Author: Summer Kinard

Summer Kinard is a Greek Orthodox Christian, the mother of five autistic children, a tea lover, classically trained soprano, and author of inspiring novels and curricula for active learners. Summer received her Master of Divinity (summa cum laude, 2003) and Master of Theology (2005, early church history and theology) degrees from Duke University Divinity School, where she sat her Master of Theology exam in 2nd through 5th Century theological anthropologies. She has taught in churches for decades and currently spends most of her instruction time leading her therapeutic homeschool. Summer is the author of curricula, short stories, and four novels, which have been praised as “beautifully iconic,” revealing “what it is to see through the thin places of the world, to the colorful, brilliant world of the spiritual that is always there if we only have the eyes to see.” Summer writes about the practicalities of autistic and spiritual life on her websites and offers free downloads of prayer aids for Christians with communication challenges. Her book Of Such is the Kingdom: A Practical Theology of Disability draws together her study and experience to show how welcoming families with disabilities into the fullness of church life is vital to our salvation. More important than what Summer has done is what God has done. Summer is grateful to be a witness to the transforming grace of God.