Dr. C. Stephen Evans

Education

• Ph.D. - Yale University (Philosophy)
• M.Phil - Yale University (Philosophy)
• B. A. - Wheaton College (Philosophy)

Areas of Interests

Kierkegaard, Philosophy of Religion, Philosophy of the Human Sciences, Metaethics

Selected Publications

Books Authored

Kierkegaard and Spirituality: Accountability as the Meaning of Human Existence (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2019). 

Description:

We live spiritually when we live in the presence of God.

The Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard is often read for his contributions to philosophy and to Christian theology, but he also has much to offer about spirituality—both Christian and more generally human. 

C. Stephen Evans assesses Kierkegaard’s belief that true spirituality should be seen as accountability: the grateful recognition of our existence as gift. Evans argues that Kierkegaard sees all human beings as spiritual, and that he recognizes a healthy form of “Socratic” which is not distinctively Christian.  Spirituality takes on a Christian character when one recognizes in Jesus Christ the human incarnation of the God who gives us being. In this clearly written and substantive book a leading scholar on Kierkegaard’s thought makes Kierkegaard’s contributions to spirituality accessible not only to philosophers and theologians but to pastors, spiritual directors, and lay Christians. 

Christianity Today Review of the book.

Natural Signs and Knowledge of God: A New Look at Theistic Arguements (Oxford University Press, 2010)

God and Moral Obligations (Oxford University Press, 2013)

Kierkegaard: An Introduction. (Cambridge University Press, 2009)

Kierkegaard on Faith and the Self: Collected Essays (Waco, Texas: Baylor University Press

Kierkegaard's Ethic of Love: Divine Commands and Moral Requirements (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004)

Pocket Dictionary of Philosophy of Religion and Apologetics (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2002). Translated and published in Portugese by Editora Vida, 2003. Translated and published in Macedonian, 2003. Spanish translation published by Editorial Unilit in 2007.

Faith Beyond Reason (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 1998; and Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1998)

The Historical Christ and the Jesus of Faith: The Incarnational Narrative as History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996)

Why Believe: Reason and Mystery as Pointers to God (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1996). A revised version of The Quest for Faith: Reason and Mystery As Pointers to God (InterVarsity Press, 1986). Chinese edition of Why Believe translated by Daniel Kwok-Tung Cheung (Hong Kong: FES Press, 2002).

Passionate Reason: Making Sense of Kierkegaard's Philosophical Fragments(Indiana University Press, 1992)

Kierkegaard's Fragments and Postscript: The Religious Philosophy of Johannes Climacus(Humanities Press, 1983; reprinted by Humanity Books, an imprint of Prometheus Books, 1999)

Subjectivity and Religious Belief: An Historical, Critical Study (Eerdmans, 1978)

Philosophy of Religion: Thinking About Faith(InterVarsity Press, 1985). Spanish translation: Filosofía de la Religion (Editorial Mundo Hispano, 1990). Macedonian translation 2004.

Søren Kierkegaard's Christian Psychology,Zondervan, 1990.

Wisdom and Humanness in Psychology, (Baker Books, 1989)

Preserving the Person: A Look at the Human Sciences (InterVarsity Press, 1977; Baker Reprint, 1982)

Existentialism: The Philosophy of Despair and the Quest for Hope (Zondervan, 1984; reprinted Probe Books, 1989). A revised edition of Despair: A Moment or a Way of Life? (InterVarsity Press, 1971)

Books Edited or Translated

Co-editor (with David Jeffrey) of The Bible and the University, Vol. 8 in the Scripture and Hermeneutics Series (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2007)

Consulting Editor, New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics, ed. W. C. Campbell-Jack and Gavin McGrath (Downers Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, 2005)

Co-editor (with Sylvia Walsh), Kierkegaard: Fear and Trembling. A new translation by Sylvia Walsh in the Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy series (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006)

Exploring Kenotic Christology: The Self-Emptying of God (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006)

‘Behind’ the Text: History and Biblical Interpretation, ed. Craig Bartholomew, C. Stephen Evans, Mary Healy, and Murray Rae (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2003; U.K.: Paternoster, 2004).

Christian Perspectives on Religious Knowledge, edited, with Merold Westphal (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1993)

Foundations of Kierkegaard's Vision of Community: Religion, Ethics, and Politics in Kierkegaard, edited with George Connell (Humanities Press, 1992)

General Editor, Contours of Christian Philosophy series, InterVarsity Press. volume I, Epistemology, by David Wolfe (1982). Volume II, Metaphysics, by William Hasker (1983). Volume III, Ethics, by Arthur Holmes (1984). Volume IV, Philosophy of Religion by C. Stephen Evans (1985). Volume VI, Philosophy of Education, by Michael Peterson (1986). Volume VII, The Concept of God, by Thomas Morris (1991), Vol. VIII, Epistemology: Becoming Intellectually Virtuous, by W. Jay Wood, 1998.

Translator (along with Jan E. Evans) of Kierkegaard's Works of Love: Christian Ethics and the Maieutic Ideal, by Paul Müller (C. A. Rei