Stephen T. Davis

contemporaryAnalytic Philosophy of Religion

b. 1940

Stephen T. Davis is an American analytic philosopher of religion and emeritus professor at Claremont McKenna College. He has made sustained contributions to debates over the existence of God, the resurrection of Jesus, and Christology, approaching these questions with rigorous logical analysis within the Christian tradition. His work bridges apologetics and academic philosophy, engaging both the cosmological and ontological arguments for theism.

Notable Achievements

Authored Logic and the Nature of God (1983), a rigorous analytic defense of divine attributes

Wrote Risen Indeed (1993), a philosophical case for the bodily resurrection of Jesus

Distinguished the cosmological argument from the ontological argument, defending their logical independence

Contributed to Christian Philosophical Theology (2006), integrating analytic methods with classical doctrine

Long-tenured professor at Claremont McKenna College shaping analytic theology curriculum

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.