Draft:Steven B. Cowan

Steven Britt Cowan (born April 6, 1962) is an American analytic philosopher, Christian apologist, author, and Reformed Baptist theologian who specializes in Philosophy of Religion and Metaphysics. Cowan is a professor of Philosophy and Religion at Lincoln Memorial University and a bi-vocational pastor at First Baptist Church of Ewing, Virginia. He is best known for his widely received taxonomy of apologetic methods and his defense of Christian compatibilism.

Background
Cowan was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi to David Lee Cowan and Anita Rose Smith. Cowan served on active duty with the US Army Reserve from 1980 to 1986, and attended the University of Southern Mississippi, graduating with a BA in Sociology in 1987. He also attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, earning an MDiv in 1991, and the University of Arkansas, earning an MA in 1993 and a PhD in 1996 in Philosophy. Cowan was a bi-vocational pastor at Immanuel Baptist Church in Fayetteville, Arkansas from 1992 to 2000, and he was the Associate Director of the Apologetics Resource Center in Birmingham, Alabama from 2000 to 2011 and the editor of its Areopagus Journal from 2001 to 2012. Cowan was Assistant (and later Associate) Professor of Philosophy and Apologetics at Southeastern Bible College from 2006 to 2011, and was Associate Professor of Christian Philosophy at Louisiana College from 2011 to 2014. Since 2014, Cowan has been Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Lincoln Memorial University, and has lived in Rose Hill, Virginia with his wife Ronda and son Oliver.

Books

 * 1) Five Views on Apologetics (2000), general editor.
 * 2) Who Runs the Church?: Four Views on Church Government (2004), general editor.
 * 3) The Love of Wisdom: A Christian Introduction to Philosophy (2009), coauthor with James Spiegel.
 * 4) In Defense of the Bible: A Comprehensive Apologetic for the Authority of Scripture (2013), coeditor with Terry L. Wilder.
 * 5) Idealism and Christian Philosophy: Idealism and Christianity Volume 2 (February 25, 2016), coeditor with James Spiegel.
 * 6) Problems in Metaphysics and Epistemology: An Introduction to Contemporary Debates (2020), editor.
 * 7) Problems in Value Theory: An Introduction to Contemporary Debates (2020), editor.

Articles

 * 1) “Common Misconceptions of Evangelicals Regarding Calvinism” in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 33:2 (June 1990).
 * 2) “‘Aristotelian’ Logic in the Old Testament: A Biblical Refutation of a Strict Dichotomy Between Greek and Hebrew Thought” in Bulletin of the Evangelical Philosophical Society, 14:2 (1991).
 * 3) “On the Epistemological Justification of Miracle Claims” in Philosophia Christi, Series 1, 18:1 (Spring 1995).
 * 4) “A Reductio ad Absurdum of Divine Temporality” in Religious Studies, 32:4 (September 1996).
 * 5) “God, Libertarian Agency, and Scientific Explanations: Problems for J.P. Moreland’s Strategy for Avoiding the God of the Gaps” in Philosophia Christi, Series 2, 4:1 (2002).
 * 6) “The Grounding Objection to Middle Knowledge Revisited” in Religious Studies, 39:1 (2003).
 * 7) “Covenant” in The Illustrated Holman Bible Dictionary (Broadman and Holman, 2003).
 * 8) “New Birth” in The Illustrated Holman Bible Dictionary (Broadman and Holman, 2003).
 * 9) “Spirits in Prison” in The Illustrated Holman Bible Dictionary (Broadman and Holman, 2003).
 * 10) ”The Question of Moral Values” in The Big Argument: 24 Scholars Explore Why Science, Archaeology, and Philosophy Have Proven the Existence of God (Strand, 2005), edited by Michael Westacott and John Ashton.
 * 11) “Hedonism” in New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics (InterVarsity, 2006).
 * 12) “Monotheism” in New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics (InterVarsity, 2006).
 * 13) “‘It Would Have Been Good for that Man if He Had not Been Born’: Human Sinfulness and Hell as a Horrendous Evil” in Philosophia Christi, Series 2, 10:1 (2008).
 * 14) “Christian Worldview” in The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization (Blackwell, 2009).
 * 15) “Miracles” in The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization (Blackwell, 2009).
 * 16) “Canonicity” in The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization (Blackwell, 2009).
 * 17) “Original Sin” in The Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization (Blackwell, 2009).
 * 18) “Molinism, Meticulous Providence, and Luck” in Philosophia Christi, Series 2, 11:1 (2009).
 * 19) “On Target with ‘Molinism, Meticulous Providence, and Luck’: A Rejoinder to Scott A. Davison” in Philosophia Christi, Series 2, 11:1 (2009).
 * 20) “Making a Case for the Divine Inspiration of Scripture in the Current Milieu” in Journal of the International Society of Christian Apologetics, 2:1 (2009).
 * 21) “The Metaphysics of Subordination: A Response to Rebecca Merrill Groothuis” in The Journal for Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, 14:1 (Spring 2009).
 * 22) “Complementarianism Unfazed: A Response to Adam Omelianchuk” in Philosophia Christi, Series 2, 13:1 (2011).
 * 23) “Personal Identity and the Jehovah’s Witness View of Resurrection” in Journal of the International Society of Christian Apologetics, 4:1 (2011).
 * 24) “The Household of God: An Introduction to the Church” in The Founders Journal, 83 (Winter 2011).
 * 25) “Compatibilism and the Sinlessness of the Redeemed in Heaven” in Faith and Philosophy, 28:4 (October 2011).
 * 26) “Does 1 Corinthians 10:13 Imply Libertarian Freedom? A Reply to Paul A. Himes” in Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, 55:4 (December 2012).
 * 27) “Is the Bible the Word of God?” in In Defense of the Bible: A Comprehensive Apologetic for the Authority of Scripture (2013), edited by Steven B. Cowan and Terry L. Wilder.
 * 28) “Pharaoh’s Magicians Redivivus: A Response to Jerry Walls on Christian Compatibilism” with Greg Welty in Philosophia Christi, 17:1 (2015).
 * 29) “Won’t Get Foiled Again: A Rejoinder to Jerry Walls” with Greg Welty in Philosophia Christi, 17:2 (2015).
 * 30) “Maybe Jenner Was Right” in The Ultimate Walking Dead and Philosophy (Open Court, January 12, 2016), edited by Wayne Yuen.
 * 31) “What Is that Stone? Idealism and Particulars” in Idealism and Christian Philosophy: Idealism and Christianity Volume 2 (February 25, 2016), edited by Steven B. Cowan and James Spiegel.
 * 32) “God, Heavenly Freedom, and Evil: A Further Response to Pawl and Timpe” in Evangelical Philosophical Society, website article (September 2016).
 * 33) “Why Scully Is Usually Wrong” in The X-Files and Philosophy (Open Court, April 7, 2017), edited by Robert Arp.
 * 34) “Freedom Is Compatible with Determinism” in Problems in Metaphysics and Epistemology: An Introduction to Contemporary Debates (2020), edited by Steven B. Cowan.
 * 35) “Anselm of Canterbury: Apologetics and the Ratio Fidei” with Edward Martin in A History of Apologetics: Biographical and Methodological Introductions (Zondervan, 2020), edited by Benjamin K. Forrest.
 * 36) “How Far Apart Are Athens and Jerusalem? Toward an Understanding of Faith and Reason” in The Worldview Bulletin Newsletter (April 18, 2021).
 * 37) “Or Abstractum: Idealism and Abstract Objects” in Philosophia Christi, 23:1 (2021).
 * 38) “Let’s Play GOLF! Or, The Free Will Defense Is Dead” in TheoLogica: An International Journal for Philosophy of Religion and Philosophical Theology, 5:2 (2021).