Kim E. Power is an Australian academic, feminist theologian and church historian, who was a co-founder of the Golding Centre for Women's History, Theology and Spirituality at the

Australian Catholic University Australian Catholic University (ACU) is a public university in Australia. It has seven Australian campuses and also maintains a campus in Rome. History Australian Catholic University was opened on 1 January 1991 following the amalgamatio ...

Education

Kim Power completed a BA at the University of Melbourne and a

BTheol The Bachelor of Theology degree (BTh, ThB, or BTheol) is a three- to five-year undergraduate degree in theological disciplines and is typically pursued by those seeking ordination for ministry in a church, denomination, or parachurch organization. ...

and MTheol at the Melbourne College of Divinity (now University of Divinity). She went on to complete a

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

at La Trobe University in the School of Archaeology and Historical Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Her master's thesis, completed in 1990 was titled, "Augustine's theology of women: influence and implications". This was later published as ''Veiled Desire: Augustine on Women'' in 1996. One reviewer of this book summarised Power's contribution, saying "Her service is to provide insight in a historically responsible way into how the Augustinian heritage still pervades Christian discussions of women." Power's doctoral thesis, completed in 1997, was titled, ''The Secret Garden: the Meaning and Function of the ''hortus conclusus'' in Ambrose of Milan's Homilies on Virginity''.

Career

Power was a senior

Fulbright scholar The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

in residence at

Notre Dame of Maryland University Notre Dame of Maryland University is a private Catholic university in Baltimore, Maryland. NDMU offers certificate, undergraduate, and graduate programs for women and men. History The Roman Catholic academic/educational religious congregation o ...

from 1997 to 1998. During her academic career, Power's research focussed on gender, culture and religion and how that impacted the role of women in society. Her education had provided her with a strong background in

patristics Patristics or patrology is the study of the early Christian writers who are designated Church Fathers. The names derive from the combined forms of Latin ''pater'' and Greek ''patḗr'' (father). The period is generally considered to run from ...

, having studied several of the early

Church Fathers The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were ancient and influential Christian theologians and writers who established the intellectual and doctrinal foundations of Christianity. The historical per ...

. Power was one of the co-founders of the Golding Centre for Women's History, Theology and Spirituality, which was situated within the School of Theology at the

(ACU), where she was based at the Melbourne campus. The other co-founders included Sophie McGrath and

Rosa MacGinley Mary Rose MacGinley pbvm (1931 – November 11, 2018) was an Australian Presentation sister, academic and historian of women religious. She was the co-founder of the Golding Centre for Women’s History, Theology and Spirituality at the Austral ...

. This enabled the centre to have team members across multiple ACU campuses in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. The Golding Centre was named in honour of three Australian Catholic activists,

Annie Annie may refer to: People and fictional characters * Annie (given name), a given name and a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Annie (actress) (born 1975), Indian actress * Annie (singer) (born 1977), Norwegian singer The ...

and

Belle Golding Isabella Theresa "Belle" Golding (25 November 1864 – 11 December 1940) was an Australian feminist, suffragist and labour activist. Belle Golding was born at Tambaroora, Wellington County, New South Wales to Joseph Golding (died 1890), a gold ...

and their married sister Kate Dwyer. An early major research project of the Golding Centre was to explore "The Catholic Community and Women's Suffrage in Australia", a project that also included Katharine Massam as a team member. Through the Golding Centre seven doctoral dissertations were successfully supervised. The centre held an annual colloquium and published a regular newsletter. In 1997 Power delivered the

Charles Strong Charles Strong (26 September 1844 – 12 February 1942) was a Scottish-born Australian preacher and first minister of the Australian Church. Early life Strong was the third son of the Rev. David Strong and Margaret Paterson, ''née'' Roxburgh ...

Lecture, an annual lecture of the Charles Strong Trust by a notable scholar in religious studies or a related field. In 2001 the Australian Association for the Study of Religion (AASR) Women's Caucus invited Power to give the annual Penny Magee Memorial Lecture. The title of her talk was, "

Luce Irigaray Luce Irigaray (born 3 May 1930) is a Belgian-born French feminist, philosopher, linguist, psycholinguist, psychoanalyst, and cultural theorist who examined the uses and misuses of language in relation to women. Irigaray's first and most well know ...

and the Emergence of a Divine Horizon for Women". Power has been interviewed several times for radio programs presented by the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) Radio National.

Personal life

After her retirement, Power became president of the Sunflower Foundation, a

non government organisation A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

(NGO) that she founded with her husband, which seeks to empower girls in developing countries through education.

Select publications

Books

* Power, Kim. ''Veiled Desire: Augustine on Women''. New York: Continuum, 1996. https://worldcat.org/oclc/35782085 * Power, Kim. ''Heavenly Bodies?: The Ambiguity of the Body in Religious Discourse and Practice''. Adelaide, S. Aust.: Charles Strong Memorial Trust, 1998. https://worldcat.org/oclc/39291929 * Hogan, Carol, Kim Power, Anne F Elvey and

Claire Renkin Claire Renkin is an Australian art historian and academic who has had a distinguished career as a scholar specialising in the areas of art history and spirituality. Education Renkin studied English and a little art history at university ...

, eds. ''Reinterpreting the Eucharist: Explorations in Feminist Theology and Ethics''. Gender, Theology, and Spirituality. London: Routledge, 2014. https://worldcat.org/oclc/893333348

Book chapters

* Power, Kim. "From Ecclesiology to Mariology: Patristic Traces and Innovation in the Speculum Virginum", In ''Listen, Daughter: the Speculum Virginum and the Formation of Religious Women in the Middle Ages'', edited by Constant J. Mews. New York: Palgrave, 2001. p.85-110.

Journal articles

* Power, Kim. "Embodiment and Complementarity." '' Women-Church: An Australian Journal of Feminist Studies in Religion'' no. 35 (2004): 24–30. https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/ielapa.20041116
Digitised version of no. 35 (2004) available on JSTOR Open Community CollectionsUniversity of Divinity Digital Collections
  Mannix Library.

References

External links

Golding Centre for Women's History, Theology and Spirituality
{{DEFAULTSORT:Power, Kim Living people 20th-century births Academic staff of the Australian Catholic University Australian women academics Australian women historians Australian feminist writers La Trobe University alumni University of Divinity alumni Year of birth missing (living people)