Dr Katherine Karam McCray

Biography

I am currently the McDonald Agape Postdoctoral Research Fellow working with John Swinton on a project dedicated to experiences of dementia and mental health needs across cultures. 

My current research investigates constructions of personhood and disability in global theological traditions. I hold an MDiv from Princeton Theological Seminary, a ThM from St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary, and a PhD from the University of Toronto. 

I was previously a research and teaching fellow at Trinity College, University of Toronto. I held this fellowship while finishing my doctoral dissertation, which examines how Aristotle's taxonomy of human capabilities positions people with disabilities outside conceptions of the good life. In response, I offer an alternative account of the virtue tradition through Christian apophaticism to reconstruct virtue ethics without taxonomy.

My research has been funded by the Louisville Institute, the National Endowment for the Humanities through the Orthodox Christian Studies Center at Fordham University, and the Redemptorists of Canada. I also contributed parallel research on disability and dependency to the Templeton Foundation grant project, "Science and Orthodoxy Around the World," which has recently been published in the Zygon Journal of Religion and Science.

When I am not buried in books or making large hand gestures in the classroom, I enjoy cooking traditional Syrian and Lebanese dishes with my family and collecting grandmother recipes.