Speakers

 

 

William Lane Craig, D. Theol., Ph.D.

Ph.D., University of Birmingham, England; D. Theol., Ludwig-Maximilliéns-Universität München, Germany

William Lane Craig is a Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California. He has authored or edited over thirty books, including The Kalam Cosmological Argument; Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus; Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom; Theism, Atheism, and Big Bang Cosmology; and God, Time, and Eternity, as well as over a hundred articles in professional journals of philosophy and theology, including The Journal of Philosophy, New Testament Studies, Philosophical Studies, Philosophy, and British Journal for Philosophy of Science.   His website is www.reasonablefaith.org.

Gary Habermas, Ph.D.

Ph.D., Michigan State University

Dr. Gary Habermas is the author or co-author of over 30 books and 100 articles and reviews in journals and magazines. In the last 12 years he has given over 1500 lectures in about 100 universities, seminaries, and colleges. He holds a PhD in History and Philosophy of Religion from Michigan State University as well as an MA in Philosophical Theology from the University of Detroit. He currently acts as 'Distinguished Research Professor and Chair' in the Department of Philosophy and Theology at Liberty University, where he has taught for the past 26 years. His main areas of research include the philosophical study of miracles, near-death experiences, the historical Jesus, and the historicity of the resurrection of Jesus.

Greg Koukl, M.A.

M.A.,Talbot School of Theology

Greg Koukl is the founder and president of Stand to Reason (www.str.org). Greg started out thinking he was too smart to become a Christian and ended up giving his life for the defense of the Christian faith. A central theme of Greg's speaking and writing is that Christianity can compete in the marketplace of ideas when it's properly understood and properly articulated.
Greg's teaching has been featured on Focus on the Family radio, he’s been interviewed for CBN and the BBC, and did a one-hour national television debate with Deepak Chopra on Lee Strobel's “Faith Under Fire.” Greg has been quoted in U.S. News & World Report, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and the L.A. Times. An award-winning writer, Greg is author of Tactics: A Gameplan to Discuss Your Christian Convictions, Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air with Francis J. Beckwith, and Precious Unborn Human Person. Greg has spoken on more than 50 university and college campuses both in the U.S. and abroad.



Randy Newman, M.Div.

M.Div.,Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

Randy Newman is the author of two books on evangelism, Questioning Evangelism and Corner Conversations, and numerous articles on living the Christian life with depth. He has served with Campus Crusade for Christ since 1980, currently working in Washington, D.C. with students, professors, and government leaders. He holds a Masters of Divinity degree from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. In Educational Studies from that same institution

Patrick Smith, M.A.

Patrick T. Smith is an Assistant Professor of Theology and Philosophy at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in South Hamilton, MA and has served as an adjunct apologist for Ravi Zacharias International Ministries.  He is a member of professional organizations as the Society for Christian Philosophers, the Evangelical Philosophical Society and the Evangelical Theological Society. He has publications in the Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization and critical reviews in scholarly journals. His primary areas of interest are in Christian apologetics, philosophical theology, philosophy of religion and Christian ethics.  He frequently speaks in churches and to university and professional groups concerning contemporary challenges to Christian faith and belief. His desire in ministry is to engage the mind to the impact the heart with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

Craig Blomberg, Ph.D.

Ph.D., University of Aberdeen, Scotland

Craig Blomberg is Distinguished Professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary in Littleton, Colorado.  He has authored or edited twenty books, including The Historical Reliability of the Gospels, Interpreting the Parables, Neither Poverty nor Riches; Contagious Holiness, Jesus and the Gospels, From Pentecost to Patmos, Two Views on Women in Ministry, The Case for Historic Premillennialism and commentaries on Matthew, 1 Corinthians, and James, as well as over a hundred articles in books, dictionaries or encyclopedias, and professional journals, including Journal for the Study of the New Testament, Bulletin for Biblical Research, Biblical Theology Bulletin, Catholic Biblical Quarterly, Themelios, Westminster Theological Journal, Trinity Journal, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Southwestern Journal of Theology and Trinity Journal.

Greg Ganssle, Ph.D.

Ph.D., Syracuse University

Greg Ganssle is a part time lecturer in the philosophy department at Yale University and is faculty at the Rivendell Institute. He has published over two dozen articles, chapters and reviews and has edited two books. He is also author of Thinking about God: First Steps in Philosophy (IVP, 2004) He is working on a second book, Philosophy and the New Atheism.

John Bloom, Ph.D.

Ph.D, Annenberg Research Institute, Philadelphia

Dr. Bloom is the founding director of Biola's new M.A. in Science and Religion program (www.biola.edu/scienceandreligion), and also teaches undergraduate courses in Physics. His research interests include the integration of Christianity with the sciences, and Apologetics. Before coming to Biola, Dr. Bloom helped found and direct a crisis pregnancy center in Pennsylvania, did computer consulting, and served as an elder and deacon in a Bible Fellowship church. Dr. Bloom has an interest in viable alternative energy sources and recently equipped his home with photovoltaic solar panels that supply most his home's electrical needs. He lives in La Mirada with his wife and son.

Craig Mitchell, Ph.D.

Ph.D., University of Notre Dame

Craig Vincent Mitchell holds a Ph.D. in Christian ethics and philosophy of religion. He is assistant professor of Christian ethics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, and a research fellow with the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention. Previously, he has served as an adjunct professor of philosophy and ethics at Tarrant County and Weatherford Colleges.

James Sinclair, M.S.

M.A. Physics, Texas A&M

James Sinclair is a Warfare Analyst for the United States Navy. He has authored numerous papers for symposia such as the Military Operations Research Society and the Combat Identification Systems Conference. Mr. Sinclair’s Masters is in Supersymmetry & Cosmology.

Daniel B. Wallace, Ph.D.

Ph.D., Dallas Theological Seminary

Daniel B. Wallace has taught Greek and New Testament courses on a graduate school level since 1979. He has a Ph.D. from Dallas Theological Seminary, and is currently professor of New Testament Studies at his alma mater. His Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics: An Exegetical Syntax of the New Testament (Zondervan, 1996) has become a standard textbook in colleges and seminaries. He is the senior New Testament editor of the NET Bible. Dr. Wallace is also the Executive Director for the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts.

Robin Collins, Ph.D.

Ph.D., University of Notre Dame

Robin Collins is an American philosopher who is currently Professor of Philosophy at Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania. His main interests include issues in science and religion, and theories of the atonement. Collins received a Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 1993. Alvin Plantinga directed his dissertation, which was titled "Epistemological Issues in the Scientific Realism/Antirealism Debate: An Analysis and a Proposal"; his defense of it passed with the highest possible honors. He served as a post-doctoral fellow at Northwestern University's Program in History and Philosophy of Science before joining Messiah College. His undergraduate training was at Washington State University in Mathematics, Physics, and Philosophy. Prior to his Ph.D. in philosophy at Notre Dame, he began a Ph.D. program in physics at the University of Texas at Austin, but did not complete it.

Craig Evans, Ph.D.

Ph.D. Claremont Graduate University

Craig A. Evans is a Christian theologian and author. He gained his B.A. in history and philosophy from Claremont McKenna College, an M.Div. from Western Baptist Seminary in Portland, Oregon, and his M.A. and Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from Claremont Graduate University in southern California. Currently he is Payzant Distinguished Professor of New Testament and director of the graduate program at Acadia Divinity College in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Prior to coming to Acadia, he was a visiting assistant professor of religious studies at McMaster University and a professor of biblical studies at Trinity Western University. Dr. Evans' research has led to conferences on subjects including the Dead Sea Scrolls, issues related to the image and perception of Jesus Christ and archaeology of the Bible. He writes extensively on the historical Jesus and the Jewish background of the New Testament era.

Michael Murray, Ph.D.

Ph.D., University of Notre Dame.

Michael James Murray is the Arthur and Katherine Shadek Professor in the Humanities and Philosophy at Franklin and Marshall College. Michael earned his doctorate in philosophy at the University of Notre Dame and has held faculty fellowships at the University of Wisconsin at Madison and the University of Notre Dame. He has authored or edited a number of books including, Reason for the Hope Within, Philosophy of Religion: The Big Questions (with Eleonore Stump), Leibniz's Predestination and Election, andIntroduction toPhilosophy of Religion (with Michael Rea), as well as dozens of book chapters and articles in professional journals including The Philosophical Review, American Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, Religious Studies, and Faith and Philosophy. He currently lives with his wife Kirsten in Lancaster, PA.; they have three children, Samuel, Elise, and Julia.

Clinton Ohlers, Ph.D.

Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania

Clinton Ohlers holds a PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania and an MA in the History of Christian Thought from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. His research focuses on American and European intellectual history, specifically the historic relationship between science and religion, as well as controversies over biblical inerrancy in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. He has spoken at conferences held by the History of Science Society, the Conference on Faith and History, and the American Society of Church Historians

Paul Copan, Ph.D.

Ph.D., Marquette University

Paul Copan is a Christian philosopher, apologist, and author. Copan holds the prestigious Pledger Family Chair of Philosophy and Ethics at Palm Beach Atlantic University. He has co-edited three books on the historical Jesus and coedited (with Paul K. Moser) a textbook on the philosophy of religion, "The Rationality of Theism" (Routledge). He is author of the forthcoming book "What Is God That We Are Mindful of Him? A Christian Philosophy of Religion" (Chalice) and coeditor of three forthcoming books: "The Apologetics Study Bible "(Broadman and Holman), "The Routledge Companion to the Philosophy of Religion" (Routledge) and "Philosophy of Religion: Classic and Contemporary Issues" (Blackwell). In addition to contributing essays to several books, he has written many articles in professional journals. He is the Vice President of the Evangelical Philosophical Society. He and his wife Jacqueline live with their five children in the West Palm Beach area.

Mark Linville, Ph.D.

Mark Linville is the author of Is Everything Permitted? Moral Values in a World Without God (RZIM: 2000). He has published in such journals as the American Philosophical Quarterly, the International Journal for the Philosophy of Religion, Religious Studies, Faith and Philosophy, Christian Scholar's Review, Philosophia Christi, and the Stone-Campbell Journal. He has also written for Christianity Today, Touchstone, Salvo magazine, Christian Standard, the Seminary Review,  and is a regular contributor to The Wittenburg Door. 
He has presented papers at meetings of the Minnesota Philosophical Society, the Iowa Philosophical Society, the Society of Christian Philosophers, the Gifford Bequest (Aberdeen, Scotland), and the British Society for Philosophy of Religion (Oxford, England). He is currently working on a book titled God and the Metaphysics of Morality, which argues for a theistic underpinning for objective morality.

Charles Quarles, Ph.D.

Ph.D., Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary

Charles L. Quarles currently serves as Associate Professor of New Testament and Greek at the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He lives in New Orleans with his wife, Julie, and their three children, Rachael, Hannah, and Joshua. Dr. Quarles pursued his undergraduate studies at the University of Mississippi (B.A. 1986), and graduate studies at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary (M.Div. 1989; Ph.D. 1995). He is the author of Midrash Criticism: Introduction and Appraisal, and has published articles in scholarly journals such as New Testament Studies, Novum Testamentum, Bulletin for Biblical Research, and Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus. Some of his published articles include "Jesus as Mamzer," "Jesus as Merkabah Mystic," "The Protevangelium of James as an Alleged Parallel to Creative Historiography in the Birth Narratives,"  and "The Authenticity of the Parable of the Warring King: A Response to the Jesus Seminar."

Michael Rea, Ph.D.

Ph.D., University of Notre Dame

Michael Rea is Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Center for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Notre Dame.  His main areas of research are contemporary metaphysics and philosophical theology.  He has authored or edited over ten books, including World Without Design: The Ontological Consequences of Naturalism, Introduction to Philosophy of Religion (co-authored with Michael Murray), Philosophy of Religion: An Anthology (co-edited with Louis Pojman), Analytic Theology: New Essays in the Philosophy of Theology (co-edited with Oliver Crisp), Oxford Readings in Philosophical Theology, and Arguing About Metaphysics.  He has also published over thirty articles in professional journals in philosophy and theology, including The Philosophical Review, Nous, The Journal of Theological Studies, and Faith and Philosophy.  His website can be found at www.nd.edu/~mrea/

Brett Kunkle, M.A.

B.A., Christian Education, Biola University.

Brett Kunkle is the Student Impact Director at Stand to Reason, an organization that trains Christians to think clearly about their faith and to make an even-handed, incisive, yet gracious defense for classical Christianity and classical Christian values in the public square.  Brett has spoken to thousands of students and adults across the country at churches, conferences and on college campuses.  He is a regular guest host of Stand to Reason's weekly radio show.  Brett is currently completing his Masters Degree in philosophy of religion and ethics at Talbot School of Theology.