Mark Novak, PhD, MA, MA, BN

Area of Study / Keywords

Philosophy of religion phenomenology

About

I started my education with a bachelor's degree in nursing from the UofC, then worked for 3.5 years as an RN in two different mental health settings. While working as an RN, I completed an MA in counselling from Providence Theological Seminary. I then left that field to pursue graduate studies in philosophy full-time. I did an MA in philosophy at the Institute for Christian Studies, and then a PhD in religious studies at McMaster University, both in the area of contemporary continental philosophy of religion (religious studies departments are often better departments to do continental philosophy than most philosophy departments in Canada).

Research

- Contemporary continental philosophy of religion. Phenomenology, existentialism, hermeneutics. 

- Philosophy/Religion and Pop Culture (especially film and literature).

- The intersection of philosophy and psychology. Phenomenological psychology, embodied cognition, enactivism, existential psychotherapy, psychoanalysis. 

PHIL 209 - The Human Person: Philosophical Issues

Personal identity, interpersonal relationships, sex and gender, freedom and immortality in historical and contemporary contexts.

PHIL 219 - The Art of Living Well: Meaning and the Good Life

Philosophies of the good life. Topics may include integrated wellness, attentiveness, objects of devotion, and community in historical and contemporary contexts.

Browse more courses taught by Mark Novak

Mark Novak

London: Bloomsbury Academic. 2025 September;

Mark Novak

Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave. 2018 March; William Desmond’s Philosophy Between Metaphysics, Religion, and Aesthetics: Thinking Metaxologically