Karen Kilby (born 1964) is an American lay Catholic theologian. She is currently the Bede Professor of Catholic Theology in the Department of Theology and Religion at Durham University.^[1]

Early life and education

Born in England and raised in Connecticut, Kilby graduated with a BA Summa Cum Laude in Mathematics and Religious Studies from Yale University in 1986.^[2] She also earned a MASt. in Mathematics (Part III of the Mathematical Tripos) from the University of Cambridge (1987) before completing her PhD in Theology at Yale University (1994), studying under George Lindbeck (author of the influential The Nature of Doctrine) and Kathryn Tanner (author of Christ the Key). Her thesis focused on the theology of the Catholic theologian Karl Rahner:^[3] "The Vorgriff auf esse: A study in the relation of philosophy to theology in the thought of Karl Rahner".^[4] Kilby is married to John Hunton, professor of Pure Mathematics at Durham University.^[5] They have three children.

Career

Between 1994 and 1996, Kilby was a Gifford Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of St Andrews.^[6] She taught at the University of Birmingham from 1998 to 2001 before joining the University of Nottingham in 2001 as a lecturer and was promoted to assistant professor and then professor in 2013. She served for 3.5 years as head of the department of Theology and Religious Studies. In January 2014, Kilby was appointed Bede Professor of Catholic Theology at Durham University,^[7] thus becoming the second occupant (and first woman) of ‘one of Britain’s most prestigious posts in Catholic academia’.^[8] She was President of the Catholic Theological Association of Great Britain between 2010 and 2012 and of the Society for the Study of Theology from 2017 to 2018.^[9][10]

Kilby is also an occasional contributor to The Times Literary Supplement,^[11] Commonweal (magazine),^[12][13][14] and The Tablet.^[15][16][17] She has been invited to give presentations to internationally established conferences, including the Thomistic Institute (Angelicum, Rome, in 2021),^[18] the Karl Barth Society of North America (Princeton University, 2019),^[19] and LEST XI, KU Leuven (2017).^[20] Kilby has also given university sermons at the University of St Andrews,^[21] the University of Oxford, and the University of Cambridge,^[22] and public lectures in Malta,^[23] Leeds, York, and London.

Projects

In the last decade, Kilby has conducted two funded research projects. The first was "Love and Suffering", conducted in partnership with the Sisters of the Congregation of La Retraite (2015–18).^[24] Her current project, co-led with Clare Carlisle (King's College London), is "Phenomenology of Theological: Modelling Enquiry and Poesis" (2022-2023). It is part of Widening Horizons in Philosophical Theology, an international initiative led by Prof. Judith Wolfe and funded by the Templeton Religion Trust.^[25]

Outreach

The Bede Professor of Catholic Theology is the first endowed chair of Catholic theology in a secular British university.^[26] The holder of the Bede Chair serves as theological adviser to the Bishop of Hexham and Newcastle. Kilby’s engagement has included work at the local diocesan and national levels.  

At the local level, this has included involvement in the Core Group for Diocesan Synod, work as theological consultant to Hexham and Newcastle’s Forward Together in Hope project, as well as speaking to groups of clergy, diocesan festivals, and in a variety of parishes around the diocese of Hexham and Newcastle.

At the national level, Kilby is a Trustee of CAFOD and member of its Theological Reference Group. She is also a member of the Theological Retreat Group for the Archbishop of Canterbury, and has served as a consultant to the Saint Vincent de Paul society. Her outreach has also included lectures to the conferences of Catholic University chaplains (2015), of Catholic Retreat Leaders/Spiritual Directors (2016), of Passionist priests and sisters (2019), and of Catholic Prison Chaplains (2021).

She has been involved in designing and directing a new online course for distance learning MA in Catholic theology at Durham University.^[27]

Theological contribution

Kilby’s theological contribution lies primarily within the discipline of systematic theology. She has written about the Trinity,^[28][29] with a noted critique of Social Trinitarianism.^[30].She is also known for her writings on two major Twentieth century Catholic theologians Karl Rahner and Hans Urs von Balthasar. More recently, she has contributed to pioneering theological reflection on suffering and evil in Christian theology. Kilby’s work raises key questions regarding the role of mystery in theology as well as the purpose and limits of theology as a discipline.^[31]

Works

References