John Kiess - B.A. (University of Virginia).

John Kiess graduated from the University of Virginia in May 2001 with a Bachelor's Degree in Political and Social Thought. Kiess spent the summer after his sophomore year living in community with members of the San Isidro village in Laguna, Phillipines. His experiences there, in addition to his time spent volunteering at the Los Angeles Mission the following summer, directed his academic attention toward the intersection of theology and economics, as well as questions concerning community development and the relevance of religious language in a postmodern world.

Kiess used his undergraduate thesis, Watching with Christ in Gethsemane: Bonhoeffer, Language, and Responsibility, to pursue these interests further. The life and writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer convinced Kiess that the meaning and power of theological language hinges upon a corresponding communal embodiment of this language in practice -- the "Word made flesh."

Kiess is currently working at Abundant Life, a community development ministry in the Prospect Avenue neighborhood of Charlottesville, and plans to eventually pursue graduate studies.