Willamette University
After 34 years of teaching
philosophy at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, I retired from full-time
teaching in 2006. My principal area of interest and the area in which I have
done most of my own writing is philosophy of religion--which, of course, overlaps
with metaphysics, moral philosophy, philosophy of mind, and virtually every
other area of philosophy.
I grew up in an exceptionally loving family, on the one hand, and in an
exceptionally rigid fundamentalist church, on the other. I also graduated from
a conservative Christian high school in which I acquired several lifelong
friendships with some of the most intriguing personalities that I have ever
encountered in any context. My high school days and the enduring friendships
that I made at that time are in many ways the most cherished part of my life.
But as I continued to examine my religious heritage, first as an undergraduate,
then as a seminary student, and finally as a graduate student in philosophy, I
reluctantly came to the following conclusion: What often passes for orthodox
Christian theology is riddled with logical impossibilities. Worse yet, the
Western theological tradition, insofar as it reflects the thought of St. Augustine
and Calvin, has too often twisted the New Testament message of love,
forgiveness, and hope into a message of fear and condemnation. I explain all of
this in my book, The Inescapable Love of God, and you can learn more
about the book at my companion website by clicking here. I also interact with
other scholars on these matters in two additional books: Universal
Salvation? The Current Debate, which is edited by Robin Parry and
Christopher Partridge, and Perspectives on Election, which is edited by
Chad Brand. In all of these writings as well as in other journal
articles, book chapters, and an entry on universalism in The Oxford Handbook
of Eschatology (Jerry Walls, editor), my aim has been to call attention to
a minority Christian tradition, one that presents a stunning and utterly
consistent vision of God's all-inclusive, all pervasive, and inexorable love.