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Mass trauma is an unavoidable reality in the United States. Trauma from violence, natural disasters, and disease has become all too familiar in the American experience, inevitably raising questions about where God is to be found in the midst of such tragedies. In every case, the aftermath leaves communities’ sense of well-being broken and capacity to imagine a way forward thwarted. Though language often fails us in the midst of trauma, preachers and religious leaders are nevertheless called on to offer a Word. Fractured Ground helps pastors craft sermons that fully plumb the disorienting suffering created by events of mass trauma, while still offering an authentic word of hope. Kimberly Wagner provides both incisive explanations of what trauma is and especially how it affects communities of faith, along with practical guidance for crafting sermons that reflect the brokenness of the traumatic situation and the persistent love of God that binds the broken together. Drawing on the burgeoning field of trauma studies, eschatological theologies of hope, scriptural wisdom, and liturgies of lament, Wagner helps preachers imagine what it might mean to preach a narratively fractured sermon in the aftermath of a communal traumatic event, ultimately affirming that no amount of brokenness is beyond the presence and promise of God.
The Rev. Dr. Kimberly Wagner serves as the Assistant Professor of Preaching at Princeton Theological Seminary. She received a B.S. in Secondary Life Science Education from Miami University (OH), a M.Div. from the Candler School of Theology at Emory University, and her Ph.D. from the Graduate Division of Religion at Emory University. Though she has served among the Lutherans and was educated among United Methodists, Dr. Wagner is ordained as a Minister of Word and Sacrament in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Previous experience on the pastoral staff of a PCUSA congregation in Virginia helps fuel and inform her present scholarship and teaching. She is passionate about supporting students’ formation and helping clergy and communities navigate the realities of an ever-changing world and church.
Her writing and work focus on preaching and ministry in the midst and wake of trauma, particularly thinking about collective trauma, the role of the preacher, and the resources of our Scriptures and faith to respond to these moments. Dr. Wagner’s book, Fractured Ground: Preaching in the Wake of Mass Trauma (Westminster John Knox Press, 2023), offers guidance for preaching in the aftermath of communal trauma, including mass violence, natural disasters, and public health crises.
Dr. Wagner’s upcoming publications focus on ecotrauma and ecoanxiety, thinking about how the ecological crises and injustices impact communities and how preachers and leaders might faithfully respond.
Preaching and Trauma; Ecotrauma, Ecoanxiety, and Preaching; Public Proclamation; Proclamation and Authority; History of Preaching
Introduction to Preaching
Preaching and Trauma
Preaching Death and Eschatology with the Earth
Public Proclamation and Trauma
Women Preaching/Preaching Women
Wagner’s upcoming publications focus on ecotrauma and ecoanxiety, considering how these realities impact congregations and communities, particularly inhibiting capacity for eschatological imagination. In this work, Wagner is thinking about how the ecological crises and injustices impact communities and how preachers and leaders might faithfully respond.
Keynote Speaker and Preacher on “The Gift and Challenge of Preaching in these Times” for the Presbyterian Synod of the Covenant Cultivating the Gift of Preaching Retreat
“Preaching and Imagination in a Chaotic Landscape” Keynote at the Expanding the Pulpit 2025 Retreat with the Philadelphia Presbytery
“Trauma, Faith, and Healing in Troubling Times” at Hopewell UMC, Lenten Lecture Series
“Preaching and Ministry amid Trauma and Change” Webinar for Presbytery of Coastal Carolina
Day1 Featured Preacher for the Advent Sermon Series
“Preaching Amid Politically Charged Times,” Hudson River Valley Presbytery Clergy Retreat
Member of Westminster Foundation Board
“Preacher in Residence” for the Presbytery of Philadelphia
Member of Academy of Homiletics and Co-convener of the History of Preaching Workgroups
Member of Society for Biblical Literature
