My name is Tim Pawl. I am a Professor in the Department of Philosophy at the University of St. Thomas, in St. Paul, MN. I work on metaphysics, philosophical theology, and moral psychology.
In metaphysics I work on truthmaker theory, modality, and free will. In philosophical theology, I have published on transubstantiation, Christology, and divine immutability. In moral psychology I have worked with psychologists on questions concerning how best to grow in virtue, and whether the traditional wisdom of the Christian moral tradition is conducive to growth in virtue.
Some places where my work has appeared include: The Australasian Journal of Philosophy, Faith and Philosophy, and Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion. A listing of my publications is available on my PhilPapers Profile.
In 2016, I published a monograph in the Oxford Studies in Analytic Theology series, entitled In Defense of Conciliar Christology: A Philosophical Essay. In that book I argue that the philosophical objections to the traditional Christian doctrine of the incarnation fail. In early 2019 I published another book on Christology in the same series, entitled In Defense of Extended Conciliar Christology: A Philosophical Essay. In that book I argue that the philosophical objections against the conjunction of Conciliar Christology and five common theses in traditional Christology fail. I have another book forthcoming in the Cambridge Elements series on the philosophy of the incarnation.
I was awarded an Academic Cross Training Grant from the John Templeton Foundation for the 2018-2021 academic years. During that time, I will be studying psychology with an eye toward seeing the evidential confirmation or disconfirmation that contemporary psychology lends to the great works of Christian Moral Perfection (e.g., The Spiritual Combat; The Imitation of Christ).
In addition to this recent grant, I have led a grant with Gloria Frost called The Classical Theism Project and another with Kevin Timpe called Exploring the Interim State Writing Workshop.
I am the husband of another philosopher: her name is Faith Glavey Pawl. I am the proud father of one son and four daughters.
Publications: Books
The Incarnation. Cambridge Elements Series. Cambridge University Press (Under Contract).
In Defense of Extended Conciliar Christology: A Philosophical Essay. Oxford Studies in Analytic Theology. Oxford University Press, 2019.
In Defense of Conciliar Christology: A Philosophical Essay. Oxford Studies in Analytic Theology. Oxford University Press, 2016.
Publications: Articles and Book Chapters (peer-reviewed unless noted)
“The Metaphysics of the Incarnation: Christ’s Human Nature,” in: Herausforderungen des klassischen Theismus. Bd. 2: Inkarnation (eds. Thomas Marschler and Thomas Schärtl (Hg.): (STEP, 16/2), Münster 2020: Aschendorff): 131–148.
“Conciliar Trinitarianism, Divine Identity Claims, and Subordination,” TheoLogica (invited; peer-reviewed).
“Explosive Theology: A Reply to Jc Beall’s ‘Christ – A Contradiction,’” Journal of Analytic Theology, 7 (2019): 440-451 (invited for a symposium on Beall’s work; not peer reviewed).
“In Defense of Divine Truthmaker Simplicity,” Res Philosophica, 96.1 (2019): 63-75.
“A Reply to ‘The Antinomy of Future Contingent Events,’” Annals of Philosophy [Roczniki Filozoficzne] 66:4 (2018): 149-157 (invited for a special issue of the journal; not peer reviewed).
“Conciliar Christology and the Consistency of Divine Immutability with a Mutable, Incarnate God,” Nova et Vetera, 16.3 (2018): 913-937. (invited for a symposium on immutability and incarnation; not peer-reviewed).
“Nine Problems (And Even More Solutions) for Powers Accounts of Possibility” in Causal (ed. Jonathan D. Jacobs, Oxford University Press, USA, 2017): 105-123.
“Paradise and Growing in Virtue” (coauthored with Kevin Timpe) in Paradise Understood: New Philosophical Essays about Heaven (eds. T Ryan Byerly and Eric Silverman, Oxford University Press, USA, 2017): 97-109.
“Truthmaking and Christian Theology,” Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, 89 (2016): 181-194 (winner of the 2015 Young Scholar Award from the ACPA). doi: 10.5840/acpaproc201610548
“Free Will and Grace” in The Routledge Companion to Free Will (eds. Kevin Timpe, Meghan Griffith, Neil Levy, Routledge, USA, 2016): 531-542.
“Freedom and the Incarnation” (coauthored with Kevin Timpe), Philosophy Compass, 11 (2016): 743-756.
“Temporary Intrinsics and Christological Predication,” Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion vol. 7 (ed. Jon Kvanvig, Oxford University Press, 2016): 157-189.
“Christologically Inspired, Empirically Motivated Hylomorphism” (coauthored with Mark K. Spencer), Res Philosophica, 93.1 (2016): 137-160.
“Brian Hebblethwaite’s Arguments Against Multiple Incarnations,” Religious Studies 52:1 (2016): 117-130.
“A Thomistic Truthmaker Principle,” Acta Philosophica, 25:1 (2016): 45-64 (invited and peer-reviewed).
“Thomistic Multiple Incarnations,” The Heythrop Journal 57.2 (2016): 359-370. Abridged and translated into Finnish by Simo Lamponen.
“Conciliar Christology and the Problem of Incompatible Predications,” Scientia et Fides, 3.2 (2015): 85-106 (invited and peer-reviewed).
“Change, Difference, and Orthodox Truthmaker Theory,” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 92.3 (2014): 539-550.
"A Solution to the Fundamental Philosophical Problem of Christology,” The Journal of Analytic Theology, 2 (2014): 61-85.
“The Freedom of Christ and The Problem of Deliberation,” International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 75.3 (2014): 233-247. DOI 10.1007/s11153-014-9447-4.
“The Freedom of Christ and Explanatory Priority,” Religious Studies, 50.2 (2014): 157-173. DOI:10.1017/S0034412513000309.
“Stone's Evidential Atheism: A Critique,” Faith and Philosophy, 30.3 (2013): 317-329.
“Heavenly Freedom: A Response to Cowan” (coauthored with Kevin Timpe), Faith and Philosophy 30.2 (2013): 188-197.
“The Five Ways” in The Oxford Handbook of Thomas Aquinas (ed. Brian Davies and Eleonore Stump, Oxford University Press, USA, 2012): 115-131.
“Traditional Christian Theism and Truthmaker Maximalism,” The European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 4.1 (2012): 197-218.
“Transubstantiation, Tropes and Truthmakers,” The American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 86.1 (2012): 71-96.
“Aquinas’s Five Ways” in Just the Arguments: 100 of the Most Important Arguments in Western Philosophy (ed. Michael Bruce and Steven Barbone, Wiley-Blackwell, 2011): 9-17.
“The Possibility Principle and the Truthmakers for Modal Truths,” Australasian Journal of Philosophy 88.3 (2010): 417-428.
“Incompatibilism, Sin, and Free Will in Heaven” (coauthored with Kevin Timpe), Faith and Philosophy 26.4 (2009): 398-419.
“St. Thomas Aquinas on Blameworthiness and the Virtue of Faith,” Journal of Postgraduates in Wuhan University 21.4 (2005): 21-26 (invited).
Publications: Encyclopedia Entries
“Divine Immutability”, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 2009
“St. Thomas Aquinas” The Literary Encyclopedia. 2009
Publications: Reviews and Booknotes
John A. Keller, ed., Being, Freedom, & Method: Themes from the Philosophy of Peter van Inwagen. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017. The Review of Metaphysics, 71:3 (2018): 581-582. [booknote]
Thomas Joseph White, O.P.’s The Incarnate Lord: A Thomistic Study in Christology. The Catholic University of America Press. 2015. The Journal of Analytic Theology, 6 (2018): 766-770.
Jeffrey Brower’s Aquinas’s Ontology of the Material World: Change, Hylomorphism, & Material Objects. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly, 89:4 (2015): 723-727.
Paul M Gould, ed., Beyond the Control of God?: Six Views on the Problem of God and Abstract Objects, New York: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014; Australasian Journal of Philosophy, 93:3 (2015): 627-628. [booknote]
James E. Dolezal’s God without Parts: Divine Simplicity and the Metaphysics of God’s Absoluteness, Pickwick Publications, 2011; Faith and Philosophy, 30.3 (2013): 480-486.
Lukáš Novák, Daniel D. Novotný, Prokop Sousedík, and David Svoboda (eds.) Metaphysics: Aristotelian, Scholastic, Analytic, Ontos Verlag, 2012; Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2012.
Paul Weingartner’s God’s Existence: Can it be Proven? A Logical Commentary on the Five Ways of Thomas Aquinas, Ontos Verlag, 2010; The European Journal for Philosophy of Religion 3:1 (2011): 243-248.
Mark Ian Thomas Robson’s Ontology and Providence in Creation: Taking Ex Nihilo Seriously, Continuum, 2008; Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews, 2009.
Peter van Inwagen’s The Problem of Evil (O.U.P, 2006), in Religious Studies Review 36.1(2010): 52-53. [booknote]
Christian Moevs’ The Metaphysics of Dante’s Comedy (O.U.P., 2005), in Religious Studies Review 32.2 (2006): 115. [booknote]