Kamila Blessing

Kamila Blessing began life with a deeply religious Christian mother (Lillian) and an equally committed humanist-scientist father (Karel). Karel, having survived the Nazi concentration camp Terezin, later became a political prisoner of the Communists. Kamila and Lillian, however, were left with no income in America, in consequence of which Kamila literally grew up on Grace.

Kamila became a scientist, working with Allen Newell and Herbert Simon in Artificial Intelligence, and more generally, in systems theory and the fascinating subject of communication in human-machine systems. Her first study of this communication, done at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, won national attention and propelled her into the first-ever grant by DARPA for the study of man-machine communication. All of this work, however, made it clear to Kamila that these complex systems include a spiritual dimension, and in particular, a God who is intimately involved in our lives -- just as space scientists now say that such a perfectly formed and complex system (the universe) implies a God!

Impelled by the drive to combat the evil of the political oppression experienced by her immediate family, plus her scientist's curiosity about God, Kamila pursued a spiritual ministry alongside her work. She was ordained an Episcopal deacon in October, 1983, and priest in May, 1984, and immediately began to apply her systems knowledge -- including the spiritual dimension of systems -- to her parishes. She has become an expert at diagnosing the sources of organizational conflicts and failures in churches, businesses, and families.

Her many publications include a focus on the New Testament (in which she earned a Ph.D. from Duke University in 1996), and a strong theme of our capacity (with God) to heal ourselves and others. With the other members of the Psychology and Biblical Studies Section of the Society of Biblical Literature, she believes that people are "the same all the way up": if the cut on your finger heals spontaneously, you must be built for healing in mind and spirit as well. You must also have the capacity to reach for and receive healing from the God in whose image you were created. So healing and other spiritual capacities are fundamental to humanity -- not only to Christianity.

Kamila lives in Western Pennsylvania and is currently helping to restart and restore parishes in the renewed Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh. She loves swimming, walking in our beautiful hills and fields, and tending flower gardens to delight the neighborhood.