Biography

Callid Keefe-Perry is joining Brite as the new Director of Vocational Discernment and Ministerial Readiness. Keefe-Perry is a first generation college graduate whose interests orbit the intersection of imagination, spirituality, and education as sites of formation. Before coming to Brite, he served as Director of Contextual Education and Assistant Professor of Public Theology at Boston College. Prior to that he was a Lecturer in Practical Theology at Boston University. His background outside the academy includes time as a public school teacher, organizational consultant, and work in executive leadership for several arts-based non-profits.

In addition to numerous articles, he is the author of Way to Water, which details the academic history of the field of theopoetics, arguing for its utility in contemporary Christian life. He followed that with Sense of the Possible, an entry level survey of theological writing about imagination from Catholic and Protestant sources. His most recent book is Tending Call, a project that supports people in discerning how they may be called into service, especially when hearing that call might be hard because of distortions caused by systems of oppression and domination. As a researcher, he utilizes mixed-method approaches, doing constructive theological and philosophical inquiry while drawing on qualitative and quantitative techniques from social science. He is one of the researchers developing The Center for Chaplaincy Studies’s “Chaplain Competency Framework.” At present, he is especially interested in exploring issues related to chaplaincy, moral injury, and how generative artificial intelligence can be used for learning and spiritual formation.

Confessionally, Keefe-Perry’s outlook is greatly shaped by The Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). He is a member of Ministry and Counsel of Three Rivers Meeting and an endorsed public Traveling Minister within and beyond his denomination. He thinks it is OK for religious people to laugh a lot, that power cedes nothing without demands, and that creativity is a vital quality of adaptive and effective leadership.