CURRICULUM
VITA
Philosopher in Meditation, Rembrandt (1632) Philosopher in Meditation,
Rembrandt (1632)
Selected Contents
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I have wide ranging professional
and scholarly interests. I pursued my graduate training in philosophy at Vanderbilt University. My
dissertation, Truth's Harmony in
Plato's Musical Cosmos, gives expression to my great love for
ancient philosophy, and especially for Plato. I am convinced, as many
others have also been, that while the law constitutes
God's special revelation of himself to the Hebrews, philosophy represents God's
special revelation of himself to the Greeks. I continue to marvel at the
remarkable insights of an ancient culture that--for all its differences--is not
as removed from the present as many often suppose.
Given my Christian commitment, and
given my undergraduate training in religion at Oklahoma
Baptist University, I also actively pursue scholarship in the philosophy of
religion. I am therefore easily drawn into metaphysical discussions
concerning the nature of both God and the human person, into epistemological
discussions concerning the nature and limits of religious knowledge, and into
ethical discussions concerning the nature of morality, human happiness, and the
development of intellectual, moral, and spiritual virtue.
As Director of the Baylor Institute for Faith and Learning, I assist in the vital task of helping Baylor and other
constituencies to understand, articulate, and concretely express the
relationship between our faith and the academy.
I am convinced that the Institute will help stem the “dying of the
light” that James Burtchaell and others have
described, and will do so by ensuring that Christian ideas and commitments are
at the center rather than the periphery of institutional intellectual life.
Oklahoma
Baptist University,
B.A., Summa Cum Laude, Religion, 1992 (thesis "From Scientific Positivism
to Neo-Pragmatism: William James as a Transitional Epistemologist").
AREAS OF SPECIALIZATION
Plato,
Ancient Philosophy
Philosophy/Theology
of Education
AREAS OF COMPETENCE
History of Philosophy
Philosophy of Religion
Ethics, Applied Ethics
Logic
Baylor Institute for Faith and Learning, 2001-present
Director, 2004-present, Acting Director, 2002-2004, Associate Director, 2001-2002. Primary leadership for Institute activities
and personnel, with responsibilities for program planning, administration, and
assessment; active research and publication; grant writing and fund raising;
faculty development; and coordination of regular conferences.
Director, 2000-2001. Responsibilities for program
planning, administration, and assessment; student recruitment and admissions;
course planning and staffing; and coordination of extracurricular colloquium
series.
Director, 1997-1998. Responsibilities for program planning,
administration, and assessment; student recruitment and admissions; and course
planning and staffing.
Assistant
Professor of Philosophy,
Intellectual Tradition
of the Ancient World
Medieval Intellectual
Tradition
Greek and Hebrew Era
Classical Philosophy
Part-time
Lecturer,
Social World I (Baylor Interdisciplinary
Core)
Living
Issues in Philosophy (Department of Philosophy)
Assistant Professor,
Malone College, 1998-2001.
Critical
and Creative Thinking
Theories
of Knowledge and Reality
Faith
and Worldviews
Science
and Religion (interdisciplinary, grant-funded course)
Philosophical
Ethics
Assistant Professor,
Grand Canyon University, 1996-1998.
Introduction to Philosophy
Introduction to Logic
Introduction to Ethics
Business Ethics
Organizational Ethics
Biomedical Ethics (interdisciplinary,
team-taught course)
Foundations of Western Thought
(interdisciplinary, team-taught course)
Shapers of the Modern Mind
Faith and Reason
Faith and Living in the 21st Century
(interdisciplinary, team-taught course)
RESEARCH APPOINTMENTS
Research
Assistant, Center for
Crime and Justice Policy, Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies,
1993-1995. Research assistance for several studies of juvenile crime, delinquency,
and anti-social behavior.
Research
Assistant, Schecter Communications Corporation,
Edited
Books
Faithful Learning and the Christian Scholarly Vocation. Ed. Douglas V. Henry and
Bob R. Agee.
Christianity
and the Soul of the University: Faith as a Foundation for Intellectual
Community. Ed. Douglas V. Henry and Michael D. Beaty. Grand Rapids, MI:
Baker Academic, 2006.
Peer-Reviewed
Articles
“Protestant Free Church Christians and Gaudium et Spes: An Historical and Philosophical Perspective,” Logos: A Journal of Catholic Thought and
Culture (forthcoming). Co-authors: Michael Beaty and Scott Moore.
“Can Baptist Theology Sustain the Life of
the Mind? The Quest for a
“Intellectual Integrity in the Christian
Scholar’s Life,” Christian Scholar’s Review, vol. 33, no. 1 (Fall 2003): 55-74.
“Correspondence Theories, Natural-Selective
Truth, and Unsurmounted Skepticism” Philosophia
Christi, vol. 5, no. 1 (June 2003): 93-112.
“Individual, Denominational, and Civic
Factors in the Successful Founding of
“Does Reasonable Nonbelief
Exist?” Faith and Philosophy, vol. 18, no. 1 (January 2001): 75-92.
Book
Reviews
Douglas Jacobsen and Rhonda Hustedt Jacobsen, Scholarship
and Christian Faith: Enlarging the Conversation (
Pierre Hadot, What is Ancient Philosophy? (Harvard, 2002). Reviewed for Christian Scholar’s Review, vol. 33, no.
2 (Winter 2004): 274-277.
Nicholas P. Wolterstorff,
Educating for Life: Reflections on Christian Teaching and Learning
(Baker Academic, 2002); James Youniss et al., eds. The Catholic
Character of Catholic Schools (Notre Dame, 2000); and Paul J. Dovre, ed., The Future
of Religious Colleges (Eerdmans, 2002). Reviewed for Perspectives in Religious Studies, vol. 30, no. 4 (Winter 2004): 480-483.
“Bill J. Leonard’s God’s Last and Only
Hope,” The Oklahoma Baptist Chronicle vol. 34, no. 1 (Spring 1991):
40-48.
Other
“My Maker was the Primal Love,” Christian
Reflection: A Series in Faith and Ethics, special issue on Heaven and
Hell, no. 3 (Spring 2002): 35-38.
“Does Plato Matter?”
WORK IN PROGRESS
Books
The Schooled Heart: Moral Formation in American
Higher Education, edited volume with contributed chapters from Stanley Hauerwas, David Jeffrey, Warren Nord, Joseph O’Hare, Julie
Reuben,
Practicing the Philosophia Perennis
as a Way of Life. A single-authored book project drawing
together several smaller, related projects into an organic whole and bringing
to culmination a long-term research project concerned with the proper end(s),
conditions, and virtues and practices essential for embodying the philosophia perennis as a
form of life.
For Freedom, For Love: Liberal Education
and the Baptist Vision. A single-authored book
project developing a critically informed philosophy of higher education in the
Baptist tradition.
Articles
“Reasonable Doubts about
Reasonable Nonbelief.”
“Quid Ipse Sis Nosse Desisti.”
“Truth as Harmony at Sophist
261-263.”
“Discourse and the Weaving Together of
Forms: Reconsidering the Symploke Eidon Problem of Sophist 259e.”
“Hope’s Promise for Christian Scholar’s in
the Not-Yet and In-Between.”
“Quid
Ipse Sis Nosse Desisti,”
invited presentation for symposium on “Is Human Nature Morally Normative? Human Nature and its Philosophical Discontents,” St. Edward’s
University, November 18-20, 2005.
“Can Baptist Theology Sustain the Life of
the Mind? The Quest for a
“Michael M. Waddell’s ‘Reason and Faith as
Modes of Grace in Aquinas, Milbank, and Pickstock,’”
Invited Commentator for Colloquium: Philosophy of Religion, American
Philosophical Association, Central Division Meeting,
“Why We Can’t Wait—Freedom, the Protestant
Free Church, and Gaudium et spes,”
Paper presented to The Call to Justice:
The Legacy of Gaudium et
spes 40 Years
Later,
“Christian Art: Beyond Presumption and
Despair to Hope,” Paper presented for University of Notre Dame Center for Ethics
and Culture Conference, “Epiphanies of Beauty: The Arts in a Post-Christian
Culture,” November 18-20, 2004.
“Hope: A Forgotten Virtue for Christian
Scholars in a Culture of Presumption and Despair,” Paper presented to Baptist
Association of Philosophy Teachers Biennial Meeting,
“Philosophy as a Way of Life: Ancient Roots
and Modern Implications,” Scholar’s Day,
“Teaching Virtue, Schooling Minds: Cultural
Transformation and a History of the University,” Invited paper presented at
University of Notre Dame Center for Ethics and Culture Conference, “On
Formation and Renewal,” October 2-4, 2003.
“Can Baptist Theology Sustain the Life of
the Mind?” Paper presented to Baptist Association of Philosophy Teachers
Biennial Meeting,
“Faith and Learning Integration as an
Institutional Objective: Why and How?” Co-presented with Michael D. Beaty,
Association of Southern
“Intellectual Integrity in the Christian
Scholar’s Life.” Paper
presented to Society of Christian Philosophers Central Divisional Meeting,
“Faith and Learning Integration in the Classroom.” Panel discussion organized for National
Association of Baptist Professors of Religion, Southwest Regional Meeting,
“Truth’s Harmony in Plato's Musical Cosmos.” Paper presented to Society of Christian
Philosophers Eastern Regional Meeting,
“Does Reasonable Nonbelief
Exist?” Invited presentation to Department of Philosophy,
__________. Paper presented to Society of
Christian Philosophers Eastern Regional Meeting,
__________. Paper presented to Baptist
Association of Philosophy Teachers Biennial Meeting, New Orleans Baptist
Theological Seminary, September 25-27, 1998.
“Shapers of the Modern Mind: Science and
Religion over 400 Years of Dialogue.” Poster session presentation for Templeton Foundation Science
and Religion Course Program Summer Workshop, Chicago Center for Science and
Religion, Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, June 19-24, 1998.
“Belief, Biology, and Natural-Selective
Accounts of Truth: Naturalism vs. Supernaturalism in Correspondence Views of
Truth.” Paper presented to Society of Christian Philosophers Eastern Regional
Meeting,
“Baptizing Zagzebski’s
Virtues of the Mind.”
Paper presented to Society of Christian Philosophers Mountain-Plains Regional
Meeting,
“Christian Scholarship as Virtuous
Practice.” Paper
presented to Conference on Christian Scholarship: Knowledge, Reality, and
Method,
Grant Applicant, Lilly Endowment Inc., “Baylor Horizons: Sustaining the Theological Exploration
of Vocation,” June 29, 2005, $500,000.
Co-authored with Michael Hanby.
Grant Recipient, Lilly Fellows Program National Research Conference Program, “The
World and Christian Imagination,” $83,500. Co-authored with
Michael Hanby.
Grant Applicant, Council of Christian Colleges and Universities, initiative grant
proposal for “Teaching Virtue, Schooling Minds: Toward a Pedagogy of the
Virtues,” January 2005, $15,000.
Co-authored with Darin Davis, Shawn Floyd, Jeanne Heffernan,
Scott Moore, and Elizabeth Newman.
Grant Recipient, Lilly Fellows Program, Vocation and
Christian Higher Education Undergraduate Conference Program, October 2002,
$46,000.
Grant Applicant, Lilly Endowment, Inc., planning grant
proposal for “Leadership Development for
Grant Recipient, John Templeton Foundation/American
Scientific Affiliation Science and Religion Lecture Series Program, 2000-2001,
$1,000.
Grant Recipient, Summer Research Grant Program,
Grant Recipient, John Templeton Foundation/American
Scientific Affiliation Science and Religion Lectures Series Program, 1999-2000,
$4,200 speaker grant.
Grant Recipient, John Templeton Foundation Science and
Religion Course Program, 1997-1998, $10,000 course development
grant.
FELLOWSHIPS AND DISTINCTIONS
Faculty Fellow, Collegium:
A Colloquy on Faith and Intellectual Life, Fairfield University, Fairfield,
CT, June 14, 21, 2002.
Runner-up, American Philosophical Association
Letters-to-the Editor Competition, June 2002.
Faculty Forum Award,
Faculty Forum Award,
Andrew C. Mellon Dissertation Year Fellow, Vanderbilt University, 1995-1996.
Who’s Who Among Students in American
President, Student Government Association, Oklahoma
Baptist University, 1991-1992.
John Wesley Raley
Scholar, Oklahoma
Baptist University, 1991-1992.
Jent Philosophy Award,
Robert S. Byrd Scholar, 1988-1989.
National Merit Scholar, 1988-1989.
American
Philosophical Association
Society
of Christian Philosophers
Baptist
Association of Philosophy Teachers
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Secretary-Treasurer, Baptist Association of Philosophy
Teachers, 2002-present.
Editorial
Advisory Board Member,
Christian Scholar’s Review, 1999-present.
Juror,
Charles J. Miller
Christian Scholar’s Award, Christian Scholar’s Review, 2002, 2003
Referee, Baylor University Press,
2003-present.
Regional
Planning Committee Member,
Society of Christian Philosophers Mountain-Plains Region, 1998-1999.
PROFESSIONAL CONSULTATIONS/PRESENTATIONS
Invited Speaker, “Hope’s Promise for
Christian Scholar’s in the Not-Yet and In-Between,”
Consultant, “Center for
Scholarship/Scholarly Initiative,”
Invited Panelist, “Gnosis to Epignosis . . . A Faith Integration Seminar,” Center for
Excellence in Teaching and Learning,
Invited Panelist, “Evangelicalism and Higher
Education,” Panel presentation for After
Evangelicalism, Second Annual Civitas Conference,
Cornerstone University, Grand Rapids, MI, September 15-17, 2005.
Consultant, “Young Scholars in the
Convener/Panelist, “Young Scholars in the
Invited Panelist, “Christian Business
Education: Six Theses,” Panel presentation for Christian Business Faculty
Association Conference, Just Business:
Christian Perspectives on Marketplace Justice,
Invited Panelist, “Lilly Program for the
Theological Exploration of Vocation: Best Practices Conference,” St. Norbert’s
College,
Invited Small Group Facilitator, “Developing
Leadership for
Invited Panelist, “Eight Years of the Rhodes
Consultation: A Celebration,”
ACADEMIC/FACULTY
GOVERNANCE
Steering
Committee, Baylor Horizons, 2002-present.
Search Committee,
Institute for Faith and Learning, Associate Director Search, 2004.
Search Committee,
Great Texts Program, Assistant Professor Search, 2003-2004.
Search Committee, Institute for
Faith and Learning, Director Search, 2002-2004.
Faith/Learning
Integration Task Force (1998-1999)
General
Education Committee (1999-2001)
Honors
Program Committee (2000-2001)
Seminary
Task Force (1999-2000)
Faculty
Development Committee (1997-1998)
CONFERENCES
ADMINISTERED/PLANNED
“Global
Christianity: Challenging Modernity and the West,” Pruit
Memorial Symposium, Baylor University, November 10-12, 2005 (featuring David
Bebbington, Paul C. Freston, Mark A. Noll, Dana L.
Robert, Lamin Sanneh, and
Brian Stanley).
“Medical
Ethics Conference,” Baylor University, October 13-15, 2005 (featuring Mark
Cherry, H. Tristram Engelhardt, Jorge L.A. Garcia,
Robert P. George, William F. May, Gilbert C. Meilaender, and
“Law, Command, and Authority in Thomas Aquinas,” Summer Seminar of
the Baptist Association of Philosophy Teachers, University of Notre Dame, May
15-21, 2005 (featuring F. Russell Hittinger).
“Divine
Comedies: Humor, Harmony, and Redemption,” Art & Soul Festival, Baylor
University, April 7-9, 2005 (featuring Jeremy Begbie, Leif Enger,
Kaye Gibbons, Christopher Ricks, Phyllis Tickle, Lauren Winner, and others).
“Biennial Conference,” Baptist Association of Philosophy Teachers,
“Slavery,
Oppression, and Prejudice: Ancient Roots and Modern Implications,” Pruit Memorial Symposium, Baylor University, September
30-October 2, 2004 (featuring Keith R. Bradley, Allen Callahan, Elizabeth
Fox-Genovese, Eugene Genovese, Jennifer Glancy, Caleb Oladipo, and others).
“Young
Scholars in the
“Christianity and the Soul of the University: Faith as a Foundation
for Intellectual Community,” March 25-27, 2004 (featuring Jean Bethke-Elshtain,
Joel Carpenter, Richard Hays, David Jeffrey, and John Polkinghorne).
“The
Schooled Heart: Moral Formation in American Higher Education,” Pruit Memorial Symposium, Baylor University, October
30-November 1, 2003 (featuring Stanley Hauerwas, David
Jeffrey, Warren Nord, Joseph O’Hare, Julie Reuben, and David Solomon).
“Hearing God’s Call, Finding One’s Place: Vocation, Culture, and
the
“Virtue Epistemology,” Summer Seminar of the Baptist Association of
Philosophy Teachers, University of Notre Dame, May 18-24, 2003 (featuring
Robert C. Roberts and W. Jay Wood).
“Mystery
and Meaning in the Arts,” Art & Soul Festival, Baylor University, March
20-23, 2003 (featuring Jeremy Begbie, Scott Cairns, Frederica Mathewes-Green, Ralph McInerny, Kathleen Norris, Michael
O’Brien, Nicolas Samaras, and others).
“Christianity
and Economics: Integrating Faith and Learning in Economic Scholarship,” Pruit Memorial Symposium, Baylor University, November 7-9,
2002 (featuring George Marsden, Rebecca Blank, Judith
Dean, David Gushee, Glenn Loury, Robert Nelson, and
Michael Novak).
“Religion
and Literature in the American Southwest,” Art & Soul Festival, Baylor
University, March 14-17, 2002 (featuring Margaret Becker, Robert Olen Butler,
Will Campbell, Diane Glancy, Bret Lott, Ralph Wood, and others).
“Celebrating
Augustine’s Confessions: Reading Augustine for the New Millennium,” Pruit Memorial Symposium, Baylor University, October 4-6,
2001 (featuring Anne-Marie Bowery, David Lyle Jeffrey, Scott MacDonald, Colin
John Starnes, John Smith, and Carl Vaught).
BAYLOR
UNIVERSITY PRESENTATIONS
Moderator/Panelist, “Integrating Faith and
Learning: Opportunities, Challenges, and Strategies,” New Faculty Orientation,
August 15, 2005.
“Integrating Faith and Learning,” Invited speaker/panelist
for Baylor Board of Regents Meeting, July 13, 2005.
“Faith, Learning, and Research,”
Presentation for Summer Faculty Institute, June 14, 2005.
“Tribute,” Invited Faculty Perspective, “A
Celebration of the Presidency of Dr. Robert B. Sloan, Jr.,” May 25, 2005.
“Recapturing the Concept of Vocation,”
Presented for “Vocation, Liberal Learning, and the Professions,” May 16, 2005.
“Vocation, Liberal Learning, and the
Professions,” Retreat Director/Facilitator, Faculty Retreat,
“Why Are We Here? A Christian Vision of
Learning and Vocation,” Faculty Perspective, Workplace Orientation and Welcome,
“The Spirituality of Christian Vocation,”
Guest Lecture for Dr. Michael Attas’s MH 2301 History
of Christian Spirituality/Health, November 9, 2004.
“Scholarship, Teaching, and the
“Integrating Faith and Learning: Beyond
Caricature to Contested Ideals and Constructive Models,” Presented for New
Faculty Orientation, August 9, 2004.
“On Hope,” Devotional for
“Scholarship as an Act of Faith,”
Presentation for Summer Faculty Institute, June 28, 2004.
“Teaching as an Act of Faith,” Presentation
for Summer Faculty Institute, June 30, 2004.
“Vocation, Liberal Learning, and the
Professions,” Retreat Director/Facilitator, First-Year Faculty Retreat,
“Hope: Bearing Witness to God Amidst a Culture of Presumption and Despair,” Presented for
“Vocation, Liberal Learning, and the Professions,” May 18, 2004.
“Faith: Discerning a Narrative Unity for
Christian Life,” Presented for “Vocation, Liberal Learning, and the
Professions,” May 17, 2004.
“The Christian University,” Guest Lecture
for Dr. Laine Scale’s GRD 6301 Introduction to College Teaching Seminar, April
13, 2004.
“Reading Plato’s Republic III Harmoniously,” Guest Lecture
for Dr. Anne-Marie Bowery’s PHIL 5312 Plato Seminar, February 2, 2004.
“Great Calling, Commandment, Commission: A
Pedagogy of Vocation in Christian Perspective,” Baylor
“The Schooled Heart: Convocation Remarks,” Pruit Memorial Symposium,
“Integrating Faith and Learning as an
Institutional Objective: Why and How?” New Lecturer Orientation,
“Integrating Faith and Learning as an
Institutional Objective: Why and How?” New Faculty Orientation,
“Scholarship and the
“Vocation and the Professions of Engineering
and Computer Science,” Presentation for Board of Advocates, Baylor School of
Engineering and Computer Science, Austin, TX, April 4, 2003.
“Great Texts Initiatives within Engineering
and Computer Science,” Presentation for Board of Advocates, Baylor School of
Engineering and Computer Science, Austin, TX, April 4, 2003.
“Why an Institute for Faith and Learning,
and Why at Baylor?”
Baylor Leadership Council Presentation, March 27, 2003.
“Mystery and Meaning in the Arts:
Convocation Remarks,” Art & Soul Festival,
“What’s Bruin?”
“Building the Christian Academy,” Panel
Discussant with Drs. Michael Beaty and
“Building the Christian Academy,” Book
Discussion Facilitator of Arthur Holmes Book, School of Education, Baylor
University, February 12, 2003.
“Integrating Faith and Learning as an
Institutional Objective: Why and How?” New Lecturer Orientation,
“Integrating Faith and Learning as an
Institutional Objective: Why and How?” New Faculty Orientation,
“Scholarship and the
“Vocation and a Liberal Education,” Retreat
Director/Facilitator, First-Year Faculty Retreat,
“Writing Not a Performance, But a
Generosity: Convocation Remarks,” Art & Soul Festival,
“A Christian University,” Guest Lecture for Dr. Rosalie Beck’s
REL 5399 Teaching Fellows Colloquy, October 17, 2001.
“Scholarship and the
CHURCH AND COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
Member,
Faculty Sponsor,
Member,
Member, First Southern
Volunteer, MS Walk Event,
Member,
Volunteer, Habitat for Humanity,
Counselor Supervisor, Twin Cities Billy Graham Crusade,