Kim E. Power

Address 11/659 Victoria St
Abbotsford Vic 3067
Australia
Telephone (61 3) 9421 1730
Fax (61 3) 9421 1731
E Mail K.Power@latrobe.edu.au

Academic Qualifications

• Ph. D. (Religious Studies/History, La Trobe University]. Thesis Title: The secret garden: the meaning and function of the hortus conclusus in Ambrose of Milan's homilies on virginity.
• 1991 M. Theol. (Melbourne College of Divinity). Thesis Title: Augustine's theology of woman: influences and implications.
• 1985 B. Theol. (Yarra Theological Union).
• 1963 B. A. (University of Melbourne).

Awards and honours

• 1997-8 Fulbright Scholar in residence at Notre Dame College of Maryland. Sponsored by Australian Catholic University and Notre Dame College of Maryland.
• 1994 La Trobe University Grant-in-aid for overseas research in Semester 1.
• 4 Australian Post-Graduate Research Award for Doctoral studies at La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria.
• 1991 Charles Joseph La Trobe Design for Living Award - Citation for Certificate of Merit in the Promotion of Ideas Category, for Speaking of housing . . . A report to the Minister for the Department of Planning and Housing. Joint author with Linda Barclay, Llywellan Johns and Pauline Kennedy.
• 1984 The Presidents' Prize: Yarra Theological Union. Awarded to the top student of the graduating class.
• 1959 Commonwealth Scholarship for Bachelor of Arts Degree, University of Melbourne, 1959-1961.

Invited lectures

• Virgina Geiger Memorial Lecture on Ethics and Culture: Ethics after the Death of God (May 12th).
• 1997 Junior Charles Strong Memorial Lecturer: Heavenly Bodies? The Ambiguity of the Body in Religious Discourse and Practice (July).
• 1996 Keynote Speaker, Ordination of Catholic Women Conference, The Bishop, the Bride and Ordinatio sacerdotalis.

Additional professional development 1978-1998

• 1998 “The animal: I am:” Seminar with Jacques Derrida, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD.
• 1997 Teaching Early European Women, University of Maryland, College Park.
• 1992-3 Language and reading courses in German and Italian. LaTrobe Language Centre, LaTrobe University, Bundoora 3083, Victoria, Australia.

Experience 1986-1999

• Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of History, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3083, Australia.
• Sessional tutor and lecturer, Department of History, LaTrobe University. Semester 1: H2/3: Jesus: Fact or Fiction; Semester 2: H2/3: Antiquity, Gender and Religion
• Part-time Research Associate (.2), Monash University, Clayton, Australia.
• 1997-1998 Fulbright Scholar-in-residence at Notre Dame of Maryland. Undergraduate courses developed and taught:
  Fall 97: D/CPhl403: Topics in Feminist Philosophy. The Philosophy of Women and Religion in the Medieval Era.
  Winterim 98: WPHL402: Great Philosophical Figures: Saint Augustine
  Spring 98: D/CRSt401: Feminist Theology: Contemporary Issues and Perspectives.
• Ecumenical Institute, St. Mary’s Seminary Occasional lecture, “Medieval Women,” for the Graduate course in Medieval Studies, Fall, 1997.
• Renaissance Institute Man, Woman and God(s) 6-week course, Spring 1998.
• Mt St. Agnes Theological Center Discussion Group on Veiled Desire: Augustine on Women 6 week program, 1998.
• 1991-1997 Full time doctoral candidate in Religious Studies/History at La Trobe University, Bundoora 3083, Australia.
• 1989-1994 Guest lecturer at various universities: (1994) Lecturer, La Trobe University Language Centre: Summer school, Latin 1; (1993) Tutor, La Trobe University. Semester 1, Latin IA and Monash University, Masters course work unit, “Feminist Hermeneutics,” in The Authority of the Text; “Feminist Theology,” (1991-2) Monash University undergraduate course Judaism, Christianity and Islam; (1990-1994) Guest Lecturer, “Philosophic and Theological World Views and Their Influence on the Status of Women,” Women in Management Course. Hawthorn Institute, Vic; (1989-90) Women and the Church. Yarra Theological Union.
• 1990-1991 Community Development Researcher: Women in Supportive Housing. Coordination and implementation of consultancy funded by the Ministerial Advisory Committee on Women and Housing, to research women's experience of housing in order to inform government policy. Report published as, Speaking of Housing . . . A Report to the Minister for the Department of Planning and Housing, March 1991.
• 1985-1990 Post-graduate (part-time) enrolled for Masters Degree by research with the Melbourne College of Divinity.

Publications

• Forthcoming “The Body of Matter or the Matter with Bodies? Christian Attitudes to the Body,” in Sex. Ed. Dr. Carl Wood (Hill of Content).
• 1999 “Augustine’s family,” The Augustine Encyclopaedia, Villanova: Villanova Press.
• “Concubinage,” The Augustine Encyclopaedia, Villanova: Villanova Press.
• 1998 “Ambrose of Milan: Keeper of the Boundaries,” Theology Today 55. 1 April: 15–34.
• 1998 “Philosophy, Medicine and Gender in the Ascetic Texts of Ambrose of Milan,” Ancient History in a Modern University Vol. 2. Proceedings of Conference of the same name in honor of Edwin Judge. Eds, T. W. Hillard, R. A. Kearsley, C. E. V. Nixon, and A. M. Nobbs. Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans: 821-32.
• 1997 Heavenly Bodies: The Ambiguity of the Body in Religious Discourse and Practice, Adelaide, Charles Strong Trust.
• 1997 “The Rehabilitation of Eve in the De institutione uirginis of Ambrose of Milan,” Religion in the Ancient World: New Themes and Approaches. Proceedings of Conference of the same name. Ed. Matthew Dillon, Amsterdam: Adolph Hakkert: 367-82.
• 1995-6 Veiled Desire: Augustine’s Writing on Women. London: Darton, Longman and Todd, 1995; New York: Continuum Press, 1996.
• 1995 “Body and Gender in the Fathers of the Church,” Hildegard of Bingen and Gendered Theology in the Judeo-Christian Tradition. Eds, Julie S. Barton and Constant Mews. Monash: Institute for the Study of Religion and Theology (1995): 41-62.
• 1994 “Of Godly Men and Medicine: Ancient Biology and the Christian Fathers on the Nature of Woman,” Woman-Church. 15 Spring (1994): 26-33.
• 1993 “‘Sed Unum Tamen…’ Augustine and his Concubine,” Augustinian Studies. 24 Fall (1993): 49-76. Paper presented at North American Patristic Society, May 1992.
• 1991 “ ‘To Love More Ardently’: Augustine on Virginitas,” Tjurunga: the Australian Benedictine Review. 41 September (1991): 12-60.
• 1990 “Augustine and the Feminine as the Image of God,” St Augustine: The Man Who Made the West. Eds, Mark Garner and John Martin Melbourne: Proceedings of The Man Who Made the West. Department of Germanic Studies and Russian, University of Melbourne: 22-33.

Conference Papers

• 1999 “The Sword of the Word: An Aspect of Mystical Marriage in Ambrose of Milan,” Oxford Patristic Conference, August. (Submitted for publication).
• “Drawn by Love: The Ascent of the Soul in Ambrose of Milan’s Homilies on Virginity,” Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church II, Sydney, January.
• 1998 “Ambrose's Hortus Conclusus and the Transmission of Classical Culture,” North American Patristic Society, Loyola University, Chicago, May.
• AutonumStart“Man, Woman and the Image of God,” Baltimore and Region Theological Scholars Association, Notre Dame, April.
• 1996 “From the garden of Priapus to Paradise regained,” Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church I, sponsored by Australian Catholic University at Melbourne University, July.
• 1995 “Body and Gender in the Latin Fathers,” History Institute Post-Graduate Conference, Carlton, November.
• 1995 “ ‘A garden Enclosed’: Ambrose and the Virgin Bride,” Oxford Patristics Conference, August.
• 1995 “The Bishop, the Bride and Ordinatio sacerdotalis,” Australian Catholic Theological Association Conference, Manly, July.
• 1994 “The [Un]gendered Body in the Hexameron of Ambrose of Milan” ANZATS/AASR Conference, Adelaide, July.
• 1994 “‘A Fortified City… a City Besieged’: Ambrose of Milan’s Symbolic Treatment of the Body in Book 6 of the Hexameron,” North American Patristic Society Conference. Chicago, May.
• 1993 “The Construction of Sexuality and the Fathers of the Church,” Face^ts of Christian feminism, St. Hilda’s College, Melbourne, October.
• 1992 “Of godly men and medicine, sexuality and sanctity,” Victorian Universities’ Medieval and Renaissance seminar, Melbourne University, October.
• 1992 “Sexuality and sanctity, bodies and boundaries” International SBL/AAR Conference, Melbourne University, July.
• 1992 “Augustine the Lover,” North American Patristics Society Meeting, Loyola University, Chicago, May.
• 1991 “Monica: A New Perspective” Foremothers in Faith Seminar Montague Hall, Xavier College, August.

Non-scholarly publications (Including Book reviews)

• 1998 “Re-imagining Mary at Christmas,” Re-imagining Newsletter 16. Nov. Re-printed in Communications. Women and the Australian Church (Vic) Newsletter Dec.
• 1989-1993 Bi-monthly contributor to the Messenger liturgy supplement. Reflective scriptural commentaries on the Sunday readings
• 1991 “Women, Sex and Sin: A review of The Body and Society: Men, women and sexual renunciation in early Christianity, by Peter R. L. Brown, New York: Columbia University Press, 1988”. Eureka Street. 1. 5: 40-42.
• 1991 “Making it Our House” Eureka Street. 1. 10: 12-13.
• 1991 “Living Water,” Communications. 5. 2: 4.
• 1990 “Patriarchal Theology and the Subordination of Women,” Communications. 4. 1: 2-4.
• 1988 “The Great Fifty Days,” Renew Liturgy Resource Booklet. Melbourne: Catholic Pastoral Formation Centre, December (1988): 14-17.
• 1987 “Book Review: The Force of the Feminine: Women and the Church. Ed. Margaret Ann Franklin, Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 1986,” Melbourne Association of Graduates in Theology Newsletter (1987).
• 1985 “ 'Religion and Sexism' by R. R. Ruether: a woman's response,” Compass. 19. Spring (1985): 22-26.

Popular Talks, Seminars and Adult Education

• 1998 “Early Christian Anthropology,” Classical Honor Society, College of Notre Dame of Baltimore, February.
• 1998 “Who is the Virgin Bride and What Implications Does She Hold for Women Today?” Continuing Education Alumnae Dinner, College of Notre Dame of Baltimore, March.
• 1996 “A Changing Church for Changing Times,” Adult Education Course at St. Martin of Tours Parish, Macleod, July-September.
• “Women in the Early Church.” FCJ sisters, Port Melbourne Community, 11th September.
• 1995 “ ‘Always a Bride but Never a Wife:’ The Spirituality of the Virgin Bride in Ambrose of Milan,” Seminar for the Institute of Spiritual Studies, East Melbourne. Held at Santa Maria Conference Centre, 28th October.
• 1995-6 “Women and Christianity in Late Antiquity,” Workshop for VCE Texts and Traditions Unit. Our Lady of Mercy College, Heidelberg.
• 1992 “Christology,” Training Seminar for Bendigo Catholic Education Office held at Bright.
• 1990 “The Housing Experiences of Victorian Women,” Joint Presentation for Women in Supportive Housing, Australian National Foundation of Women Conference, Canberra, August.
• 1990 “Feminine Images of God in the Judeo-Christian Tradition,” Feminist Network 1990, Brisbane.
• 1990 “Attitudes to Women,” Workshops for Year 11 Religious Education Classes. Parade College, Bundoora. Friday, 6th April
• 1990 “Patriarchal World Views and the Theology of Augustine: The Social Consequences for Women and Relationships,” New Vision for Women, February 18.
• 1988-9 “God as a Feminine Presence,” Heart of Life Spirituality Centre, In-service Seminar-workshop for Spiritual Directors, 1989 and for the Clinical Pastoral Education program at Peter McCallum Hospital.

Professional Memberships

• 1997- American Academy of Religion/Society of Biblical Literature
• 1994- Australian Association for the Study of Religion.
• 1994- Women Scholars in Theology and Religion (Australia)
• 1992- North American Patristic Society.
• 1992- International Association for the Study of Patristics.
• 1991- Australian Catholic Theological Association.
• 1990-1994 Catholic Biblical Association of Australia.
• 1985- Registered Psychologist in the State of Victoria.

Community Involvement

• 1999 Pastoral Leadership Team of the Central Deanery in the Archdiocese of Melbourne.
• 1995 Post-graduate Committee Member for the first Australian Catholic University International Conference, Prayer and Spirituality in the Early Church.
• 1992-3 Religious Studies Post-graduates divisional representative La Trobe University Post-graduate Association.
• 1991-1992 Member of Women in Supportive Housing Management Collective.
• 1990-1991 Catholic representative, Victorian Council of Churches: Commission for the Ecumenical Decade of Churches in solidarity with Women.
• 1988- New Vision for Women, committee member, 1989-1991.
• Women and The Australian Church-Vic. (WATAC), committee member, 1989-1991.
• 1985-1988 Melbourne Association of Graduates in Theology, committee member 1985-6; secretary 1987-1988.
• 1980 Host family to AFS scholar.
• 1978- Member of the City of Heidelberg Emergency Housing Group
• 1968-71 Parish Pastoral Council, Macleod.

Return to Kim Power’s articles?

• “Of godly men and medicine: ancient biology and the Christian Fathers on the nature of woman”
• “Re-imagining Mary at Christmas”

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