Jake Mackey is Associate Professor of Classics at Occidental College, where he teaches Greek and Latin languages and literatures and their transformative reception by African-American writers. He is faculty advisor for the student Persuasion club, which provides a space for the free exchange of ideas on campus. He grew up between Austin, TX, and a small village in Kerala, in south India. The darker side of his experience in India—growing up in a cult—is captured in this film. He is planning a memoir about the brighter side. He is the author of Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion (Princeton University Press, 2022) and a founding member of Free Black Thought. He tweets here.

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Who are you?
I’m a native Texan who has ended up in the next best state, California. I’m a husband, father of two cool kids, and professional Classicist. 

What do you do? 
I’m Associate Professor of Classics at Occidental College, where I teach Greek and Latin languages and literatures and their transformative reception by African-American writers. I also serve as faculty advisor for the student Persuasion club, which provides a space for the free exchange of ideas on campus. (Feel free to reach out if you want to talk about starting a similar club at your school.) I’ve written a book, Belief and Cult: Rethinking Roman Religion (Princeton University Press, 2022), which uses theories and findings from the cognitive sciences in an attempt to understand what the ancient Roman pagans were doing in their religious practices, and a variety of academic articles and book chapters on topics ranging from papyrology to St. Augustine. 

At FBT, my primary jobs are editing the Journal of Free Black Thought (with Connie) and contributing to the Compendium of Free Black Thought. Please send me a pitch for an article or a suggestion for the Compendium! (DM me on Twitter.) Finally, I look forward to occasionally hosting our forthcoming Free Black Thought podcast.

What do you believe?
I’m a religion-appreciating non-theist. I find much beauty and wisdom in the great religious traditions, however, with Wallace Stevens, I believe that “after one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life's redemption.” My ontology is physicalist. My politics are essentially New Deal. For what it’s worth, I’ve always voted Democrat, except when I’ve voted Green. I was brought up in and found my own way out of a cult, an experience that left me wary of unquestionable orthodoxies in academic and other discourses. My 15 years working minimum-wage jobs ingrained in me a skepticism toward the “social justice” pretensions of Professional Managerial Class elites, whose inveighing against inequality often amounts to them granting themselves license to enjoy its fruits while expropriating blame for it to people of lower socioeconomic standing than themselves or to fellow but not necessarily more culpable elites.