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The Mad and Crip Theology Podcast Season 4 Episode 9: Kay Louise Aldred and Katherine Schneider May 30, 2025 • Amy Panton and Miriam Spies In this episode of the Mad and Crip Theology Podcast, we sit down with Kay Louise Aldred and Kathie Schneider to explore spiritual abuse, belonging, and faith through neurodivergent and disabled lenses. Kay talks about the urgent need for safeguarding in faith and wellness spaces, especially for neurodivergent women and girls, and shares red and green flags for healthy spiritual communities. Kathie reflects on her life as a blind theologian, her evolving relationship with faith, and how metaphors in scripture can either harm or heal. We ask honest, grounding questions about prayer, interdependence, abuse, and what it means to truly belong. Based on Kay's piece “Safeguarding Neurodivergent Individuals from Spiritual Abuse” and Kathie’s “Blind Faith: Beyond ‘Amazing Grace’” from the Fall 2024 issue of The Canadian Journal of Theology, Mental Health and Disability. For the journal click here To listen to the podcast click here To watch on YouTube click here #educateevolveembody #embodiment #spirituality #depathologise #rehumanise #safeguarding #neurodivergent #spiritualabuse #theology
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Twenty years after I wrote my Recovering a Theology of the Erotic dissertation, as part of my Theology & Religious Studies Masters, I had the opportunity to dust off the paper copy & embrace the digital age, pre-recording a presentation on it which was shown at this year's @sst_theology #SST25 Flesh and Blood Theologies Conference at Warwick. "Recognising the power of the erotic within our lives can give us the energy to pursue genuine change within our world" Audre Lorde Theologically, what is the erotic and its purpose? Here are some of the research findings. I reference the work of Catherine Keller, Rita Brock & Carter Heyward. It's dated to me - ironically in the lack of the eros in the writing & my collusion with the dissociative academic traditions - its style, structure & thought form - BUT what I concluded (post reel) remains entirely relevant. #educateevolveembody #embodiment #spirituality #depathologise #rehumanise #inandthrough #embodimentspirituality #embodiededucation #fleshyknowing #theology #fleshandblood #erotic #recovery  Twenty years ago I wrote ... 'recovered, the erotic becomes essential to the survival of theology ... it keeps God (aka the Divine) alive'
Tonight I make my final contribution to the academic discipline of Theology: a prerecorded presentation for this year's Society for the Study of Theology Annual Conference @sst_theology #SST25 Flesh and Blood Theologies on my MA dissertation Recovering a Theology of the Erotic, which I wrote in the winter of 2005 #educateevolveembody #inandthrough #embodimentspirituality #embodiededucation #fleshyknowing #theology #fleshandblood #embodiment #erotic #recovery  I'm presenting at this year's Society for the Study of Theology Annual Conference @sst_theology #SST25 on Recovering a Theology of the Erotic, a flesh and blood theology dissertation I wrote twenty years ago (!)
Cycles are ending - sometimes we have to wait a long time for completion - decades even. #educateevolveembody #inandthrough #embodimentspirituality #embodiededucation #fleshyknowing #theology #fleshandblood #embodiment #erotic #recovery  Sandra Bargman words ... Ever since I discovered her, I have been quite taken with Kay’s experience & teachings of #embodimentspirituality In particular, her understanding of the relationship of the nervous system & the healing of trauma to our experiencing ourselves as divinity DIVINITY that is our BIRTHRIGHT #tangibledivinity In these challenging times of spiritual disconnect, collapse culture, & climate crisis and the growing mental health issues as a result, I feel there is no more important work than what Kay is teaching, modelling & embodying. This conversation is a masterclass for the times in which we live Is there anything better on Valentines Day than Making Love with the Divine? In this episode, Kay shares her journey from her religious upbringing into seminary, discovering shamanistic & energy work, getting booted from Anglican seminary training, to stepping fully into embodied spirituality. We discuss What is metacognition? We re-visit the understanding of the word shamanism as a living dynamic We talk about her powerful book, Making Love with the Divine @girlgodbooks Kay expands on her understanding of the Nervous System (& the healing of trauma) as our divine sacred centre. Using her religious vernacular, this becomes her re-telling of Eve & the Genesis story through her own lived experience Kay weaves together the parasympathetic (feminine energy) with the sympathetic response (masculine) Kay shares the liberation of her lineage story of her paternal Grandmother, a creative, religious & eccentric force in Kay’s young life through the Theatre of Church Witnessing funerals & grief was a powerful lesson in her early years She details her spiritual journey: the foundational role her grandmother played > moving into theological academia > teaching theology > Anglican Ordination training while at the same time training in shamanism > leaving her religious training > her deconstruction of the control of theology over her and stepping fully into her experience of Embodiment Spirituality “We are searching for an alternative world within this one”. Spiritual/Sexual abuse in the church & other spiritual communities & the need for safeguarding Listen here on Spotify but it is available on all your favourite platforms  "We are searching for an alternative world within this one" I say this to Sandra Bargman in today's #theedgeofeverydaypodcast episode I'm a guest on. I say it in relation to being Neurodivergent #actuallyautistic #adhd & being drawn to study & be part of religious, theological & spiritual communities my whole life ... (& that I know that I'm not alone in that) I go on to address the prevalence of predators, control & abuse in these forums & stress the need for regulation & safeguarding. Check out the episode clicking here and its also available on all your favourite platforms Hope you enjoy it! Ps: this photo taken in the examination rooms at Oxford University whilst I was at a packed Creative Bridges Alef Trust EUROTAS Network conference last autumn - where I was also searching for an alternative world within this one. Academia is another draw!  Happy New Year 🎊 Here are extracts from my latest @uniofaberdeen Practical Theology Hub blog - The Divine Nervous System - published today & setting the scene for 2025 perfectly. Categorised as body theology & feminism 👌 Full blog https://practicaltheologyhub.com/?p=1576 - please share. #educateevolveembody #embodiededucation #embodimentspirituality #inandthrough #fleshyknowing #divinenervoussystem #spiritualneedsarehumanneeds    Out now! The Canadian Journal for Theology Mental Health & Disability 4 no. 2, Fall 2024 (ISSN 2563-9374) 👇 https://jps.library.utoronto.ca/index.php/cjtmhd/issue/view/2877 Delighted to have had the opportunity to contribute an invited commentary to this fantastic @madandcrip online journal. All featured submissions are a valuable read. My submission 'Safeguarding Neurodivergent Individuals from Spiritual Abuse' builds on the resource I produced for the Neurodiverse Connection inaugural Grooming and Coercive Control Summit in 2023 & my lived, academic & professional experience. Link above and below - it's free access. #educateevolveembody #embodiededucation #embodimentspirituality #inandthrough #fleshyknowing #spiritualneedsarehumanneeds    May this Invited Commentary - 'Safeguarding Neurodivergent Individuals from Spiritual Abuse' - which I wrote for the The Canadian Journal for Theology Mental Health & Disability 4 no. 2, Fall 2024 (ISSN 2563-9374) catalyse supportive change.
And be part of the solution. It's a deeply personal ending & completion for me: #theology #anglicanchurch #neurodivergence #spiritualindustry #wellnessindustry #safeguarding * * * #educateevolveembody #embodiededucation #embodimentspirituality #inandthrough #fleshyknowing #spiritualneedsarehumanneeds  "I believe it’s time for theologians to open a discussion and consider the purpose and impact of the Church of England @thechurchofengland
I also advocate for a collective, interdisciplinary effort to rethink how we meet spiritual needs in society. I support the idea of normalising spirituality, improving its accessibility in day-to-day life, and acknowledging that spiritual needs are universal. It’s natural for us to seek meaning, purpose, connection, and belonging. I aim to help individuals, organisations, and institutions reimagine how we can meet spiritual needs in ways that are trauma-informed, neuro-inclusive, and beyond religious dogma and capitalism. My commitment lies in embedding non-patriarchal, non-abusive, and non-coercive approaches and resources to support spiritual well-being in educational, health, and community settings, as well as in new structures of moral and spiritual leadership in society." Extract from the blog 'Reflections on Theology, Victim Blaming, Misogyny and the Church of England' I wrote for @uniofaberdeen Practical Theology Hub which was published yesterday. Link to full blog in comments. #educateevolveembody #inandthrough #embodimentspirituality #embodiededucation #fleshyknowing #theology #spiritualneeds |
AuthorKay Louise Aldred MA, PGCE Archives
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