EDUCATION
Saint Louis University, Ph.D., Philosophy 2008
Baylor University, M.A., Philosophy 2003
Rutgers University, B.A., Political Science-History 1993, Cum Laude
ACADEMIC POSITIONS
Professor of Philosophy, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA. 2022-present.
Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA. 2014-2022.
Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Christopher Newport University, Newport News, VA. 2008-2014.
GRANTS AND AWARDS
Investigator on Templeton Grant on The Christian Practice of Lament: Mechanisms of Change, housed at Biola University, P.I. Elizabeth Hall (2022–2024)
Sabbatical Award from Christopher Newport University (2024)
Investigator on Narramore Christian Foundation Grant housed at Biola University on Mental Health and Christian Lament, P.I. Elizabeth Hall (2022-2024)
John Templeton Grant to Study Christian Meaning-Making, Suffering, and The Flourishing Life (2019-2022) (Investigator, under P.I. Elizabeth Hall) Our interdisciplinary project will interview cancer sufferers about the religious dimensions of their cancer experience.
Council of Christian Colleges and Universities Grant to Study Christian Meaning-Making, Suffering, and The Flourishing Life (2016-2019) (Investigator, under P.I. Elizabeth Hall). Our interdisciplinary project will interview cancer sufferers about the religious dimensions of their cancer experience.
Research Fellowship from Biola University for research on The Meaning of Love (2015-2016)
Sabbatical Award from Christopher Newport University (2015-2016)
Immortality Project Grant (University of California at Riverside / Underwritten by the John Templeton Foundation) to fund the Paradise Understood edited collection and conference.
(CO-PI with Dr. Ryan Byerly) (2014-2015)
Analytic Theology Cluster Group Participant (2014)
Faculty Development Grant, Christopher Newport University (2012)
State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV)--Outstanding Faculty Nominee for Christopher Newport University, Rising Star Category (2011)
American Philosophical Association Eastern Division Graduate Student Travel Stipend (2008)
American Philosophical Association Pacific Division Graduate Student Travel Stipend (2007)
American Philosophical Association Eastern Division Graduate Student Travel Stipend (2006)
BOOKS
Virtuous Responses to Suffering, Tragedy, and Evil, (New York, NY: Routledge Publishing, forthcoming)
Virtuous and Vicious Expressions of Partiality, (New York, NY: Routledge Publishing, 2024)
Sexual Ethics in a Secular Age: Is There Still a Virtue of Chastity? (ed.)(New York: NY: Routledge Publishing, 2020)
The Supremacy of Love: An Agape-Centered Vision of Aristotelian Virtue Ethics, (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield/Lexington Books, 2019).
The Ultimate Game of Thrones and Philosophy, co-edited with Robert Arp, (Peru, IL: Open Court, 2017)
Paradise Understood: New Philosophical Essays about Heaven, co-edited with T. Ryan Byerly, (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2017).
The Prudence of Love: How Possessing the Virtue of Love Benefits the Lover, (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield/Lexington Books, 2010). Soft cover reprint, 2010.
JOURNAL ARTICLES AND TRADITIONAL ACADEMIC BOOK CHAPTERS
“Spiritual surrender: Initial appraisals of cancer diagnoses in Black Christian women.” E. Hall, G. E. Lee, Jason McMartin, Alexis Abernethy, Laura Shannonhouse, Crystal Park, Jamie Aten, Kelly Kapic, Eric Silverman. (2024). Journal of Black Psychology, 50(3), 365-387.
“Lament: Measuring a Christian meaning-making practice.” Elizabeth Hall, Kelly Kapic, Crystal Park, Shane Sacco, Dahee Kim, Jason McMartin,, Eric Silverman, Laura Shannonhouse, Jamie Aten, Lindsay Snow. (2024). Journal of Psychology and Theology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/00916471241281889
“Religious affiliation moderates associations of theodicies and well-being in people experiencing significant suffering.” Crystal Park, Elizabeth Hall, Jason McMartin, Eric Silverman, Kelly Kapic, Laura Shannonhouse. (2024). Mental Health, Religion and Culture. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/13674676.2023.2268541
“Why Partial Relationships are Necessary: A Model For Virtuous and Loving Unequal Relationships.” Virtuous and Vicious Expressions of Partiality, E. Silverman (ed.) (Routledge, 2024)
“Spiritual surrender: Measurement of an Emic Christian Religious Coping Strategy.” Laura Shannonhouse, Jason McMartin, Shane Sacco, Elizabeth Hall, Crystal Park, Dahee Kim, Eric Silverman, Kelly Kapic, and Jamie Aten. Spirituality in Clinical Practice 11 (2024).
“God was with me”: A qualitative study of Christian meaning-making among refugees. Shannonhouse, L., Dosal-Terminel, D., Kwag, D., Hall, M. E. L., Park, C. L., McMartin, J., Silverman, E. J., Aten, J., O'Connor, M. H., & Kapic, K. Journal of Traumatic Stress 37 (2024).
"God wastes nothing": A consensual qualitative study of coping among Catholic individuals with cancer diagnoses. Shannonhouse L, Lopez J, Hall MEL, Silverman E, Captari LE, Park CL, McMartin J, Kapic K, Aten J. Journal of Health Psychology 28 (2023).
“When Suffering Contradicts Belief: Measuring Theodical Struggling.” Crystal Park, Eric Silverman, Shane Sacco, Dahee Kim, Elizabeth Hall, Jason McMartin, Kelly Kapic, Laura Shannonhouse, Adam David, and Jamie Aten. Current Psychology 42 (2023).
"The Value of a Meaningful Life as a Response to The Problem of Evil." Eric Silverman, Elizabeth Hall, Crystal Park, Jason McMartin, Kelly Kapic, Laura Shannonhouse, Jamie Aten, and Alexis Abernethy. Faith and Philosophy 39 (2022).
“Suffering with Christ: Emic Christian Coping and Relation to Well-Being.” Elizabeth Hall, Jason McMartin, Crystal Park, Shane Sacco, Dahee Kim, Kelly Kapic, Eric Silverman, Laura Shannonhouse, Jamie Aten, Lindsay Snow, and Luis Lopez. SSM - Mental Health 2 (2022).
“Intimacy with God: Development of An Emic Christian Measure and Relationship to Well-Being.” Journal of Psychology and Christianity” Elizabeth Hall, Eric Silverman, Shane J. Sacco, Crystal Park, Kelly Kapic, Laura Shannonhouse, Jamie Aten, and Lindsay Snow. Journal of Psychology and Christianity 41 (1) (2022).
“Reflections on The Prospects and Perils of Interdisciplinary Collaboration in Emic Research.” J. McMartin, K. Kapic, D. Davis, C. V. Witvliet, E. Hall, J. Hook, C. Evans, E. Silverman, and C. Park (2022). Journal of Psychology and Christianity 41(1) (2022).
“Testimony and Meaning: A Qualitative Study of Black Women with Cancer Diagnoses.” in Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology. Co-authored with Elizabeth Hall, E., Lee, G., Jason McMartin, Abernethy, A., Lauren Shannonhouse, Crystal Park, Jamie Aten, Kelly Kapic.
Hall, E., Aten, J., McMartin, J., Decker, L., Wang, D., Silverman, E. J., Shannonhouse, L. “The Christian Sanctification of Suffering Scale: measure development and relationship to well-being.” in Mental Health, Religion, and Culture. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13674676.2021.1884670?fbclid=IwAR1S8iuPcMKUN5lYgOCHZRnu-pQ_GefrvrBZHD8ayOgOf7JVTpLGf9YfvYk&
Aten, J., Hall, M. Elizabeth L., McMartin, J., Silverman, E. J., Shannonhouse, L. (2020). “Christian Meaning Making Through Suffering in Theology and Psychology of Religion,” in Journal of Moral Theology, 9(1).
“Contemporary Chastity Still Consists In Temperance, Justice, and Prudence,” in Sexual Ethics in a Secular Age: Is There Still a Virtue of Chastity?, Eric Silverman (ed.) (New York: NY, Routledge Publishing, 2021), 37-50.
“Christian Lay-Theodicy and The Cancer Experience,” Journal of Analytic Theology, Vol. 8 (2020). Primary author, co-authored with Elizabeth Hall, Laura Shannonhouse, Jamie Aten, and Jason McMartin. pp. 344-370.
“Theodicy or Not? The Spiritual Struggles of Evangelical Cancer Survivors”, co-authored with Elizabeth Hall, Laura Shannonhouse, Jamie Aten, and Jason McMartin. Journal of Psychology and Theology 47:4 (2019): 259-277.
“The Varieties of Redemptive Experiences: A Study of Meaning-Making in Evangelical Christian Cancer Patients.” Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, (2018). Co-authored with Elizabeth Hall, Laura Shannonhouse, Jamie Aten, and Jason McMartin.
“Religion-Specific Resources for Meaning-Making From Suffering: A Review and Research Proposal,” Co-authored with Elizabeth Hall, Laura Shannonhouse, Jamie Aten, and Jason McMartin. Mental Health, Religion, and Culture 21 (2018): 77-92.
“Platonic, Aristotelian, and Kantian Christian Love,” in The Routledge Handbook on Love in Philosophy, Adrienne Martin (ed.) (New York: NY, Routledge Publishing, 2019).
"Conceiving Heaven as a Dynamic Rather than Static Existence," in Paradise Understood: New Philosophical Essays about Heaven, T. Ryan Byerly & Eric J. Silverman (eds.) (New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2017).
“William James and Thomas Aquinas on the Fruits of Saintliness,” in The Cries of The Wounded: William James, Moral Philosophy, and the Ethical Life, Jacob Goodson (ed.), (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, forthcoming).
"Impassibility and Divine Love," in Models of God and Alternative Ultimate Realities, Jeanine Diller and Asa Kasher (eds.), (New York, NY: Springer, 2013).
“A Traditional Christian Perspective on Terrorism: Why Martyrs, Pacifists, and Just War Theorists Abhor Terrorism,” in The Root of All Evil? Religious Perspectives on Terrorism, Lori Underwood (ed.), (New York, NY: Peter Lang, 2013).
“How to Resolve the Partiality-Impartiality Puzzle Using a Love-Centered Account of Virtue Ethics” in The Proceedings of the 7th Annual International Conference on Philosophy of the Athens Institute For Education and Research,(Athens, Greece: Athens Institute For Education and Research, 2013).
“Aristotle’s Argument for Perfectionism,” in Just the Arguments: 100 of the Most Important Arguments in Western Philosophy, Michael Bruce and Steven Barbone (eds.), (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012).
“Anthropocentrism and the Medieval Problem of Religious Language,” in Anthropocentrism: Humans, Animals, Environments, Rob Boddice (ed.), (Boston, MA: Brill, 2011).
“Robert Solomon’s Rejection of Aristotelian Virtue: Is the Passion of Erotic Love Independent of Rationality,” Essays in Philosophy 12 (2011).
“Reconciling Familial Love and Impartial Morality: an Examination of David Velleman’s Efforts and Some Alternative Strategies,” in The Ethics of the Family, Stephen Scales (ed.), (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2010).
“John Hick’s Soul-Making Theodicy and the Virtue of Love,” Journal of Philosophical Research 34 (2009): 329-343.
“Michael Slote’s Rejection of Neo-Aristotelian Ethics,” Journal of Value Inquiry 42 (2008): 507-518.
POPULAR CULTURE AND PHILOSOPHY CHAPTERS
“Is The Godfather a Just Man? Maybe…” The Godfather and Philosophy: An Argument You Can’t Refute, J. Heter and R. Greene (eds). Co-Authored with C. Bunn (Open Universe, 2023).
“Game of Thrones as Philosophy: Cynical Realpolitiks,” The Palgrave Handbook of Popular Culture as Philosophy, David Kyle Johnson (ed.). Co-authored with William Riordan. Online https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-319-97134-6_90-1.
“Can Eleanor Really Become a Better Person?” in The Good Place and Philosophy, Kim Engels (ed.). Co-Authored with CNU undergrad Zachary Swanson. (Malden, MA: Blackwell-Wiley, 2020), pp. 37-47. Reprinted in Introducing Philosophy through Pop Culture: From Socrates to South Park, from Hume to House, 2nd edition, William Irwin (ed.), (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, forthcoming)
“In Rick We Trust,” in Rick and Morty and Philosophy, Wayne Yuen and Lester Abesamis (eds.). Co-authored with CNU undergrad Conner Channer. (Peru, IL: Open Court Publishing, 2018), pp. 35-44.
“Gratuitous Sex, Horrifying Violence, and the Truth,” in The Ultimate Game of Thrones and Philosophy: You Think or Die!, (Chicago, IL: Open Court Publishing, 2017), pp. 209-217.
“Winter is Coming! The Bleak Search for Happiness in Westeros,” in Game of Thrones and Philosophy, Henry Jacoby (ed.), (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012).
“Mindreading and Morality,” in Twilight and Philosophy, Rebecca Housel and Jeremy Wisnewski (eds.), (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009).
“Adama’s True Lie: Earth and the Problem of Knowledge,” in Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy, Jason T. Eberl (ed.), (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2008). Reprinted in Introducing Philosophy through Pop Culture: From Socrates to South Park, from Hume to House, William Irwin (ed.), (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010).
BOOK REVIEWS
Review of David McPherson, Virtue and Meaning, The Review of Metaphysics 74 (2020): 159-161.
Review of Thomas Jay Oord, The Uncontrolling Love of God, The Philosophical Quarterly 266 (2017): 209-211.
Review of John Deigh, Emotions, Values, and the Law, The Review of Metaphysics 63 (2009): 182-184.