Jay Wesley Richards is an American analytical philosopher who focuses on the intersection of politics, philosophy, and religion. He is the William E. Simon Senior Research Fellow in Heritage’s DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at

The Heritage Foundation The Heritage Foundation (or simply Heritage) is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1973, it took a leading role in the conservative movement in the 1980s during the Presi ...

. He serves as an adjunct professor in the School of Business at the

Catholic University of America The Catholic University of America (CUA) is a private Catholic research university in Washington, D.C., United States. It is one of two pontifical universities of the Catholic Church in the United States – the only one that is not primarily a ...

and the executive editor of ''The Stream'' and senior fellow at the

Discovery Institute The Discovery Institute (DI) is a conservatism in the United States, politically conservative think tank that advocates the pseudoscience, pseudoscientific concept Article available froUniversiteit Gent of intelligent design (ID). It was fou ...

. A former Presbyterian, Richards is now a Catholic.

Early life and education

Jay Richards graduated from

Southwestern University Southwestern University (Southwestern or SU) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Georgetown, Texas. Formed in 1873 from a revival of collegiate charters granted in 1840, Southwester ...

, where he received a B.A. with majors in political science and religion. He received a Master of Theology (Th.M.) degree from

Calvin Theological Seminary Calvin Theological Seminary is a private Christian Reformed Church seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It is closely tied to Calvin University, though each institution has its own board. History The seminary was founded in 1876 with the purpose ...

and a Master of Divinity (M.Div.) degree from

Union Presbyterian Seminary Union Presbyterian Seminary is a Presbyterian seminary in Richmond, Virginia, and Charlotte, North Carolina, offering graduate theological education in multiple modalities: in-person, hybrid, and online. History As a result of efforts underta ...

. His Ph.D. is in philosophy and theology from

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a Private university, private seminary, school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Establish ...

Career

Richards is author or editor of more than a dozen books, including the New York Times bestsellers Infiltrated (2013) and Indivisible (2012); The Human Advantage; Money, Greed, and God, winner of a 2010 Templeton Enterprise Award; The Hobbit Party with Jonathan Witt; and Eat, Fast, Feast. Richards was a fellow at the Institute for Faith, Work & Economics and the program director of the

's Center for Science and Culture (CSC). He was the first fellow at the Discovery Institute to confirm the genuineness of the Wedge document. Science organizations then paid attention to the institute after the document was published online, but Richards wrote "that the mission statement and goals had been posted on the CRSC's website since 1996." Richards has expressed

climate change denial Climate change denial (also global warming denial) is a form of science denial characterized by rejecting, refusing to acknowledge, disputing, or fighting the scientific consensus on climate change. Those promoting denial commonly use rhetor ...

. In January 2008, at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

, Jay Richards had a debate with a leading atheist,

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British and American author and journalist. He was the author of Christopher Hitchens bibliography, 18 books on faith, religion, culture, politics, and literature. He was born ...

, on the topic: Atheism vs. Theism and The Scientific Evidence of Intelligent Design. It was moderated by

Ben Stein Benjamin Jeremy Stein (born November 25, 1944) is an American writer, lawyer, actor, comedian, and commentator on political and economic issues. He began his career as a speechwriter for U.S. presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford before enter ...

. The debate led up to the release of Ben Stein's movie '' Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed''. Richards taught an

apologetics Apologetics (from Greek ) is the religious discipline of defending religious doctrines through systematic argumentation and discourse. Early Christian writers (c. 120–220) who defended their beliefs against critics and recommended their f ...

course at

Biola University Biola University () is a private, nondenominational, evangelical Christian university in La Mirada, California. It was founded in 1908 as the Bible Institute of Los Angeles. It has over 150 programs of study in nine schools offering bachelor' ...

. He has worked for the

Acton Institute The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty is an American conservative and libertarian think tank in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with an office in Rome. Its stated mission is "to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by i ...

and is the executive editor of The Stream.

Bibliography

*''Unapologetic Apologetics: Meeting the Challenges of Theological Studies''. William A. Dembski, Jay Wesley Richards. Downer's Grove, Illinois: InterVarsity Press, January 2001. *''Are We Spiritual Machines?: Ray Kurzweil vs. the Critics of Strong A.I.'' by Jay W. Richards,

George Gilder George Franklin Gilder (; born November 29, 1939) is an American investor, author, economist, and co-founder of the Discovery Institute. His 1981 book, '' Wealth and Poverty'', advanced a case for supply-side economics and capitalism during the e ...

Ray Kurzweil Raymond Kurzweil ( ; born February 12, 1948) is an American computer scientist, author, entrepreneur, futurist, and inventor. He is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), speech synthesis, text-to-speech synthesis, spee ...

, Thomas Ray,

John Searle John Rogers Searle (; born July 31, 1932) is an American philosopher widely noted for contributions to the philosophy of language, philosophy of mind, and social philosophy. He began teaching at UC Berkeley in 1959 and was Willis S. and Mario ...

, William Dembski, Michael Denton. Discovery Institute, June 2001. *''The Untamed God: A Philosophical Exploration of Divine Perfection, Immutability and Simplicity'' by Jay Wesley Richards,

InterVarsity Press Founded in 1947, InterVarsity Press (IVP) is a Christian publisher located in Lisle, Illinois. IVP focuses on publishing Christian books and digital resources that discuss influential cultural moments, provide tools for mental growth through a ...

, October 2003. * '' The Privileged Planet: How Our Place in the Cosmos Is Designed for Discovery'' by Guillermo Gonzalez, Jay W. Richards,

Regnery Publishing Regnery Publishing is a politically conservative book publisher based in Washington, D.C. The company was founded by Henry Regnery in 1947. In December 2023, Regnery was acquired from Salem Media Group by Skyhorse Publishing, with Skyhorse ...

, Inc., Washington D.C., March 2004, *''Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism Is the Solution and Not the Problem''. New York:

HarperOne HarperOne is a publishing imprint of HarperCollins, specializing in books that aim to "transform, inspire, change lives, and influence cultural discussions." Under the original name of Harper San Francisco, the imprint was founded in 1977 by 13 e ...

, 2009. *''Eat, Fast, Feast: Heal Your Body While Feeding Your Soul- A Christian Guide to Fasting''. HarperOne, January 2020. *''The Price of Panic: How the Tyranny of Experts Turned a Pandemic into a Catastrophe'' by Jay W. Richards, Douglas Axe and William M. Briggs, Regnery Publishing, October 2020.

References

External links

Jay Richards
from

Jay Richards
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Institute for Faith, Work & Economics (IFWE)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Jay Wesley 21st-century American writers Living people American Christian writers American theologians Biola University faculty Busch School of Business faculty Christian apologists Converts to Roman Catholicism from Presbyterianism Discovery Institute fellows and advisors Intelligent design advocates Princeton Theological Seminary alumni The Heritage Foundation people Union Presbyterian Seminary alumni Year of birth missing (living people)