• Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic University

Dr Lexi Eikelboom is Senior Research Fellow in theology and religion in the Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry. Her work uses art practices and discourses to intervene in philosophical debates concerning concepts of theological significance, and she has extensive interdisciplinary research experience bringing together methods and concerns from theology, philosophy, religious studies, literary studes, visual arts, and psychology. Eikelboom completed her PhD at the University of Oxford in 2016, which led to her first book Rhythm: A Theological Category (Oxford University Press, 2018) as well as several other publications. The book presents an innovative method for interpreting the philosophical work that the concept of rhythm does in theology by using resources from prosody and phenomenology to examine why thinkers characterize rhythm in substantially different ways. The analysis resulted in a constructive vision of how conceptions of rhythm affect articulations of doctrine,and it has been used to advance research in both theology and other disciplines, including work on Heidegger, Nietzsche, and Goethe, thereby establishing it as a method for understanding how culture influences thought through bodily experience.

Based on her conviction that embodied practice is pivotal to the contributions that art can make to abstract philosophical questions, Eikelboom has also led an interdisciplinary project "Spiritual Understanding in a Secular Age: Engaging Art as Religious Ritual", funded by the Templeton Religion Trust as part of their Art Seeking Understanding scheme. She lead a team of international and interdisciplinary researchers from across the humanities and experimental psychology to work with practicing artists in developing methods for approaching art practice as a source of spiritual knowledge through the lens of religious ritual. The project has culminated in an interdisciplinary volume pairing artists' practices with particular rituals organized around seven themes, and has resulted in impact for both churches and the artworld.

• –present Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Religion and Critical Inquiry, Australian Catholic University

MENAFN30102025000199003603ID1110273003