Kat Armas: Liturgies for Resisting Empire

“You cannot decolonize the academy. So, let’s get creative about what we can do.” — Kat Armas

Author and theologian Kat Armas joins us on the podcast to discuss strategies for right-sizing our relationship with power in our world today.

How do the ideologies of empire affect our daily lives and how shall we respond? Author and theologian Kat Armas joins us on the podcast to discuss her recent book Liturgies for Resisting Empire: Seeking Community, Belonging, and Peace in a Dehumanizing World. Kat examines the concept of empire, uncovering ways that power structures infuse daily life and the broader culture. Her response comes in the form of liturgies, framing these ideas in prayer and offering a thoughtful and galvanizing call to critique and action. Kat’s writing invites us to look carefully at the world around us and refocus on the example Jesus offers of loving God and loving neighbor. Our conversation is energetic and relevant and fun too — I think you’ll enjoy it. And if you listen to the end of the credits, you’ll hear an excerpt from our conversation where Kat tells the story of that one time when the Pope shared one of her articles.

So jump right in! We're so glad you're here.

— Ann Boyd

You can listen on iTunes or at The Women Scholars and Professionals Podcast. We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.

Listen on your favorite podcast platform, or click through to listen to our interview with Kat on:

• iTunes

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If you'd like to support the work of InterVarsity's Women Scholars and Professionals, including future podcasts such as this episode, you can do so at givetoiv.org/wsap. Thank you for listening!

Further resources for this interview:

• Liturgies for Resisting Empire: Seeking Community, Belonging, and Peace in a Dehumanizing World by Kat Armas

• Kat’s website

• Listen to our previous two podcasts with Kat from 2022 and 2023

• The Body Is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor

• Ocean Vuong on violence in language

• Abuelita Faith: What Women on the Margins Teach Us about Wisdom, Persistence, and Strength by Kat Armas

• How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

Kat Armas is a Cuban American writer, speaker, and theologian from Miami, Florida. She holds a ThM from Vanderbilt Divinity School, and a dual MDiv and MAT from Fuller Theological Seminary where she was awarded the Frederick Buechner Award for Excellence in Writing. She is pursuing a ThM at Vanderbilt Divinity School. Armas is the author of two books, Abuelita Faith and Sacred Belonging. She has written for Christianity Today, Sojourners, Christians for Biblical Equality, Fuller Youth Institute, Fathom magazine, and Missio Alliance. Kat currently lives on a small farm in middle Tennessee with her family—which includes her spouse, young children, chickens, goats, pigs, dogs, and cats.