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Kathleen Diane (Kadi) Billman

John H. Tietjen Professor of Pastoral Ministry: Pastoral Theology, Emerita

Headshot of Kadi Billman

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EDUCATION

  • 1972 – B.A., Magna cum laude, Muskingum College (now University), New Concord, Ohio
  • 1977 – M.Div., Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ
  • 1986 – Th.M., Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ
  • 1992 – Ph.D., Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ
    Dissertation: The Dance of Loyalty: Loyalty Issues in Cross-Cultural Research and Pastoral Care with Liberian Immigrant Families
  • 2023 – Doctor of Divinity Honoris Causa, Wartburg Theological Seminary, Dubuque, Iowa

Ordination

  • 1977 – Ordained Deacon in the Southern New Jersey Conference of the United Methodist Church
  • 1979 – Ordained Elder in the Southern New Jersey Conference of the United Methodist Church
    (now the Greater New Jersey Conference of the United Methodist Church)

Professional Experience

  • 2020-Present – John H. Tietjen Professor of Pastoral Ministry: Pastoral Theology, Emerita
  • 2017-2020 – John H. Tietjen Professor of Pastoral Ministry: Pastoral Theology and Director of MA and MDiv Programs, Coordinator for ELCA Candidacy (2018-20)
  • 2014-2017 – John H. Tietjen Professor of Pastoral Ministry: Pastoral Theology and Associate Dean for Academic Programs and Director of the MDiv Program
  • 2011-2014 – John H. Tietjen Professor of Pastoral Ministry: Pastoral Theology and Director of the Master of Divinity Program
  • 2009-2020 – Elected John H. Tietjen Professor of Pastoral Ministry: Pastoral Theology
  • 2007-2009 – Dean and Vice President for Academic Affairs
  • 1999-2007 – Dean of Academic Affairs, LSTC
  • 2003-2009 – Professor of Pastoral Theology, LSTC
  • 1995-2003 – Associate Professor of Pastoral Theology, LSTC
  • 1992-1995 – Assistant Professor of Pastoral Theology, LSTC
  • 1990-1991 – Editorial Assistant, Princeton Seminary Bulletin
  • 1986-1991 – Assistant Pastor, St. Paul United Methodist Church
  • July 1985 and July 1986 – Faculty Member, Local Pastors’ Licensing School, Drew Theological Seminary
  • 1977-1985 – Pastor, Greenwood Avenue United Methodist Church
  • 1974-1977 – Director of Neighborhood Ministry, Greenwood Avenue United Methodist Church

Publications

  • Co-Editor, Currents in Theology and Mission, 2008-Present

Books

  • Kathleen D. Billman and Bruce C. Birch, eds., C(H)AOS Theory: Reflections of Chief Academic Officers in Theological Education (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011).
  • Kathleen D. Billman and Daniel L. Migliore, Rachel’s Cry:  Prayer of Lament and Rebirth of Hope (Cleveland: United Church Press, 199; republished Eugene, Ore: Wipf and Stock, 2006).

Chapters in Books

  • “Classrooms and Choratic Spaces: A Meditation on Seminary Teaching,” in Churrasco: A Theological Feast in Honor of Vítor Westhelle, ed. Mary Philip, John Arthur Nunes, and Charles M. Collier (Eugene, Ore: Pickwick Publications, 2013), 150-159.
  • “Honoring Complexities, Celebrating Colleagueship: What to Expect from This Book,” in C(H)AOS Theory: Reflections of Chief Academic Officers in Theological Education, ed. Kathleen D. Billman and Bruce C. Birch (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2011), 3-22.
  • “Responding to Suffering in the Name of Jesus,” in In the Precious Name (Toms River, NJ: Jersey Shore Press, 2011), 243-259.
  • “Theological Identity: A Dance of Loyalty,” in Theology as Conversation: The Significance of Dialogue in Historical and Contemporary Theology, ed. Bruce L. McCormack and Kimlyn J. Bender (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2009), 259-272.
  • “Practicing Pastoral Care as a Theologian of the Cross,” in Mission with the Marginalized, ed. Samuel L. Meshack (Tiruvalla, India: Christava Sahitya Samithi, 2007), 250-268.
  • “Psalm 23” in Celebrating Incarnation: A Resource for Worship, ed. Linda McKiernan-Allen (St. Louis: Chalice Press, 1999), 33-41.
  • “Pastoral Care as an Art of Community,” in The Arts of Ministry: Feminist-Womanist Approaches ,ed. Christie Cozad Neuger (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox Press, 1996), 10-38.
  • “Ministry on the Boundaries:  Cooperation without Exploitation,” co-authored with Claude Marie Barbour, Eleanor Doidge, and Peggy DesJarlait, in Beyond Theological Tourism:  Mentoring as a Grassroots Approach to Theological Education, ed. Susan B. Thistlethwaite and George F.  Cairns (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books, 1994), 72-91.

Articles, Essays, Lectionary Commentaries, and Bible Studies

  • “Holy Faces, Public Places: Transgressing and Treasuring,” in Currents in Theology and Mission 41/4 (August 2014): 266-272.
  • “Pastoral Implications” for the Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Sundays in Easter, in Lectionary Homiletics (May 2014).
  • Afterword for Wayne L. Menking, When All Else Fails: Rethinking Our Pastoral Vocation in Times of STUCK Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock, 2013), 129-131.
  •  “Pastoral Implications” for Palm Sunday/Passion Sunday, Lectionary Homiletics (February and March, 2013): 66-67.
  • “Pastoral Implications” for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Lectionary Homiletics (February and March, 2013): 58.
  • “In Memoriam: Connie M. Kleingartner,” LSTC Epistle (Fall 2008): 8-9.
  • “’Like Trees Planted by Streams of Water’: the Blessing of Ralph W. Klein,” Currents in Theology and Mission, 35/4 (August 2008): 245-247.
  • “Mark Bangert: Thanks for the Polyphony,” Currents in Theology and Mission, 35/3 (June 2008): 165-167.
  • “Harold Vogelaar: ‘Within the Frame of Friendship,’” with James Kenneth Echols, Currents in Theology and Mission, 33/3 (June 2006): 207-208.
  • “Praying Theodicy Questions,” Insights: The Faculty Journal of Austin Seminary (Fall 2005): 24-27.
  • “Albert (Pete) Pero: Called to a World House,” Currents in Theology and Mission, 31/4 (August 2004): 260-263.
  • “A Fruitful Hypothesis, A Breadth of Belonging, and a Well of Possibility: Celebrating Phil Hefner’s Legacy to LSTC,” Currents in Theology and Mission, 28/3-4 (June-August 2001): 429- 433.
  • “Saying Goodbye: Relearning the World,” Currents in Theology and Mission, 24/3 (June 1997): 194-200.
  • “Reconciliation:  Biblical Reflections on Jeremiah 31:10-20,” New Theology Review, 10/2 (May 1997): 25-30.
  • “Social Location and Power in Ministry,” The Caregiver Journal, 13/1 (1997): 20-22.
  • “Christian Understandings of Illness,” Health, Healing, and Religion: An Inter-Religious Dialogue, ed. Pinit Ratanakul and Kyaw Than. Bangkok: The Center of Human Resources Development, Mahidol University, 1996.
  • “Holy Darkness, Kindly Light: Ancient Gifts for Ministry in a New Era,” Currents in Theology and Mission, 20/5 (October 1993): 327-334.
  • “Liberia: Rebuilding the Ruins,” co-authored with Daniel G. and Musu Gueh, in Living the Faith: The Program Book for United Methodist Women 1993 (The Women’s Division of the Board of Global Ministries of the United Methodist Church, 1992): 63-70.
  • “Integrating Theology and Pastoral Care in Ministry,” Currents in Theology and Mission, 19/3 (June 1992): 165-173.
  • “The Dance of Loyalty: Loyalty Issues in Cross-Cultural Research and Pastoral Care with Liberian Immigrant Families,” Ph.D. dissertation, Princeton Theological Seminary, 1992.
  • “The Paradox of Sin and the Bipolarity of Shame,” Koinonia, III/1 (Spring 1991): 73-82.

Edited Issues of and Editorial Columns in Currents in Theology and Mission, Editorial Columns

  • “A Teacher’s Life Lives On: Remembering Vítor Westhelle,” with José David Rodríguez in Currents in Theology and Mission 48:2 (2021): 1-4.
  • “A Breadth of Belonging: Navigating Interreligious and Intercultural Spaces,” in Currents in Theology and Mission 48:1 (2021): 1-3.
  • “In Thanksgiving for Gordon J. Straw: The Weaving Continues,” in Currents in Theology and Mission 47:1 (2020): 1-3.
  • “Changing Seasons,” in Currents in Theology and Mission 41/6 (December 2014): 427-428.
  • “Look around You,” in Currents in Theology and Mission 41/5 (October 2014): 356-357.
  • “This Our Hymn of Grateful Praise,” in Currents in Theology and Mission 41/4 (August 2014): 287.
  • “A Season for Considering Power,” in Currents in Theology and Mission 41/3 (June 2014): 209.
  • Sola Scriptura in the Year of Matthew and Ecclesia Semper Reformanda,” (with Craig Nessan), in Currents in Theology and Mission 40/6 (December 2013), 382-384.
  • “Revitalizing Teaching and Learning in the Church,” Currents in Theology and Mission, 40/4 (August 2013): 230-232.
  • “More Perspectives on Mission,” Currents in Theology and Mission, 40/3 (June 2013): 162.
  • “Mark by Heart” (with David Rhoads), Currents in Theology and Mission, 38/6 (December 2011).
  • “Roots and Wings: Reflections on Worship,” Currents in Theology and Mission, 38/4 (August 2011): 234-235.
  • “Lutheran Legacies, Twenty-First Century Conversations,” Currents in Theology and Mission, 38/1 (February 2011): 2-3.
  • “Changing the Landscape of New Testament Studies: Essays in Honor of David M. Rhoads” (with Ray Pickett), Currents in Theology and Mission 37/4 (August 2010): 274-275.
  • “Contemporary Perspectives on Stewardship and Tithing” (with Craig N. Nessan), Currents in Theology  and Mission, 36/5 (October 2009): 322-323.

Book Reviews

  • The Art of Dying Well: Living Fully into the Life to Come, Rob Moll (Downers Grove, Il., InterVarsity,  2010), in Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 66/2 (April 2012): 225-226.
  • Grounded in the Living Word: The Old Testament and Pastoral Care Practices, Denise Dombkowski  Hopkins and Michael S. Koppel (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010), in The Journal of Pastoral Theology, 21/2 (Winter 2011): 8-1.
  • Just Hospitality: God’s Welcome in a World of Difference, Leety M. Russell, ed. J. Shannon Clarkson and Kate M. Ott (Louisville, KY: Westminster/John Knox, 2009), in The Journal of Pastoral Theology, 20/2 (Winter 2010): 188-191.
  • Grief: Contemporary Theory and the Practice of Ministry, Melissa M. Kelley (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010), in The Journal of Pastoral Theology, 20/2 (Winter 2010): 191-195. 
  • Trauma Recalled: Liturgy, Disruption, and Theology, Dirk G. Lange (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010) in Theology Today, 67/3 (October 2010): 374.
  • Counseling Women: A Narrative, Pastoral Approach, Christie Cozad Neuger, in Currents in Theology and Mission, 29/2 (April 2002): 139-140.
  • Becoming Married, Herbert Anderson and Robert Cotton Fite, in Currents in Theology and Mission, 23/4 (August 1996): 296-297.
  • Leaving Home, by Herbert Anderson and Kenneth Mitchell, in Currents in Theology and Mission, 23/3: (June 1996): 220.
  • The Depleted Self:  Sin in a Narcissistic Age, by Donald Capps, in The Princeton Seminary Bulletin, XV/2 (New Series 1994): 197-199.
  • Blessed Are the Poor?  Women’ Poverty, Family Policy, and Practical Theology, by Pamela Couture, inThe Journal of Pastoral Theology, Vol. 2 (Summer 1992): 95-97.

Editorial Experience

  • 2009 to Present: Co-Editor, Currents in Theology and Mission
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