Anastasia E. B. Kidd

Rev. Dr. Anastasia Kidd serves as Director of Contextual Education at the Boston University School of Theology, a role that centers her commitments to holistic student formation and to theological education that forwards the cause of communal liberation. Anastasia began her leadership of Contextual Ed in the fall of 2021, having previously served as the School’s Director of Enrollment for 17 years.

Anastasia’s doctoral studies focused on transforming seminary students’ existential crises of faith into generative opportunities for personal learning and spiritual development. This work can be found in the Transforming Service anthology on student services published by the Association of Theological Schools.

Since then, Anastasia has shifted her research toward body theology and critical fat studies, publishing a book entitled Fat Church: Claiming a Gospel of Fat Liberation with Pilgrim Press. The book explores the ways white colonial Christianity has historically participated in anti-fat bias, healthism, and body policing, to the detriment of God’s gospel of freedom. She invites the adoption of a fat-positive Christian spirituality rooted in values like abundance, pleasure, and the dignity of all bodies. Since publishing her book, Anastasia has become a featured speaker and consultant for religious and secular organizations seeking to undo cultures of anti-fatness and ableism while incorporating accessibility for all bodies as a social justice commitment.

Anastasia provides leadership for the School’s Contextual Education curriculum and maintains networking relationships with individuals and organizations within and beyond the Boston area for the sake of student internship placements and career development. She also teaches a core course in transformational leadership within the School’s Doctor of Ministry program.

Anastasia is ordained clergy in the United Church of Christ tradition. She and her husband co-pastor a small church in Truro, Massachusetts, on Cape Cod, and otherwise hang out with their fur babies – three dogs and a very patient kitty.