Joshua Rasmussen

contemporaryAnalytic Philosophy

Joshua Rasmussen is a contemporary analytic philosopher specializing in metaphysics and philosophy of religion, currently affiliated with Azusa Pacific University. He is known for developing rigorous modal and causal arguments for the existence of a necessary being, and for engaging charitably with both theistic and atheistic positions in natural theology. His work bridges technical analytic metaphysics and accessible apologetics.

Notable Achievements

Developed modal cosmological arguments grounding a necessary being independent of ontological argument assumptions

Authored 'How Reason Can Lead to God' (IVP Academic, 2019), a widely read introduction to theistic arguments

Co-authored 'Is God the Best Explanation of Things?' with Felipe Leon, modeling civil theist-atheist philosophical dialogue

Contributed to contemporary debates on grounding, existence, and the metaphysics of causation

Advanced the case that cosmological reasoning can proceed without relying on conceivability-based modal intuitions

Positions & Arguments(1)

Natural Theology

claim

The cosmological argument does not rely on notions central to the ontological argument and, if sound, gives us reason to think that the necessary being exists rather than not.