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

  • David Hume, Great Thinkers series, ed. Nathan Shannon, (P&R, 2019).
  • “‘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).
  • “Calvinism and the First Sin,” in Calvinism and the Problem of Evil, ed. David E. Alexander and Daniel M. Johnson (Wipf & Stock, 2016)
  • Why Should I Believe Christianity? (Christian Focus, 2016).
  • What’s Your Worldview?: An Interactive Approach to Life’s Big Questions (Crossway, 2014)
  • “The Lord of Noncontradiction: An Argument for God from Logic” co-authored with Greg Welty, Philosophia Christi 13:2 (2011).
  • Review of Analytic Theology: New Essays in the Philosophy of Theology edited by Oliver Crisp and Michael Rea, Ars Disputandi 11 (2011).
  • “No Dilemma for the Proponent of the Transcendental Argument: A Response to David Reiter,” Philosophia Christi 13:1 (2011).
  • Review of The Reformed Objection to Natural Theology by Michael Sudduth, Themelios 35:2 (2010).
  • “Presuppositionalism and Frame’s Epistemology,” in Speaking the Truth in Love: The Theology of John M. Frame, ed. John J. Hughes (P&R, 2009).
  • Review of Faith’s Reasons for Believing by Robert L. Reymond, Themelios 33:2 (2008).
  • Paradox in Christian Theology: An Analysis of Its Presence, Character, and Epistemic Status (Paternoster Theological Monographs, 2007).
  • “In Defence of Mystery: A Reply to Dale Tuggy,” Religious Studies 41:2 (2005).
  • “If Knowledge Then God: The Epistemological Theistic Arguments of Plantinga and Van Til,” Calvin Theological Journal 40:1 (2005).