51cg

The School of Divinity, History, Philosophy & Art History

Dr KATIE CROSS

In this section
Dr KATIE CROSS
Dr KATIE CROSS
Dr KATIE CROSS

MA (Hons), MTh, PhD

Lecturer

51cg
Email Address
k.cross@abdn.ac.uk
Office Address
KCS14 King's College
Old Aberdeen Campus
King's College
AB24 3UB

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School/Department
School of Divinity, History, Philosophy & Art History



Biography

I'm a practical theologian and I work at the intersection of theology, trauma, and lived experience. My research has focused on post-church communities and expressions of faith and belief that are often overlooked. I’ve written on the Sunday Assembly (a "godless congregation") and have co‑edited two volumes on trauma theology, with current projects on church‑leaving Christians, hope, and trauma‑informed pedagogy.

I supervise PhD students whose topics include theologies of trauma, mental health, lived experiences of church, and post-church faith. I regularly teach undergraduate classes in theology on gender and sexuality, trauma and suffering, and division and reconciliation. I also teach for the University's Medical Humanities programme and for the School of Psychology.

Originally from the west coast of Scotland, I now live in Aberdeen with my partner and our two dachshunds.  When I’m not at work, I’m likely to be found on a dog walk, reading, spending time with friends, or on a quest for the city’s best coffee (right now it’s at Third Circle in Rosemount!)

Qualifications

  • Aurora 
    2024 - Advance HE 

    Aurora is Advance HE's leadership development initiative for women. It is run as a unique partnership bringing together leadership experts, higher education providers and research institutes to take positive action to address the under-representation of women in leadership positions in the sector.

Memberships and Affiliations

Internal Memberships
  • Postgraduate Research Lead, Divinity
  • Elected Senate Member for School of Divinity, History, Philosophy and Art History
  • Sophia Network co-coordinator 
  • Gifford Lectures Committee member
  • University and College Union (UCU) Caseworker
External Memberships
  • Editor, Journal
  • SGSAH Discipline+Catalyst Lead for
  • Associate Editor,
  • Editorial board, Journal
  • Editorial board, SCM Press "Studies in Trauma Theology" Series
  • Visiting lecturer and dissertation supervisor,
  • D.Min instructor, /
  • External examiner, University of Birmingham (previously University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Newbold College)

Latest Publications

  • Moving from Feminist Trauma Theologies to Masculinities

    O'Donnell, K., Cross, K., Rose-Moore, W.
    For Nothing Is Hidden: Masculinities and Trauma in Church and Theology. Rose-Moore, W. (ed.). SCM Press, pp. 25-38, 14 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
    • [ONLINE]

  • Theology and Mental Health

    Cross, K.
    Theology in Scotland, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 1-4
    Contributions to Journals: Editorials
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Heather Walton, Practical Theology Beyond the Empirical Turn: (London: SCM Press, 2025); 256 pp.: 9780334058991, £25 (pbk)

    Cross, K.
    Theology, vol. 129, no. 2, pp. 138-139
    Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • Dialogical responses to suffering in a traumatised world: An experiment in epistolary theology

    Cross, K., Swinton, J.
    Theology in Scotland, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 60-74
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Suffering and Evil

    Cross, K.
    Theology in Scotland, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 1-3
    Contributions to Journals: Editorials
    • [ONLINE]

View My Publications

Prizes and Awards

  • Mental Health Champion, Students' Union and 51cg Excellence Awards 2026 
  • Most Inspiring, Students' Union and 51cg Excellence Awards 2025
Research

Research Areas

Divinity

  • Supervising
View Research Area

Research Specialisms

  • Theology
  • Religion in Society
  • Theology and Religious Studies

Our research specialisms are based on the Higher Education Classification of Subjects (HECoS) which is , published under the licence.

Teaching

Courses

Publications

Page 1 of 1 Results 1 to 30 of 30

  • Moving from Feminist Trauma Theologies to Masculinities

    O'Donnell, K., Cross, K., Rose-Moore, W.
    For Nothing Is Hidden: Masculinities and Trauma in Church and Theology. Rose-Moore, W. (ed.). SCM Press, pp. 25-38, 14 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
    • [ONLINE]

  • Theology and Mental Health

    Cross, K.
    Theology in Scotland, vol. 33, no. 1, pp. 1-4
    Contributions to Journals: Editorials
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Heather Walton, Practical Theology Beyond the Empirical Turn: (London: SCM Press, 2025); 256 pp.: 9780334058991, £25 (pbk)

    Cross, K.
    Theology, vol. 129, no. 2, pp. 138-139
    Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • Dialogical responses to suffering in a traumatised world: An experiment in epistolary theology

    Cross, K., Swinton, J.
    Theology in Scotland, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 60-74
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Suffering and Evil

    Cross, K.
    Theology in Scotland, vol. 32, no. 2, pp. 1-3
    Contributions to Journals: Editorials
    • [ONLINE]

  • “We’re people, not parts of people”: Severance, trauma, and the stories our bodies tell

    Cross, K.
    Non-textual Forms: Web Publications and Websites
    • [ONLINE]
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Waiting, Witnessing, Embodying: A trauma-informed approach for theological qualitative research

    Cross, K.
    International Journal of Practical Theology, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 65-82
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]
    • [ONLINE]

  • #ThoughtsandPrayers: A Theology of Social Media Crisis Interaction and Mental Health

    Cross, K.
    Journal of Disability & Religion, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 144-156
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Abby Day: Why Baby Boomers Turned from Religion: Shaping Belief and Belonging, 1945–2021

    Cross, K.
    Modern Believing, vol. 65, no. 4, pp. 415-416
    Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • Practical and Pastoral Theology

    Cross, K.
    Ford's The Modern Theologians: An Introduction to Christian Theology since 1918. Muers, R., Cocksworth, A. (eds.). 4 edition. Wiley-Blackwell, pp. 381-394, 14 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
    • [ONLINE]

  • Why do people give up on church?

    Cross, K.
    Non-textual Forms: Web Publications and Websites
    • [ONLINE]

  • Feminist Trauma Theologies with Dr. Katie Cross (Podcast)

    Cross, K.
    Non-textual Forms: Web Publications and Websites
    • [ONLINE]

  • Trauma and Pastoral Care

    Cross, K.
    Non-textual Forms: Web Publications and Websites
    • [ONLINE]

  • Curating practical theological space: What is it, and who is it for?

    Cross, K., Jordan, E.
    Practical Theology, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 581-589
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

  • Bearing Witness: Intersectional Perspectives on Trauma Theology

    O'Donnell, K., Cross, K.
    Books and Reports: Anthologies
    • [ONLINE]

  • There is No "After" with Trauma

    Cross, K., O'Donnell, K.
    Bearing Witness: Intersectional Perspectives on Trauma Theology. Cross, K., O'Donnell, K. (eds.). SCM Press, pp. 386-388, 3 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
    • [ONLINE]

  • Our polite evasion is a threat to survival

    Cross, K.
    Non-textual Forms: Web Publications and Websites
    • [ONLINE]

  • Politics in the Pulpit, Episode 14 with Katie Cross

    Cross, K.
    Non-textual Forms: Web Publications and Websites
    • [ONLINE]

  • Traumatised people are not your mission field

    Cross, K., O'Donnell, K.
    Non-textual Forms: Web Publications and Websites
    • [ONLINE]

  • Fragments from within the Pandemic: Theological Experiments in Silence, Speech, and Dislocated Time

    Cross, K., Radford, C. L., O'Donnell, K.
    Practical Theology, vol. 14, no. 1-2, pp. 144-158
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • The Sunday Assembly and Theologies of Suffering

    Cross, K.
    Routledge, London. 160 pages
    Books and Reports: Books

  • The earthquake that shocked Europe: how Lisbon recovered after 1755 – Recovery podcast series part two

    Bligh, A., Ware, G., Allen, G., Cross, K., McCallam, D., Sabine, M. J. L.
    The Conversation
    Contributions to Specialist Publications: Articles
    • [ONLINE]

  • Book review: Taking on practical theology: the idolization of context and the hope of community by Courtney T. Goto

    Cross, K.
    Practical Theology, vol. 13, no. 1-2, pp. 174-175
    Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • Feminist Trauma Theologies: Body, Scripture and Church in Critical Perspective

    Cross, K., O'Donnell, K.
    Books and Reports: Anthologies
    • [ONLINE]

  • "I Have the Power in My Body to Make People Sin": The Trauma of Purity Culture and the Concept of "Body Theodicy"

    Cross, K.
    Feminist Trauma Theologies: Body, Scripture and Church in Critical Perspective. O'Donnell, K., Cross, K. (eds.). 1 edition. SCM Press, pp. 21-39, 18 pages
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters (Peer-Reviewed)
    • [ONLINE]

  • Introduction: Feminist Trauma Theologies

    Cross, K., O'Donnell, K.
    Feminist Trauma Theologies: Body, Scripture and Church in Critical Perspective. O'Donnell, K., Cross, K. (eds.). SCM Press, pp. 12-16
    Chapters in Books, Reports and Conference Proceedings: Chapters
    • [ONLINE]

  • Courtney T. Goto, Taking on Practical Theology: The Idolization of Context and the Hope of Community

    Cross, K.
    Theology, vol. 122, no. 6, pp. 460-461
    Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:

  • Review:: This Is My Body: a story of sickness and health by Jennie Hogan

    Cross, K.
    Practical Theology, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 455-456
    Contributions to Journals: Reviews of Books, Films and Articles

  • Feminism and Trauma Theologies

    Cross, K.
    Non-textual Forms: Web Publications and Websites
    • [ONLINE]

  • The Sunday Assembly in Scotland: Vestiges of Religious Memory and Practise in a Secular Congregation

    Cross, K.
    Practical Theology, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 249-262
    Contributions to Journals: Articles
    • [ONLINE] DOI:
    • [OPEN ACCESS]

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