Name: John Mark Reynolds
Why you should know him: Reynolds is a professor at the most influential evangelical philosophy program in the U.S.
Position: Founder and Director of the Torrey Honors Institute; Associate Professor of Philosophy at Biola University; Fellow of the Discovery Institute
Previous: Academic Dean and Teacher at New Covenant High School and Charles G. Finney High School (1985-1993)
Education:
BA with honors, Religion, Roberts Wesleyan College, 1986
Diploma, Biblical Studies, Elim Bible Institute, 1988
MA, Philosophy, University of Rochester, 1991
Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Rochester, 1996
Area of expertise/interest: Philosophy; Philosophy of Religion; Philosophy of Science; Plato; Pre-Socratic Philosophy; Religion and Science; Homeschool
Blog: Eidos
Books: Maker of Heaven and Earth: Three Views on the Creation and Evolution Debate (1999)
Assessment: While orthodox Christian scholars remain a minority in the mostly secular academy, there has been one area where evangelicals have been able to regain lost ground: philosophy. And when it comes to undergraduate philosophy programs approached from an evangelical worldview, Biola University has established its reputation as the best in the country. Along with J.P. Moreland, Dr. Reynolds deserves much of the credit for making the program a conduit to such graduate schools as Harvard and Princeton.
Frustrated by the “busy work” of his own undergraduate experience, Reynolds founded the Torrey Honors Institute as a means of restoring the classical approach to education. Based on the model of education in Oxford University, Torrey uses tutors who teach a Great Book program from a perspective of traditional Christianity. The motto of Torrey sums up what they pursue, "Bonum, Veritas, Pulcher," or Goodness, Truth, and Beauty in order that students may learn to serve and, in that way, lead.
(This is #29 in the Know Your Evangelicals series.)
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Their masters program has also been incredibly successful at placing students in good Ph.D. programs. That doesn't mean they're even recongized as a good program by those Ph.D. programs. The people taking their grads are probably just thinking of these students as standouts at a lackluster school. They don't realize how many of those standouts there are.
Evangelicals vastly overrate the faculty there. Their names virtually never came up in any of my classes, but you'll hear evangelicals talking all the time about how they're the most influential philosophers in the country. It's worth acknowledging the good they've accomplished. It's considerable, given that even belief in God was thought of as irrational by almost all philosophers 40 years ago. It's too easy to pretend it's something it's not, though. These guys have taken advantage of a return to resepectability that others have paved the way for, and they've figured out how to maximize on it in training their students for Ph.D. programs. It remains to be seen how well their students do in Ph.D. programs and then later on the job market. The only numbers I've seen are on getting people into those Ph.D. programs.
posted on 01.19.2005 3:57 PM2
What classes, Jeremy? I'm curious.
Your word is an apt one, and sobering. It remains to be seen how "influential" Reynolds and others will be. We will see.
I wonder if you've considered, in addition to the fact that "belief in God was thought of as irrational by almost all philosophers 40 years ago," that not believing in God was thought of as irrational by most educated men for many, many centuries?
I mean, an appeal to majority is an appeal to majority and nothing more, but if we're playing that game we might as well include all the pieces.
Thanks for your post, and the reminder in it.
posted on 01.26.2005 4:08 AM