Introduction
Kimberly Vrudny is an associate dean for the College of Arts and Sciences and is a professor of systematic theology at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. She earned her doctorate in historical theology with a dissertation that addressed the question of authorship of a medieval manuscript used by Catholic priests during the period of the plague. This work on religious response to stigmatized illness led her to work in modern-day religious response to HIV/AIDS, which introduced her to South African faith and politics. Her current work examines the role of Christian theology in the creation of antisemitic legislation under Nazism in Germany, and in the creation of apartheid law in South Africa. She also writes about the role of the Confessing Churches and Black Theology in dismantling these systems of government. She is a scholar with interdisciplinary interests informed by international engagement most intrigued by the places where artistic resistance to political oppression intersects with religious worldviews that advocate for social justice and peacemaking. She is the author or co-author of five books, including her most recent: Beauty's Vineyard: A Theological Aesthetic of Anguish and Anticipation, which has been recognized for its ability to bring together philosophical aesthetics with social engagement.