Biography
Nicole Kallsen is a first-year Master of Divinity student at Duke Divinity School. As an executive member of New Creation Arts, Kallsen helps run this club's theology and the arts dialogue through their programming, yearly exhibits, and blog. Additionally, Kallsen teaches ballet in North Carolina. She is glad to continue teaching, following her time at Ballet Aligned (Utah). In 2021, Kallsen presented for the World Council of Churches' 50th anniversary of their journal, Current Dialogue, for her award-winning article "Embodied Worldview: How Dance Creates Common Ground." Prior to academia, Kallsen worked with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at Utah State University.
Paper Abstract
In order to remedy Earth's ecological trauma, humanity must expand their approach to this crisis. It must include all areas of personhood ┬¼– intellectual, spiritual, and sensory. Without a holistic view on this crisis, the Earth's relationship to humanity is minimized. Furthermore, when religious communities such as Christianity ignore a holistic view on their relationship to the earth, this results in a false sense of mind-body dualism. A dualistic lens where the physical body is destroyed, rather than resurrected, reduces the significance of how our present Earth sustains embodied humanity. Dualistic theology perpetuates the ecological crisis as there is neither an embodied nor spiritual connection to the material earth. I argue, to combat dualism and to incorporate a holistic approach to the ecological crisis, Christians must participate in the discipleship of the senses. Here, through a theology of the sacraments, Christians must finely tune their ability to sense the ways the present earthly reality reveals the spiritual world. Cultivating sensory presence to the sacraments continues into an embodied awareness of God's providence in the material world. As a result, the Earth is not just a transitory place, but rather a gift that will be sensorily present in the resurrection. The methodology of the discipleship of the senses is found in dance. Dance cultivates attention to how the body is physically dependent on the world. Furthermore, it intellectually communicates through choreography the necessity of community collaboration to achieve a goal. Lastly, dance re-spiritualizes the human experience as it is living hope for the embodied resurrection. Overall, artistic training of embodiment re-sensitizes our bodies to engage with the material earth. We must use dance to remedy the dualism in order to participate with the earth, sacraments, and ultimately God. This appeal to embodiment offers a holistic approach to engage with the ecological crisis.