Education

University of Edinburgh, B. Eng. (Hons.)
University of Edinburgh, Ph.D., Ph.D.

About Dr. Anderson

Dr. James Anderson is an ordained minister in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church. Dr. Anderson came to RTS from Edinburgh, Scotland, and specializes in philosophical theology, religious epistemology, and Christian apologetics. His doctoral thesis at the University of Edinburgh explored the paradoxical nature of certain Christian doctrines and the implications for the rationality of Christian faith. His research and writing has also focused on the presuppositionalism of Cornelius Van Til, particularly his advocacy of the transcendental argument.

Dr. Anderson has a long-standing concern to bring the Reformed theological tradition into greater dialogue with contemporary analytic philosophy. Before studying philosophy, Dr. Anderson also earned a Ph.D. in Computer Simulation from the University of Edinburgh. He is a member of the Society of Christian Philosophers, the British Society for the Philosophy of Religion, and the Evangelical Philosophical Society. Prior to joining RTS Charlotte, Dr. Anderson served as an assistant pastor at the historic Charlotte Chapel in Edinburgh where he engaged in regular preaching, teaching, and pastoral ministry. He is married to Catriona and they have three children.

Publications

BOOKS

· David Hume, Great Thinkers (P&R, 2019).

· Why Should I Believe Christianity? (Christian Focus, 2016).

· What’s Your Worldview?: An Interactive Approach to Life’s Big Questions (Crossway, 2014).

· Paradox in Christian Theology: An Analysis of Its Presence, Character, and Epistemic Status, Paternoster Theological Monographs (Wipf & Stock, 2007).

 

SELECTED ARTICLES

· “Evangelizing Fallen People: Apologetics and the Doctrine of Sin,” in Ruined Sinners to Reclaim: Human Corruption in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective, ed. David Gibson and Jonathan Gibson (Crossway, 2024).

· “Whence This Evil? Toward a Biblical Theodicy,” in Ruined Sinners to Reclaim: Human Corruption in Historical, Biblical, Theological, and Pastoral Perspective, ed. David Gibson and Jonathan Gibson (Crossway, 2024).

· “Seeming Is Believing? An Exploration of Doxastic Responses to the Christological Paradox,” in Paradox and Contradiction in Theology, ed. Jonathan C. Rutledge (Routledge, 2023).

· “John Calvin,” in T&T Clark Handbook of Suffering and the Problem of Evil, ed. Matthias Grebe and Johannes Grössl (Bloomsbury, 2023).

· “Presuppositionalism in the Dock: A Review Article,” Reformed Faith & Practice 7:1 (May 2022).

· “Election, Grace, and Justice: Analyzing an Aporetic Tetrad,” in T&T Clark Handbook of Analytic Theology, ed. James M. Arcadi and James T. Turner, Jr. (Bloomsbury, 2021).

· “The Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God: The Theological Foundations of Modern Science,” Reformed Faith & Practice 4:1 (May 2019).

· “On the Rationality of Positive Mysterianism,” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 83:3 (2018), 291-307.

· “‘May It Have Happened Lord!’ Open Theism and Past-Directed Prayers,” in Philosophical Essays Against Open Theism, ed. Ben Arbour and Kevin Timpe (Routledge, 2017).

· “Determined to Come Most Freely: Some Challenges for Libertarian Calvinism,” Journal of Reformed Theology 11:3 (2017), 272-297.

· “Transgenderism: A Christian Perspective,” Reformed Faith & Practice 2:2 (September 2017).

· “What Are We? Three Views on Human Nature,” Reformed Faith & Practice 2:1 (May 2017).

· “Can We Trust the Bible Over Evolutionary Science?” Reformed Faith & Practice 1:3 (December 2016).

· “Calvinism and the First Sin,” in Calvinism and the Problem of Evil, ed. David E. Alexander and Daniel M. Johnson (Wipf & Stock, 2016).

· “The Lord of Noncontradiction: An Argument for God from Logic” co-authored with Greg Welty, Philosophia Christi 13:2 (2011), 321-338.

· “No Dilemma for the Proponent of the Transcendental Argument: A Response to David Reiter,” Philosophia Christi 13:1 (2011), 189-198.

· “Presuppositionalism and Frame’s Epistemology,” in Speaking the Truth in Love: The Theology of John M. Frame, ed. John J. Hughes (P&R, 2009).

· “In Defence of Mystery: A Reply to Dale Tuggy,” Religious Studies 41:2 (2005), 145-163.

· “If Knowledge Then God: The Epistemological Theistic Arguments of Plantinga and Van Til,” Calvin Theological Journal 40:1 (2005), 49-75.