Born in Athens, Greece, Samuel’s ancestors’ diverse origins give him global roots: in Okinawa, Japan, among the Chippewa (or Ojibwe) people, and in Eastern Europe (Poland and Croatia), and motivate his mission to unite the ancient and the modern.
Samuel’s work focuses on the ancient-modern continuum in metaphysics and theology, the German tradition, and the relationship between philosophy, science, technology, and religion. He’s the Editor-in-Chief of the Marginalia Review of Books , the Director of the Meanings of Science Project (with support from the Templeton Foundation), and the host of Becoming Human, a podcast featuring his work as a teacher and interviewer.
He’s working on a book about science and religion, and a study of radical evil in modern philosophy and theology. Besides many popular essays, he has published or is writing scholarly articles on Kierkegaard, Kant, German Idealism, modern theology, Schleiermacher, science and religion, and ancient philosophy.
Samuel has taught at Yale, and his writing has been read at Google, assigned in classes and universities across the world, and translated into Chinese and Farsi. His scholarship appears in places like Kant Studien, Neue Zeitschrift für Systematische Theologie und Religionsphilosophie, and Zygon: A Journal of Religion & Science.
His writing and teaching integrate a respect for scientific precision with the richness of lived experience and deep historical memory. As a scholar with global interests, Samuel teaches in the history of ancient, medieval, and modern philosophy as well as historical and systematic theology, religious studies, and the history and philosophy of science.
As a consultant and speaker, he has worked with clients like the United Nations, Oliver Wyman, Trinity Retreat Center, and Redbull Arts, and he has been a panelist with MacArthur Fellow, Trevor Paglen and conceptual artist, Sarah Meyohas. His work as an interviewer includes conversations with Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb, writer and former editor of Nature, Philip Ball, and the poet and theologian, Pádraig Ó Tuama.
In all his consulting and teaching, whether in the university, as a speaker, or in his podcast and teaching series, he instills a sense of history and an understanding of ideas and their importance in everyday life. He offers workshops, consultations, and classes on philosophy, religion, and technology, blending scholarly and creative concerns to help people ask and answer life’s largest questions.