My guest today is Jacob Given. Jacob is a doctoral student of systematic theology and spirituality in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University. His research interests include philosophy and Christianity, phenomenology, and metaphysics.

Jacob is working to promote a vision of theology as both embodied and affective practice. He is also the founder and co-host of the Poststructuralist Tent Revival, a podcast on continental philosophy, theology, and religious studies.

In this episode we talked about the relationship between theory and practice in philosophy and religion, and we explored the idea that theory is itself a kind of practice; it’s a mode of sense-making, or even a kind of therapy for mind and body.

Along these lines, we talked about contemplative practice and prayer, but also about everyday practices, like diet and exercise, which also play a huge role in shifting our awareness and perception.

Jacob views contemplative practice as a kind of spiritual athleticism or training; it’s a set of contemplative maneuvers, or even an existential martial arts of sorts, and I think you’ll find his comments on the desert monk Evagrius especially illuminating, to say nothing of the connections we drew between Evagrius and other philosophers, such as Descartes, Merleau-Ponty, and Deleuze.