Analytic Theology

Program Overview

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Analytic Theology applies the tools of analytic philosophy — careful definition, explicit argument, attention to logical form, and the testing of a claim against its best objections — to the doctrines of the Christian faith. The discipline exists because theological confusion is often conceptual confusion. When a doctrine is stated imprecisely, its defenders and critics argue past each other, and the church is left with slogans where it needs understanding. Students work through the central topics where analytic method has proved most fruitful: divine attributes including simplicity, timelessness, impassibility, omniscience and its relation to human freedom, and omnipotence; models of the Trinity and the charge of incoherence; the metaphysics of the incarnation; atonement models and their moral logic; the problem of evil in its logical and evidential forms; religious epistemology, warrant, and the rationality of belief; the metaphysics of sin, grace, and resurrection; and the coherence of hell and universalism. The programme insists that analytic rigour serve rather than replace the sources: students are held to Scripture, the creeds, and the historical tradition, and are required to state what a proposal would cost doctrinally as well as what it gains. The dissertation makes an original contribution: a defence, a reconstruction, or a critique of a specific doctrinal proposal, argued rigorously. Graduates teach philosophy and theology, publish in philosophy of religion, and strengthen the church's ability to think precisely about what it believes.

Core Courses

• ANT 801 — Method in Analytic Theology (6 credits)
• ANT 812 — Divine Attributes (6 credits)
• ANT 824 — Trinity and Incarnation (6 credits)
• ANT 836 — Sin, Atonement, and Grace (6 credits)
• ANT 848 — Evil, Epistemology, and Eschatology (5 credits)
• ANT 860 — Research Design in Analytic Theology (4 credits)
• ANT 899 — Doctoral Dissertation in Analytic Theology (24 credits)

Admission Requirements

• Master's degree in theology, philosophy, religious studies, ethics, or a related field
• Prior study in philosophy, the sciences, or another discipline the specialization engages
• Statement of purpose naming the question your research will address
• Academic writing sample demonstrating sustained argument
• Current curriculum vitae
• Official transcripts from prior institutions when available