2006	Minnesota Campus Compact Grant, for "The Changing Faces of Minnesota: HIV/AIDS"

Selected Publications

BOOKS

Friars, Scribes, and Corpses: A Medieval Confraternal Reading of the Mirror of Human Salvation (Speculum humanae salvationis). Leuven: Peeters, forthcoming.

Visual Theology: Forming and Transforming the Community Through the Arts, co-edited with Robin M. Jensen. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, forthcoming.

Arts, Theology, and the Church: New Intersections, co-edited with Wilson Yates. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2005.


ARTICLES

“Deforming and Reforming Beauty: Disappearance and Presence in the Theo-Political Imagination of Ricardo Cinalli.” In Robin M. Jensen and Kimberly Vrudny, eds., Visual Theology: Forming and Transforming the Community Through the Arts. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, forthcoming.

“Profound Learning, Theological Aesthetics, and AIDS: Assessing the Effectiveness of Service-Based Pedagogies,” in David C. Robinson (ed.), God's Grandeur: The Arts and Imagination in Theology. Maryknoll: Orbis, 2007.

“Critical Generosity: The Significance of Mary’s Presentation to the Temple for Medieval Women Surviving Plague,” in The Subjective Eye: Essays in Culture, Religion, and Gender in Honor of Margaret R. Miles,  Richard Valantasis, Janet Carlson, Deborah Haynes and James Smith, III, eds., Princeton Theological Monograph Series. Eugene: Pickwick Publications, 2006.

“Spirit Standing Still: Documenting Beauty in Photography,” in Arts, Theology, and the Church: New Intersections, Kimberly Vrudny and Wilson Yates, eds. Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2005.

“Medieval Fascination with the Queen: Esther as Queen of Heaven and Host of the Messianic Banquet,” in ARTS: The Arts in Religious and Theological Studies, 11/2 (1999) 36-43.

"Indictment of Human Cruelty: Jerome Witkin's Image of A Jesus for Our Time" in ARTS: The Arts in Religious and Theological Studies, 6/3 (1994) 14-19.


Professional Memberships

AAR	American Academy of Religion
SARTS	Society for the Arts in Religious and Theological Studies
ACE	Art and Christianity Enquiry
CTS	College Theology Society