J.P. Moreland

J. P. Moreland is Distinguished Professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University. He received a B. S. in physical chemistry from the University of Missouri, a Th.M. in theology from Dallas Theological Seminary, an M.A. in philosophy from the University of California at Riverside, and a Ph.D. in philosophy at the University of Southern California. He has authored, edited, or contributed papers to ninety-five books, including Does God Exist? (Prometheus), Universals (McGill-Queen’s), Consciousness and the Existence of God (Routledge), The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology, The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism, and Debating Christian Theism (Oxford.) He has also published close to 90 articles in journals such as Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, American Philosophical Quarterly, Australasian Journal of Philosophy, MetaPhilosophy, Philosophia Christi, Religious Studies, and Faith and Philosophy. Moreland was selected in 2016 by The Best Schools as one of the 50 most influential living philosophers.

Archives

The Substance of Consciousness

_{A Comprehensive Defense of Contemporary Substance Dualism}_{J. P. Moreland, Brandon Rickabaugh
October 31, 2023}

A singularly powerful and rigorous argument in favor of modern substance dualism. In The Substance of Consciousness: A Comprehensive Defense of Contemporary Substance Dualism, two distinguished philosophers deliver a unique and powerful defense of contemporary substance dualism, which makes the claim that the human person is an embodied fundamental, immaterial, and unifying substance. Multidisciplinary in scope, the book explores areas of philosophy, cognitive science, neuroscience, and the sociology of mind-body beliefs. The authors present the most comprehensive, up-to-date, and rigorous non-edited work on substance dualism in the field, as well as a detailed history of how property and substance dualism have been presented and evaluated over the last 150 years. Alongside …

J. P. Moreland on Mental Health and the Reality of the Soul

_{JP Moreland
June 12, 2019}

On this episode of ID the Future, philosopher and Biola University Distinguished Philosopher J.P. Moreland talks with Michael Keas about the intelligent design implications of his new book Finding Quiet: My Story of Overcoming Anxiety and the Practices that Brought Peace. As Moreland explains, Darwin in essence said, in the beginning were the particles. But the evidence of design in nature and of a cosmic beginning from nothing, taken together, suggests instead, in the beginning was the Logos, was mind or organizing thought. And what we see in mental health treatments — or even in science itself, as Moreland has also written — only makes sense if we can trace reality back to an intelligent, purposeful cause. At the same time, Keas and Moreland stress, this is a call not to …

J. P. Moreland on Scientism, Darwinism, and Bucking the Consensus

_{JP Moreland
December 3, 2018}

On this episode of ID the Future, philosopher J. P. Moreland explains from his new book Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology how scientism helped bring about Darwinism’s current widespread acceptance. Ironically, the process involved some scientists who dismiss theology … doing theology, and doing it not very well. Moreland says this is just one of the reasons that it’s rational to buck the consensus on evolution. Please consider donating to support the IDTF …

J.P. Moreland: Scientism Fuels Our Culture’s Turmoil

_{JP Moreland
November 26, 2018}

On this episode of ID the Future, host Mike Keas and philosopher J. P. Moreland continue their conversation on Moreland’s new book Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology. Scientism is the view that science trumps all other knowledge, but Moreland and Keas reveal in this podcast just how much science depends on both philosophy and history. Scientism is, thus, self-defeating. Nevertheless, and as Moreland goes on to argue, it remains “at the bottom of the turmoil that is facing our culture,” and many young people are being sucked into its …

J. P. Moreland on the Contradictions of Scientism

_{JP Moreland
November 19, 2018}

On this episode of ID the Future, host Mike Keas begins a conversation with philosopher J. P. Moreland about Moreland’s new book Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology. Moreland explains scientism as the belief that only the hard sciences can provide any reliably true knowledge. “It’s in the drinking water,” he says, but it’s also self-refuting, and therefore irrational — and very damaging besides. Please consider donating to support the IDTF …

Tom Gilson Reviews J.P. Moreland’s New Book on the Dangers of Scientism

_{JP Moreland
October 24, 2018}

On this episode of ID the Future, Tom Gilson reviews J.P. Moreland’s new book Scientism and Secularism: Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology. Moreland’s book explains scientism as irrational, self-refuting, and contradictory to crucial human and spiritual knowledge — yet it hangs over and around all of us like the air we breathe. And because it’s everywhere you turn, Moreland argues, it’s vital that we learn to recognize and respond to it. This review first appeared in print at The Stream, where Gilson is a senior editor. Please consider donating to support the IDTF …

Scientism and Secularism

_{Learning to Respond to a Dangerous Ideology}_{J.P. Moreland
September 30, 2018}

Rigid adherence to scientism―as opposed to a healthy respect for science ― is all too prevalent in our world today. Rather than leading to a deeper understanding of our universe, this worldview actually undermines real science and marginalizes morality and religion. In this book, celebrated philosopher J. P. Moreland exposes the self-defeating nature of scientism and equips us to recognize scientism’s harmful presence in different aspects of culture, emboldening our witness to biblical Christianity and arming us with strategies for the integration of faith and science ― the only feasible path to genuine knowledge. Plaudits Science is a wonderfully useful discipline, but in recent times it has been distorted into scientism, the view that science is the ultimate path …

The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism

_{Jonathan J. Loose, Angus J. L. Menuge, and J. P. Moreland
May 1, 2018}

A groundbreaking collection of contemporary essays from leading international scholars that provides a balanced and expert account of the resurgent debate about substance dualism and its physicalist alternatives. Substance dualism has for some time been dismissed as an archaic and defeated position in philosophy of mind, but in recent years, the topic has experienced a resurgence of scholarly interest and has been restored to contemporary prominence by a growing minority of philosophers prepared to interrogate the core principles upon which past objections and misunderstandings rest. As the first book of its kind to bring together a collection of contemporary writing from top proponents and critics in a pro-contra format, The Blackwell Companion to Substance Dualism captures …

Theistic Evolution Has a Logic Problem, Materialism Has a History Problem

_{JP Moreland
February 21, 2018}

Today on ID the Future we hear from the editors of the major new Crossway book, Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Critique. Philosophers J.P. Moreland and Stephen Meyer examine contradictions right at the heart of theistic evolution, answer logical challenges directed back at intelligent design theory, and explain more than one severe issue with thinking science ever has or ever could thrive on its own, without strong support from both philosophy and …

The Logical Contradiction at the Heart of Theistic Evolution

_{J.P. Moreland
December 14, 2017}

Some theistic evolutionists take umbrage at theistic evolution being called “theistic evolution.” In a brief video, philosopher J.P. Moreland identifies the implicit logical contradiction reflected in the name itself. for more on this see https://evolutionnews.org/2017/12/at-… Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical and Theological Critique is published by Crossway Books and is 2017 World Magazine Book of the Year runner-up in “Origins”. Videos produced by Crossway Books. For more information go to https://www.discovery.org/store/produ…. View the …

Theistic Evolution

_{A Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Critique}_{J.P. Moreland, Stephen C. Meyer, Ann Gauger and John G. West
October 30, 2017}

Featuring two dozen highly credentialed scientists, philosophers, and theologians from Europe and North America, this volume contests this proposal, documenting evidential, logical, and theological problems with theistic evolution ― making it the most comprehensive critique of theistic evolution yet produced.

Naturalism

_{A Critical Analysis}_{Robert C. Koons, William Lane Craig, William A. Dembski and J.P. Moreland
April 9, 2014}

This impressive volume contains critical essays on naturalism from the perspectives of theology, ethics, cosmology, ontology, and epistemology. Various Discovery Fellows make contributions including Robert C. Koons, J.P. Moreland, William Lane Craig, and William Dembski. Koons, a professor of philosophy at the University of Texas, begins by noting that there is a simple correlation between existence and the requirement of some non-natural first cause. He observes an irony that science thinks it requires naturalism, when our very ability to practice science, due to the orderly, reliable, and predictable behavior of the universe implies a non-natural intelligent cause. Scientific dependence upon naturalism is self-refuting. J.P. Moreland, a noted philosopher, quotes Plato to reveal …

Intelligent Design 101

_{Leading Experts Explain the Key Issues}_{Casey Luskin, J.P. Moreland, Jay W. Richards, Logan Paul Gage, Michael J. Behe and Phillip E. Johnson
March 11, 2008}

Intelligent Design 101 brings together leading scholars and researchers from the fields of science and intelligent design studies, such as Michael Behe and Phillip Johnson. Their detailed and insightful essays form an introduction to intelligent design, from the basics of the theory, to its history and growing place in science and education.

Body & Soul

_{Human Nature & the Crisis in Ethics}_{J.P. Moreland
March 24, 2000}

While most people throughout history have believed that we are both physical and spiritual beings, the rise of science has called the existence of the soul into question. Many argue that neurophysiology demonstrates the radical dependence, indeed, identity between mind and brain. Advances in genetics and in mapping DNA, some say, show there is no need for the hypothesis of body-soul dualism. Even many Christian intellectuals have come to view the soul as a false Greek concept that is outdated. Concurrent with the demise of dualism has been the rise of advanced medical technologies that have brought to the fore difficult issues at both edges of life. Central to questions about abortion, fetal research, reproductive technologies, cloning and euthanasia is our understanding of the nature …

Three Views on Creation and Evolution

_{Paul Nelson, John Mark N. Reynolds and J.P. Moreland
March 1, 1999}

For Christians, the issues raised by the different views on creation and evolution can be challenging. Can a “young earth” be reconciled with a universe that appears to be billions of years old? Does scientific evidence point to a God who designed the universe and life in all its complexity? Three Views on Creation and Evolution deals with these and similar concerns as it looks at three dominant schools of Christian thought. Proponents of young earth creationism, old earth creationism, and theistic evolution each present their different views, tell why the controversy is important, and describe the interplay between their understandings of science and theology. Each view is critiqued by various scholars. Discovery Institute fellows Paul Nelson and John Mark Reynolds …