About Me

Education

  • Ph.D., Marquette University (Theology)

  • S.T.M., Boston University School of Theology (Theology)

  • M.A., Boston College (Philosophy)

  • B.A., North Park University (Philosophy)

Research Interests

  • Embodied Cognition

  • Contemplative Methodology

  • Grace, Freedom, & Culture

  • Historical Soteriology

Teaching

  • Introduction to Theology/Catholicism

  • Introduction to Philosophy in the Catholic Tradition

  • The History of Christian Theology

  • Ancient & Medieval Philosophy

  • Faith & Reason

  • Prayer & Spirituality

  • Philosophy in Literature & Film

“But what will count is a perhaps not numerous center, big enough to be at home in both the old and the new, painstaking enough to work out one by one the transitions to be made, strong enough to refuse half measures and insist on complete solutions even though it has to wait.”
— Bernard Lonergan, S.J.
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Jonathan Heaps is the director of the Bernard J. Lonergan Institute at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey. His book, The Ambiguity of Being: Lonergan and the Problems of the Supernatural, was published in 2024 by The Catholic University of America Press.

Jonathan has published numerous essays on the relationship between embodiment, cognition, and culture that draw especially on the work of Lonergan and other major figures in twentieth-century Catholic thought. His research has appeared in American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly and Theological Studies. Jonathan is currently investigating the role that embodied contemplative practices (meditation, “mindfulness,” etc.) could play in addressing the problem of verification in the humanities and in theology. He also writes for a wider audience on a diverse range of topics, from prestige television to political partisanship to life during a pandemic. Whether writing for popular or specialized audiences, Jonathan strives to avoid trite framings or pre-packaged answers, instead preferring to face the harder version of a problem, even if it means his answers are more complicated or provisional.

In addition to looking for more opportunities to write about faith and ideas, he also speaks to a variety of audiences interested in raising today’s toughest questions. If you want to bring Jonathan to your community to speak, please use the Contact Me link at the top of the page.