Greg Ganssle

Greg Ganssle has been thinking about the intersection of Christian faith and contemporary scholarship for over thirty years. He began as an undergraduate by skipping his classes and reading C.S. Lewis. After graduating from the University of Maryland in 1978, he worked in campus ministry on a variety of campuses. Hundreds of conversations with students from a wide variety of religious and philosophical perspectives drove him to a sustained self-study program. Eventually it occurred to him that he was reading philosophy. Since he had escaped college without taking a philosophy course, he decided to begin with Philosophy 101 at the age of 25. Within weeks he was hooked. Continuing to juggle his full time campus ministry responsibilities, he earned a Master of Arts in Philosophy from the University of Rhode Island in 1990. He then went full time and earned his doctorate in philosophy from Syracuse University in 1995, where his dissertation on God's relation to time won a Syracuse University Dissertation Award. Greg was part-time lecturer in the philosophy department at Yale for nine years and a senior fellow at the Rivendell Institute at Yale. Greg's research interests lie in contemporary philosophy of religion and history of philosophy.

Affiliation Faculty
Position Professor of Philosophy

Author's books

A Reasonable God: Engaging the New Face of Atheism

Eschewing the rhetoric and provocative purposes of best-selling “new atheists” Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris, Ganssle offers a nuanced, charitable, and philosophically well-informed defense of the reality of God. Topics include the relationship between faith and reason, moral arguments for God’s existence, Darwinian theories of the origin of religion, and more.

A Reasonable God: Engaging the New Face of Atheism – eBook

Eschewing the rhetoric and provocative purposes of best-selling “new atheists” Daniel Dennett, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris, Ganssle offers a nuanced, charitable, and philosophically well-informed defense of the reality of God. Topics include the relationship between faith and reason, moral arguments for God’s existence, Darwinian theories of the origin of religion, and more.

Our Deepest Desires: How the Christian Story Fulfills Human Aspirations

Philosopher and apologist Greg Ganssle argues that our widely shared human aspirations are best understood and explained in light of the Christian story. With grace and insight, Ganssle explains how the good news of Jesus Christ makes sense of―and fulfills―our deepest desires. It is only in the particular claims of the Christian faith, he argues, that our universal human aspirations can find fulfillment and our restless hearts will be at peace.

Our Deepest Desires: How the Christian Story Fulfills Human Aspirations – eBook

Philosopher and apologist Greg Ganssle argues that our widely shared human aspirations are best understood and explained in light of the Christian story. With grace and insight, Ganssle explains how the good news of Jesus Christ makes sense of―and fulfills―our deepest desires. It is only in the particular claims of the Christian faith, he argues, that our universal human aspirations can find fulfillment and our restless hearts will be at peace.

Philosophical Essays on Divine Causation

This book discusses various aspects of God’s causal activity. Traditional theology has long held that God acts in the world and interrupts the normal course of events by performing special acts. Although the tradition is unified in affirming that God does create, conserve, and act, there is much disagreement about the details of divine activity. The chapters in this book fruitfully explore these disagreements about divine causation.

Philosophical Essays on Divine Causation – eBook

This book discusses various aspects of God’s causal activity. Traditional theology has long held that God acts in the world and interrupts the normal course of events by performing special acts. Although the tradition is unified in affirming that God does create, conserve, and act, there is much disagreement about the details of divine activity. The chapters in this book fruitfully explore these disagreements about divine causation.

Thinking About God: First Steps in Philosophy

Can we really think about God? Can we prove God’s existence? What about faith? Are there good reasons to believe in the Christian God? Can we avoid thinking about God? The real problem, says philosopher Gregory E. Ganssle, is not whether we can think about God, but whether we will think well or poorly about God. In the first part of this book Ganssle lays the groundwork for clear and careful thinking, providing us an introductory guide to doing philosophy. In the second part Ganssle then takes us through the process of thinking well about God in particular. In the final part Ganssle helps us thread our way through questions like: What is God like? What can God do? What can God know? How does God communicate? If you’re looking for your first book for thinking clearly and carefully about God, then you’ll appreciate the good thinking found in this book.

Thinking About God: First Steps in Philosophy – eBook

Can we really think about God? Can we prove God’s existence? What about faith? Are there good reasons to believe in the Christian God? Can we avoid thinking about God? The real problem, says philosopher Gregory E. Ganssle, is not whether we can think about God, but whether we will think well or poorly about God. In the first part of this book Ganssle lays the groundwork for clear and careful thinking, providing us an introductory guide to doing philosophy. In the second part Ganssle then takes us through the process of thinking well about God in particular. In the final part Ganssle helps us thread our way through questions like: What is God like? What can God do? What can God know? How does God communicate? If you’re looking for your first book for thinking clearly and carefully about God, then you’ll appreciate the good thinking found in this book.