Welcome to Lived Experience for Everyone, hosted by Joseph Rivera and Helena Connolly.
This podcast seeks to harness academic expertise in a conversational tone. Each month we release a new episode featuring guests from fields such as spirituality, philosophy, poetry, and cultural studies to share insights into their work and research — not in distant, technical language, but in ways we can all genuinely take in and live by. Too often, academic research feels aloof, impenetrable, and full of jargon. Yet at its best, it can reshape how we live. Here, we explore how deep ideas translate into everyday experience and our encounters with the world around us. We’re on the way to lived experience for everyone.
Richard Kearney holds the Charles B. Seelig Chair of Philosophy at Boston College and has served as a Visiting Professor at University College Dublin, the University of Paris (Sorbonne), the Australian Catholic University and the University of Nice.
He is the author of over 26 books on European philosophy and literature (including three novels and a volume of poetry) and has edited or co-edited 23 more. His most recent publications include Anatheism (2012), Reimagining the Sacred (2015), Carnal Hermeneutics (2015), Twinsome Minds: An Act of Double Remembrance (2018), Touch: Recovering Our Most Vital Sense (2021), Thinking Film: Philosophy at the Movies (ed. Richard Kearney and M.E. Littlejohn) (2023).
He was formerly a member of the Arts Council of Ireland, the Higher Education Authority of Ireland and chairman of the Irish School of Film at University College Dublin. He is also a member of the Royal Irish Academy.
As a public intellectual in Ireland, he was involved in drafting a number of proposals for a Northern Irish peace agreement (1983, 1993, 1995).
He has presented five series on culture and philosophy for Irish and British television and broadcast extensively on the European media.
He is currently international director of the Guestbook Project–Hosting the Stranger: Between Hostility and Hospitality.
Richard Kearney currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts, where he is married to Anne Bernard and has two daughters, Simone and Sarah.
29 Jul 2026
Episode 9 - Michael Robert Kelly
Michael Kelly is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of San Diego and a leading scholar in phenomenology and continental philosophy. In this month's podcast we discuss his latest book, A Phenomenological Analysis of Envy (Routledge, 2024) a work that explores the lived experience of envy and what it reveals about the self, comparison, and human relationships. He is also author of Phenomenology and the Problem of Time and has edited several influential books on contemporary phenomenology.
7 Jul 2026
New Series - Episode 1
Welcome back to our brand new Series Two! We have another exciting series ahead featuring an inspiring range of guests and conversations. To begin the series, we're delighted to welcome Scott Holland, Professor Emeritus of Theology and Culture at Bethany Theological Seminary. Previously the Slabaugh Professor of Theology and Culture, he also directed Bethany's Peace Studies programme for over two decades and was instrumental in developing its pioneering programme in theopoetics in partnership with the Earlham School of Religion. A widely respected scholar, writer and public theologian, Scott's work has made a significant contribution to conversations on peace building, theology, culture and theopoetics.
This conversation was recorded in August 2025 - we've been looking forward to sharing it as the opening episode of Series Two!
2 Apr 2026
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 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!
2 Mar 2026
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.
4 Feb 2026
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.
9 Jan 2026
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.
29 Nov 2025
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.
31 Oct 2025
Episode 2: Catherine Keller
This episode features Professor Catherine Keller, a leading theologian from Drew University
18 Sept 2025
Episode 1: Dr. Kevin Hart
We are delighted to launch our new series! In our first episode we speak with Dr Kevin Hart - poet, philosopher and theologian. In this opening conversation, Dr. Hart shares his wisdom and offers rich insights into his life and work, inviting us into the depth of his thought and imagination. It is an honour to begin this series with him, and we hope you enjoy this conversation
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