Bruce R Reichenbach

Professor Emeritus of Philosophy

reichen@augsburg.edu
https://wipfandstock.com/author/bruce-r-reichenbach/

I retired in 2011 after teaching philosophy for 43 years at Augsburg. Since then, I have engaged my passion to write and to work with students by teaching as a volunteer in educational institutions in Europe and Africa. In 2023 I completed my 50th year of teaching. After leaving Augsburg, I taught philosophy for two years at ABC University in Yekepa, Liberia, a mining town established by LAMCO, a Swedish-American iron mining company. After its total destruction during the Liberian civil war, the university was restarted to teach students long deprived of educational opportunities. In 2015 I gave lectures and conducted a semester-long faculty development workshop at the University of Žilina in Slovakia. I spent the spring term of 2016 in Accra, Ghana, teaching at Good News Theological College and Seminary, established by the Mennonite and Lutheran churches to train leaders for AIC (African Instituted or Indigenous Churches). From 2018-2020 (when Covid forced our evacuation) and again in 2023 I returned to ABCU in Liberia to teach ethics, philosophy, philosophy of education, and church history.

Teaching Philosophy

My passion for teaching and the rewards I receive come from the students I teach. I enjoy seeing students discover and learn, grow in their appreciation of what they read and study, mature in their critical thinking skills, and come to a greater understanding of themselves and the world around and beyond them. Philosophy provides the perfect context for these tasks when it asks students to discern the meaning, truth, justification, and significance of the ideas they encounter. Philosophy also prompts us to ask very personal questions about the meaning and significance of life and about our individual vocation, which is, in diverse ways, to serve others on behalf of God.
My role in teaching is to stimulate students to consider, question, and carefully develop their own viewpoints. In class and conversation, I challenge students to think, not only about the positions they hold, but about the reasoning they use to support their views. Through dialogue and with lots of support, students blossom into careful, critical, and creative thinkers, and I hope, persons of faith. Since my objective in teaching is to help students become curious about the world and independent learners, I take as my motto: “The larger the island of knowledge, the longer the shoreline of wonder” (Ralph Sockman).

Scholarship

See my publications listed below. I also serve on two editorial boards (Science, Religion, and Culture, and the Journal of Interdisciplinary Philology) and regularly review manuscripts for possible publication.

Other Interests

Professors have a life outside the college. My interests extend beyond the classroom and writing to my family, volunteering, canoeing, camping, running, and travel. I have spent time in every state, 85 countries, and on all the continents. Over the years I have taught for a semester or more in Lesotho, Kenya, China, Liberia, and Ghana. I have participated in or led Fulbright-Hays Travel Seminars in India, Pakistan, and Namibia, and have lectured or read papers in China, Korea, Slovenia, Slovakia, Germany, Russia, and Liberia. Travel makes it possible to meet interesting persons, to make friends with people from different nations, and to experience the richness and diversity of cultures, geography, history, flora, and fauna.
I am active in the Roseville Covenant church and work with the Evangelical Covenant Church of Kenya and churches in Liberia to develop projects and leadership training that further their mission in their communities.

Education

  • B.A. Wheaton College
  • M.A. Northwestern University
  • Ph.D. Northwestern University

Publications

Books:

Diving into the Gospel of John
I invite you to explore my new book, Diving into the Gospel of John: Life through Believing (Wipf and Stock, 2023). The idea for the book occurred in Ghana when I was asked to teach a course in Johannine literature and unsuccessfully searched for material students could use other than a commentary or narrow monograph. In 12 chapters, I present the Gospel of John in new ways, showing how the author often subtly argues for his contention that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you will have life. The first two chapters develop the author’s literary techniques, often employing ambiguity, and key symbols, the understanding of which are essential to fully appreciate the Gospel. Chapters three through six progressively portray the author’s evidence for his thesis in the form of signs, testimonies of those who encounter Jesus, Jesus’s self-identification, and Jesus’s relationships to others. Chapters seven and eight show how the author uses theatrically-patterned dialogues and triadic discourses to convey Jesus’s identity and mission. Finally, chapters nine through eleven provide important hints that the author gives for his thesis: appeals to time, the indirect use of seven as the number of completeness, and invocation of parentage in pointing to salvation. Through diving into the Gospel, readers will discover the richness of John’s argument, the Jesus he portrays, and the God Jesus reveals. The book aims to stimulate commitment, challenge mind and spirit, and encourage further study and conversation.

Divine Providence - God's Love and Human Freedom
Divine Providence: God’s Love and Human Freedom. Wipf and Stock, 2016. Adopting a view that we have limited freedom and that this is most consistent with divine sovereignty, the book combines philosophical analysis and theological reflection on the relationship between sovereignty and freedom, on God’s properties (goodness, power, and knowledge), and on his actions (with respect to suffering or evil, to miracles, and to petitionary prayer).

Epistemic Obligations: Truth, Individualism, and the Limits of Belief. Baylor University Press, 2012. This book is prescient in addressing the current political and social affirmations that one has a right to believe whatever one wants. The book addresses the difficult question of what epistemic obligations are, and whether we are obligated to believe all truths, all significant truths, or contextually relevant truths, or is the obligation rather to justification rather than truth. It considers belief voluntarism: how much, if at all, believing is in our control, and questions about whether belief is an agency action or a disposition. Finally, it addresses the matter of our accountability for our believing.

Introduction to Critical Thinking. McGraw-Hill, 2001. (Out of Print)

Philosophy of Religion
Philosophy of Religion: Selected Readings. Oxford University Press, 1996; 2nd ed. 2001; 3rd ed. 2007; 4th ed. 2010; 5th ed. 2014. (Co-author). This widely used anthology contains an excellent selection of readings.

On Behalf of God - A Christian Ethic for Biology
On Behalf of God: A Christian Ethic for Biology. William B. Eerdmans, 1995 (Co-author). Available from Wipf and Stock. We develop an ethic of stewardship and apply it to diverse biological issues addressing the environment, assisted reproduction, genomics, genetics, and human sexuality.

Reason & Religious Belief
Reason and Religious Belief: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Religion. Oxford University Press, 1991, 2nd ed. 1998; 3rd ed. 2003; 4th ed. 2009; 5th ed. 2013. (Co-author). A companion to the Selected Readings, this widely used secondary source presents and explains key ideas in the philosophy of religion.

The Law of Karma: A Philosophical Study. The Macmillan Press Ltd. and University of Hawaii Press, 1990. A unique, comprehensive philosophical treatment of the law of karma in Hinduism and Buddhism.

Evil and a Good God. Fordham University Press, 1982. In this book I construct a free will theodicy for both moral and natural evil.

Is Man the Phoenix? A Study of Immortality. William B. Eerdmans, 1978; reprinted by University Press of America, 1983.

The Cosmological Argument: A Reassessment. Charles Thomas, 1972.

Chapters in Books:

  • “God Provides,” in T&T Clark Companion to the Doctrine of Providence. Tim Harmon and Justin Stratis, eds. T&T Clark, forthcoming.
  • “Evil, Omnipotence, and Process Thought,” in The Problem of Evil.  Michael L Peterson, ed.  Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press, 2017, 301–326.
  • “Knowledge, Truth, and Value in The Narnian Chronicles,” in C. S. Lewis as Philosopher: Truth, Goodness, and Beauty, 2nd ed.  David Baggett, Gary R. Habermas, and Jerry L. Walls, eds. Lynchburg, VA:  Liberty University Press, 2017, 129–147.
  • “Das Problem Der Natürlichen Übel – Naturgesetze und Theodizee Einführung,” in Theodizee in den Welreligionen: Ein Studienbuch. H. Alexander Loichinger and Armin Kreiner, eds. Paderborn:  Ferdinand Schöningh, 2010.
  • “Theories and Unobservables: The Realist/Nonrealist Debate in Science and Religion.”  “Scientific Realism,” “Religious Realism,” and “Experience and the Unobservable,” in Melville Y. Stewart, ed., Science and Religion in Dialogue, vol. 2. London: Blackwells; Beijing: Beijing University Press, 2009, 1011-1077
  •  “Healing View,” in James Beilby and Paul R. Eddy, eds., The Nature of the Atonement.  Downers Grove, Ill: InterVarsity Press, 2006, 117-156.
  • “Divine Revelation: Discernment and Interpretation” in James K. Beilby and Paul R. Eddy, eds., For Faith and Clarity. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006, 85-112.
  • Tensions in a Stewardship Paradigm,” R. J. Berry, ed., Environmental Stewardship. London: T & T Clark, 2006, 112-128.
  • “At Any Rate There’s No Humbug Here: Truth and Perspective,” in Gregory Bassham and Jerry L. Walls, eds., The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy. Chicago: Open Court, 2005, 53-64.
  • “Dances of Death: Self-Sacrifice and Atonement,” in Jorge J.E. Gracia, ed., Mel Gibson’s Passion and Philosophy. Chicago: Open Court, 2004, 190-203.
  • “Explanation and the Cosmological Argument,” in Michael L. Peterson and Raymond J. Vanarragon, ed., Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Religion. London: Blackwell Publishing, 2004, 97-114.
  • “Epistemology: Theological;” “God: Philosophy;” “God: Arguments for the Existence of;” written and/or edited contribution to Encyclopedia of Christianity. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2001.
  • “Karma and the Problem of Evil,” in Gary E. Kessler, ed., Philosophy of Religion. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1999, 246-55. (reprint of article)
  • “On Being a Professor: The Case of Socrates,” in David W. Gill, ed., Should God Get Tenure? Essays on Religion and Higher Education. William B. Eerdmans, 1997, 8-26. (reprint of article)
  • “Implications of the Human Genome Project for Views of Morality,” (co-author with V. Elving Anderson), in James P. Hurd, ed., Investigating the Biological Foundations of Human Morality. Queenstown, Ontario: Edwin Mellen Press, 1996.
  • “Monism and Immortality,” in Melville Y. Stewart, ed., Philosophy of Religion:  An Anthology of Contemporary Views. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1996, 673-90. (reprint of article)
  • “Freedom, Justice, and Moral Responsibility,” in Clark Pinnock, ed., The Grace of God, the Will of Man. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Press, 1989, 277-303.
  • “Buddhism, Karma and Immortality,” in Paul Badham, ed., Death and Immortality in the Religions of the World. New York: Paragon Press, 1987, 141-157.
  • “God Limits His Power,” in David Basinger and Randall Basinger, eds., Predestination and Free Will. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 1986, 101-124.
  • “The Divine Command Theory and Objective Good,” in Rocco Porreco, ed., The Georgetown Symposium on Ethics. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1984, 219-233.

Articles:

  • “Why Does Jesus Use Ambiguous Rhetoric?” Bibliotheca Sacra (forthcoming 2023).
  • “Assessing a Revised Compensation Theodicy,” Religions 13, 1 (Nov. 2022): https://doi.org/10.3390/re13111080
  • “God, Evil, and Meticulous Providence,” Religions 13, 10 (Sept. 2022): https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13100899
  • “Is the Cosmological Argument a Good Argument?” International Journal of Philosophy of Religion 21, no. 3 (2022). https:// https://doi.org/10.1007/s11153-022-09837-y
  • “Soteriology in the Gospel of John,” Themelios 46 (2021): 574–91.
  • “On Sterba’s Refutation of Theistic Arguments to Justify Suffering,” Religions 12, 1 (Jan. 2021): https://doi:10.3390/rel12010064. Reprinted in James P. Sterba, Is the God of Traditional Theism Logically Compatible with all the Evil in the World? MDPI, Aug. 2022. Https://doi.org/10.3390/books978-3-0365-5032-9
  • “Christianity, Science, and Three Phases of Being Human,” Zygon 56, Issue 1 (Mar. 2021): 96-117. https://doi.org/10.1111/zygo.12665
  • “The Theological Significance of Sevens in John,” Bibliotheca Sacra 177, no 707 (July-Sept. 2020): 286-307.
  • “Reconciling Disparate Reasons for Jesus’ Death in the Gospel of John,” Wisconsin Lutheran Quarterly 117, no. 3 (summer, 2020): 167–77.
  • “Defending Compatibilism,” Science, Religion, and Culture 4, no. 2, (2017): 63–71. https://dx.doi.org/10.17582/journal.src/2017/4.2.63.71
  • “On Being a Socratic Professor,” Acta Humanica (Žilina: 2015): 26-34.
  • God and Good Revisited,” Philosophia Christi, 16, no. 2 (2014): 319-338.
  • “The Russell-Copleston Debate on the Cosmological Argument,” Dialogue (UK) 38 (Apr. 2012): 29-35.
  • “Religious Experience as an Observational Epistemic Practice,” Sophia 51, no. 1 (2012): 1-16.
  • “Finding a Locus for Dialogue between Genetics and Theology,” Theology and Science 9, no. 2 (May 2011): 193-195.
  • “Rethinking the Basis of Christian-Buddhist Dialogue,” Philosophia Christi 12, no. 2 (2011): 393-406.
  • “Evil,” and “Ontology,” in New Dictionary of Theology (Revised). Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press (2009).
  • “The Cosmological Argument,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (on-line) 2005, revised 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020.
  • “Does Plantinga Have His Own Defeater?” Philosophia Christi 8, no. 1 (2006): 141-150. (co-authored with Adam Nugent).
  • “Miracle Cure or Moral Quagmire,” The Covenant Companion (October 2004): 6-9.
  • “Dialoging Around the Well,” Till and Keep (2003): 32-4
  • “Lutheran Identity and Diversity in Education,” Intersections 17 (Summer 2003): 21-8.
  • “Boulders, Native Prairie, and a Stewardship Ethic,” Worldviews 7, no. 1/ II (2003): 93-112.
  • “The Hermeneutic Circle and Authorial Intention in Divine Revelation,” Sophia 42, no. 1 (May 2003): 47-60.
  • “Genesis 1 as a Theological-Political Narrative of Kingdom Establishment,” Bulletin for Biblical Research 13, no. 1 (April 2003): 47-69.
  • “Epistemology: Theological;” “God: Philosophy;” “God: Arguments for the Existence of;” written and/or edited contribution to Encyclopedia of Christianity. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 2001.
  • “Inclusivism and the Atonement,” Faith and Philosophy 16, no. 1 (January 1999), 43-54.
  • “By His Stripes We Are Healed,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 41, no. 4 (Dec. 1998): 551-560. Translated into Russian, (International Scholar’s Publications, 1999).
  • “The New Integrationists in Science and Religion,” Christian Scholar’s Review 27, no. 3 (Spring 1998): 338-352.
  • “Mission and Hiring Policies in the Christian College,” Intersections, no. 3 (Summer 1997): 13-19.
  • “On Being a Professor: The Case of Socrates,” Faculty Dialogue, 1996. Winner of the Ted Ward writing award.
  • “Justifying In-principle Nonpredictive Theories: The Case of Evolution,” Christian Scholar’s Review 24, no. 3 (June 1995): 397-422.
  • “On Obligations to Future Generations,” Public Affairs Quarterly 6, no. 2 (April 1992), 207-225.
  • “Simulating Latin American Economic Culture,” with Sharon Reichenbach, Social Education 55, no. 3 (March 1991): 188-191.
  • “Imaged Through the Lens Darkly: Human Personhood and the Sciences,” with V. Elving Anderson, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 33, no. 2 (June 1990): 197-213.
  • “Karma, Causation, and Divine Intervention,” Philosophy East and West 39, no. 2 (Spring 1989): 135-149.
  • “The Law of Karma and the Principle of Causation,” Philosophy East and West 38, no. 4 (Oct. 1988): 399-410.
  • “Evil and a Reformed View of God,” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 18 (1988): 67-85.
  • “Fatalism and Freedom,” International Philosophical Quarterly 28, no. 3 (Sept. 1988): 271-285.
  • “Est Ubi Gloria Nunc Babyloniae?” Christianity and Literature 37, no. 4 (Summer 1988): 25-42.
  • “Euthanasia and the Active-Passive Distinction,” Bioethics 1, no. 1 (Jan. 1987), 51-73. [Translated into German “Euthanasie and die aktiv/passiv-Unterscheidung,” in Anton Leist, ed., Um Leben Und Tod. Frankfort am Main: Suhrkamp (1990): pp. 318-348.]
  • “Hasker on Omniscience,” Faith and Philosophy 4. no. 1 (Jan. 1987): 86-93.
  • “Cutting the Gift that Ties,” Brethren Life and Thought 31 (Spring 1986): 111-120.
  • “Omniscience and Deliberation,” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 16 (1985): 225-236.
  • “C.S. Lewis on the Desolation of De-valued Science,” Christian Scholar’s Review 11, no. 2 (1982), 99-111. Reprinted in Seven 4 (Mar. 1983): 14-26.
  • “The Captivity of Third World Churches,” Evangelical Missions Quarterly 18, no. 3 (July 1982): 166-179.
  • “The Gift of Singleness,” The Reformed Journal 32, no. 3 (March 1982): 4-5.
  • “On Disembodied Resurrected Persons: A Reply,” Religious Studies 18 (Spring 1982): 225-229.
  • “The Deductive Argument from Evil,” Sophia 20, no. 1 (Apr. 1981): 25-42.
  • “Basinger on Reichenbach and the Best Possible World,” International Philosophical Quarterly 20, no. 3 (Sept. 1980): 343-345.
  • “The Inductive Argument from Evil,” American Philosophical Quarterly 17, no. 3 (July 1980): 221-227.
  • “Mavrodes on Omnipotence,” Philosophical Studies 37 (Feb. 1980), 211-214.
  • “Why Is God Good?” The Journal of Religion 60, no. 1 (Jan. 1980): 51-66.
  • “Price, Hick, and Disembodied Existence,” Religious Studies 15 (Fall 1979): 381-389.
  • “Must God Create the Best Possible World?” International Philosophical Quarterly 19, no. 2 (June 1979):, 203-212.
  • “Monism and the Possibility of Life after Death,” Religious Studies 14 (Mar. 1978): 27-34.
  • “Resurrection of the Body, Re-Creation, and Interim Existence,” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 21 (Dec. 1977): 33-42.
  • “Natural Evils and Natural Laws: A Theodicy for Natural Evils,” International Philosophical Quarterly 16, no. 2 (June 1976): 179-196.
  • “Camus and Kierkegaard: A Contrast in Existential Authenticity,” Christian Scholar’s Review 5, no. 3 (1976): 223-240.
  • “The Cosmological Argument and the Causal Principle,” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 6, no. 3 (1975): 185-190.
  • “Re-Creationism and Personal Identity,” i 4, no. 4 (1975): 326-330.
  • “Life After Death: Possible or Impossible?” Christian Scholar’s Review 3, no. 3 (1974): 232-244.
  • “How to Pull Your Family Together,” Eternity 25, no. 8 (Aug. 1974): 13-14.
  • “Why Minister to the Dead,” The Lutheran Standard 11, no. 13 (July 6, 1971), 8-9.
  • “Divine Necessity and the Cosmological Argument,” The Monist 54, no. 3 (July 1970): 401-415.
  • “Grandma’s Funeral: A Painful Post-Mortem,” Eternity 20, no. 10 (Oct. 1969): 16-17. Reprinted in Miriam G. Moran, ed., Death: Jesus Made It All Different, (New Canaan, CT: Keats Publishing, 1977), 136-40.