•  8
  • Kant and the Question of Theology (edited book)
    Cambridge University Press. 2017.
    God is a problematic idea in Kant's terms, but many scholars continue to be interested in Kantian theories of religion and the issues that they raise. In these new essays, scholars both within and outside Kant studies analyse Kant's writings and his claims about natural, philosophical, and revealed theology. Topics debated include arguments for the existence of God, natural theology, redemption, divine action, miracles, revelation, and life after death. The volume includes careful examination of…Read more
  •  19
    Can the New Wave of Kant Scholarship Baptize Kant’s Deism?
    Philosophia Christi 19 (1): 135-144. 2017.
    In recent decades there has arisen what Keith Yandell labels the “new wave” of Kant interpretation. These “new wavers” argue that Kant has a more robust view of God and religion than traditionally granted. This article is part of an exchange with Chris Firestone, originally presented at the AAR’s annual meeting, on the question “Can the New Wave Baptize Kant’s Deism?” In what follows, I argue no, contending that the theologically robust Kant of the new wave still builds on a foundation that is f…Read more
  • In Defense of Kant's Religion
    International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 66 (3): 167-171. 2009.
  •  11
    Are Created Spirits Composed of Matter and Form?
    Philosophia Christi 14 (1): 79-108. 2012.
    In this essay, I argue that both human souls and angels are hylomorphic, a position I dub “pneumatic hylomorphism” (PH). Following a sketch of the history of PH, I offer both an analytic and a confessional defense of PH. The former argues that PH is the most cogent anthropology/angelology, given the Christian understanding of the intermediate state and angels. My confessional defense shows that PH plays a crucial role in pro-Nicene theology. I close with an assessment of contemporary anthropolog…Read more
  •  6
    Contra Clayton
    Faith and Philosophy 25 (4): 376-393. 2008.
    In this essay, I examine Philip Clayton’s efforts to construct a philosophical theology that fits the current scientific view of organism. Clayton capitalizes on an evolutionary outlook, which sees organism as an emergent entity composed of lower organic unities, and which, at the highest level of organic development (brain), yields an emergent, non-physical phenomenon (mind). Presuming a bilateral relationship between mind and body, Clayton argues for a picture of God-world relations where worl…Read more
  •  7
    Kant’s Apologia
    Philosophia Christi 9 (1): 39-62. 2007.
  •  34
    In Defense of Kant's Religion
    Indiana University Press. 2008.
    Chris L. Firestone and Nathan Jacobs integrate and interpret the work of leading Kant scholars to come to a new and deeper understanding of Kant's difficult book, Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason. In this text, Kant's vocabulary and language are especially tortured and convoluted. Readers have often lost sight of the thinker's deep ties to Christianity and questioned the viability of the work as serious philosophy of religion. Firestone and Jacobs provide strong and cogent grounds f…Read more
  •  38
    Contra Clayton
    Faith and Philosophy 25 (4): 376-393. 2008.
    In this essay, I examine Philip Clayton’s efforts to construct a philosophical theology that fits the current scientific view of organism. Clayton capitalizes on an evolutionary outlook, which sees organism as an emergent entity composed of lower organic unities, and which, at the highest level of organic development (brain), yields an emergent, non-physical phenomenon (mind). Presuming a bilateral relationship between mind and body, Clayton argues for a picture of God-world relations where worl…Read more
  •  30
    A Reply to Critics of In Defense of Kant’s Religion
    Faith and Philosophy 29 (2): 210-228. 2012.
    In this essay, I reply to the above four critics of In Defense of Kant’s Religion (IDKR). In reply to George di Giovanni, I highlight the interpretive differencesthat divide the authors of IDKR and di Giovanni, and argue that di Giovanni’s atheist reading of Kant does not follow, even granting his premises. In reply to Pamela Sue Anderson, I show that if her reading of Kant is accurate, Kant’s own talk of God becomes empty and contemptible by his own lights, and I then show how her empirical bia…Read more
  •  14
    On the Metaphysics of God and Creatures in the Eastern Pro-Nicenes
    Philosophy and Theology 28 (1): 3-42. 2016.
    Amid the Arian dispute, opponents of Arius object to his Christology by arguing that if the Son came into being, then the Son is a creature; he is mutable; he is corruptible; his goodness is non-essential; and he cannot give life to humanity. These charges consistently appear in the writings of Arius’s contemporaries, the councils to follow, and the Eastern Church fathers in the centuries after the dispute. In this essay, I flesh out the metaphysical foundation of Eastern anti-Arian polemics and…Read more
  •  10
    The Persistence of the Sacred in Modern Thought (edited book)
    Notre Dame University Press. 2012.
    In _The Persistence of the Sacred in Modern Thought,_ Chris L. Firestone, Nathan A. Jacobs, and thirteen other contributors examine the role of God in the thought of major European philosophers from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. The philosophers considered are, by and large, not orthodox theists; they are highly influential freethinkers, emancipated by an age no longer tethered to the authority of church and state. While acknowledging this fact, the contributors are united in arguin…Read more