About Daniel Esparza

The author of Forgiving Philosophy (DeGruyter), Daniel R. Esparza is a researcher at the Blanquerna Observatory of Media, Religion, and Culture, and an associate professor at the Universitat Ramon Llull in Barcelona. He holds a PhD in Religion (Columbia University), a Masters Degree in Religion (Columbia University), a Masters Degree in Philosophy (New School for Social Research), an Mg.Sc. Degree in Philosophy (Simón Bolívar University), and a B.A. in Art History from the Central University of Venezuela. He also has advanced certificates in comparative literature and psychoanalytic studies (Columbia University, NYC, USA). He has taught at Columbia University (New York), Manhattan College (New York), Seton Hall University (South Orange, New Jersey), and currently teaches at the Faculty of Communication and International Relations Blanquerna, at Universitat Ramon Llull (Barcelona).

His interests include philosophy of religion (Augustine, Kierkegaard, Bataille, Arendt), anthropology (Lévi-Strauss, Geertz, Douglas), psychoanalysis (Freud, Klein, Kristeva) and Iberian mysticism (Juan de la Cruz, Teresa of Avila, Quevedo, Spinoza). His current book project, Take and Eat, examines the history and practice of theophagy—the act of eating a god—through philosophical, anthropological, and psychoanalytic approaches. The book challenges dominant aesthetic hierarchies and considers how religious experience is mediated through acts of consumption.

Follow Daniel Esparza on Instagram or connect with him on LinkedIn. You can find some of his work on his ResearchGate and Academia profiles.