Jakob is the Director of the Pastoral Institute at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. As a specialist in Christian ecumenism and theological anthropology, he uses insights gathered from the field of cognitive linguistics in order to understand how communities shape (and limit) the possibilities of thought through language, ritual, and metaphor — and how they transcend those differences in dialogue with others. He is the author of "Putting God on the Map: Theology and Conceptual Mapping".

Jakob received his B.A. from Valparaiso University in Liurgical Studies, his M.A from Saint John's University in Theology and his Ph.D. from Marquette University in Religious Studies.