Kristen Leslie

Kristen Leslie

The Rev. Kristen Leslie, Ph.D. is a feminist pastoral theologian who addresses issues of survivor resilience in the aftermath of sexualized violence in the United States military and on college campuses.  She received her PhD in Theology and Personality from the Claremont School of Theology and is a member of the Society of Pastoral Theology.  An ordained United Methodist minister, she has served as a parish pastor, a college chaplain, a pastoral counselor, a rape counselor and a divinity school professor. Presently she is the Professor of Pastoral Theology and Care at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.  She is the author of When Violence is No Stranger: Pastoral Counseling with Survivors of Acquaintance Rape.  She has served as a subject matter expert on Military Sexual Assault for the United States Navy Chaplain Corps and at the United States Air Force Academy.  She is a participant in the Soul Repair Think Tank sponsored by Brite Divinity School and a lecturer for Operation: Tohidu, a therapeutic retreat center in Maryland serving the needs of veterans and active duty service members who experience deployment-related trauma. She is at work on a book on public myths surrounding sexualized violence, the politics of believing, and the subsequent role of religious professionals.