Lived Experience for Everyone

Episode 7 - Callid Keefe-Perry

In this month’s podcast, we sit down and speak with Callid Keefe-Perry. Callid is an educator, consultant, theologian, improvisor, and minister within the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). He is Assistant Professor of Contextual Education and Public Theology at Boston College’s School of Theology and Ministry, where he also serves as Director of Field Education for the Master of Theology and Ministry. His work brings together public theology and practical theology, with a focus on imagination, creativity, and education as sites of human and societal change. His research engages areas such as liberation theology, critical pedagogy, trauma studies, and theologies of imagination, and he is the author of numerous articles as well as the books Way to Water: A Theopoetics Primer and Sense of the Possible: An Introduction to Theology and Imagination. In our conversation we focus especially on his recent book, Tending Call: A Liberation Theology of Vocation. In it, Callid offers a practical and justice-oriented approach to vocation grounded in the realities of people’s lives and the communities they belong to. He presents vocation as something worked out over time, through ongoing discernment, rather than a single decision or fixed path. Drawing on liberation theology, the book brings together theological reflection and spiritual formation, and recognises that calling takes shape within shared life, shaped by context and by others. It also widens the meaning of ministry beyond traditional roles, pointing to the many ways people participate in meaningful work in the world. The book invites a way of living with call that is steady and shaped in relation with others. Please check out www.tendingcall.com [http://www.tendingcall.com] along with the discount code "AUT30" that offers readers money off their purchase if they are interested in buying the book. We highly recommend this!

Episode 6 - Olga Louchakova-Schwartz

In this episode, we speak with Olga Louchakova-Schwartz, President of the Society for the Phenomenology of Religious Experience and Professor Emerita at Sofia University. Trained in phenomenological philosophy, medicine, and neuroscience, her work brings together philosophy of religion, comparative metaphysics, and cognitive science (see olgalouchakova.com). Her research explores what makes experience religious or spiritual and how such experience shapes the self, embodiment, and cognition. It was a pleasure to speak with her about the phenomenology of religious experience and its wider philosophical and practical implications.

Episode 5: John D. Caputo

In this month's episode, we speak with John D. Caputo as he reflects on his forthcoming book, A Radical God: Theopoetics, Phenomenology, and the Future of Religion. He is an American philosopher and the Thomas J. Watson Professor of Religion Emeritus at Syracuse University, as well as the David R. Cook Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at Villanova  University. John is a major figure associated with postmodern Christianity and continental philosophy of religion, and is widely recognised as the founder of the theological movement known as weak theology. Much of his work focuses on hermeneutics, phenomenology, deconstruction and theology. His writing has shaped generations of scholars and readers, and we're delighted to welcome him to the podcast.

Episode 4: Felix Ó Murchadha

In this episode, we speak with Professor Felix Ó Murchadha, Professor of Philosophy at the University of Galway. Our conversation centres on his new book, The Fidelity of Reason: A Phenomenological Metaphysics of Self, Nature and Divinity (Springer, 2025). Felix speaks about the questions that have shaped this book and the wider concerns that have animated his work over many years. The conversation moves at a reflective pace, inviting listeners into a way of thinking that is attentive to lived experience. It is a privilege to spend time with Felix Ó Murchadha in this thoughtful conversation and we hope you enjoy listening.

Episode 3: Brian Robinette

This month, we are delighted to welcome Brian Robinette, Associate Professor of Theology at Boston College. In this episode, we speak with him about his 2024 book, The Difference Nothing Makes: Creation, Christ, Contemplation, in which he explores the significance of one of Christian theology's most enduring claims: creation from "nothing." He teaches and researches in the areas of philosophical and systematic theology, and is widely known for his thoughtful engagement with the contemplative dimensions of Christian life. We are honoured to have him with us.