Kristen Blair

Kristen Blair

I am a Ph.D. student in theology at the University of Toronto. I specialize in practical theology, with additional expertise in theopoetics, environmental theologies, and theologies of atonement and kenosis.

Posts by Collection

philosophy

The Deconstruction of Religious Dogmatism in Heideggers Call to Authenticity

Published in Aporia (BYU), 2017

Heidegger’s truth is incongruous with dogmatic notions of religion ascribing to pre-decided realities and ways of being in the world. However, Heidegger’s theories are not incongruous with spirituality; a phenomenological investigation of truth as disclosure reveals the process of truth-seeking and making to be a rescued form of spirituality. A Heideggarian understanding of truth rescues the truth-seeker from religious dogmatism by disclosing potentialities for being and therefore constitutes a spiritual, if not religious, revival.

Recommended citation: Blair, Kristen. 2017. "The Deconstruction of Religious Dogmatism in Heideggers Call to Authenticity" Aporia 27, no. 1-2017. http://kblair-phd.github.io/files/Aporia_2017.pdf

Hume on the Minds of Women

Published in Book Chapter, The Humean Mind (2018), 2018

This chapter questions whether Hume thought that the minds of women were fundamentally different from those of men. We address this question with particular consideration of whether Hume’s account of women and gender roles is indicative of a gender essentialism or a gender constructivism.

Recommended citation: Paxman, Katharina, and Kristen Blair. "Hume on the minds of women." In The Humean Mind, pp. 481-496. Routledge, 2018. http://kblair-phd.github.io/files/Hume_2018.pdf

portfolio

publications

Disconnection and the Healing Practice of Imagination for Mormon Environmental Ethics

Published in Religions, 2021

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints possesses a subversive and fecund interpretation of the Christian creation narrative. This interpretation bespeaks a particular attention to and care for the living earth. However, Latter-day Saint praxis is wounded by a searing disconnect between the theopoetics of its conceptual creation and its lived practice.

Recommended citation: Blair, Kristen. 2021. "Disconnection and the Healing Practice of Imagination for Mormon Environmental Ethics" Religions 12, no. 11: 948. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12110948 http://kblair-phd.github.io/files/Religion_2021.pdf

Human Agency and the Inner Sea

Published in Exponent II, 2022

Human agency is a core tenet of faith for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Indeed, the concept of agency reigns as the supreme theological actor in the Latter-day Saint story, from the reconceived creation narrative through the understanding of the human condition, theodicy, and eschatology.

Recommended citation: Blair, Kristen. 2022. Human Agency and the Inner Sea, Exponent II. https://exponentii.org/2022/05/10/human-agency-and-the-inner-sea-by-kristen-blair/

"Free Forever to Act for Themselves": Howard Thurman and Latter-day Saint Agency

Published in Dialogue, 2023

There is in every person an inward sea, and in that sea there is an island and on that island there is an altar and standing guard before that altar is the "angel with the flaming sword." Nothing can get by that angel to be placed upon that altar unless it has the mark of your inner authority. Nothing passes "the angel with the flaming sword" to be placed upon your altar unless it be a part of "the fluid area of your consent." This is your crucial link with the Eternal.

Recommended citation: Blair, Kristen. 2023. "Free Forever to Act for Themselves": Howard Thurman and Latter-day Saint Agency; Dialogue. https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/free-forever-to-act-for-themselveshoward-thurman-and-latter-day-saint-agency/

talks

teaching

Teaching experience 1

Undergraduate course, University 1, Department, 2014

This is a description of a teaching experience. You can use markdown like any other post.

Teaching experience 2

Workshop, University 1, Department, 2015

This is a description of a teaching experience. You can use markdown like any other post.