Faculty Directory
School of Ministry
Douglas Groothuis
Distinguished University Research Professor of Apologetics and Christian Worldview
Douglas Groothuis, Ph.D., serves as Cornerstone University’s first Distinguished University Research Professor of Apologetics and Christian Worldview and as a President’s Fellow at Cornerstone University and Cornerstone Theological Seminary. A nationally recognized Christian public intellectual, philosopher, author, and apologist, Groothuis is widely regarded as one of evangelical Christianity’s leading thinkers on apologetics, worldview formation, and the intellectual defense of the Christian faith. Through teaching, scholarship, public engagement, and mentorship, he helps students engage life’s most important questions through the truth of Scripture and the person of Jesus Christ.
Groothuis holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Oregon and an M.A. in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He also completed graduate theological studies under influential evangelical leaders including Carl F. H. Henry, Clark Pinnock, and Ronald Sider. Before joining Cornerstone in 2024, he spent more than three decades at Denver Seminary, including more than twenty years as Professor of Philosophy and chair of the Philosophy of Religion program. There he helped develop graduate programs in apologetics and ethics while mentoring generations of pastors, scholars, ministry leaders, and Christian thinkers. He has also taught at Fuller Theological Seminary, Colorado Christian University, Seattle Pacific University, and the University of Oregon.
At Cornerstone, Groothuis teaches, mentors, writes, conducts research, and contributes to The Cornerstone Core™, particularly its emphasis on the Beauty of the Christian Worldview. He challenges students to understand Christianity not merely as a private faith, but as a coherent and compelling vision of reality that shapes every aspect of life. As Director of the Honors Program, he helps lead a distinctive academic community where students engage the great ideas and enduring questions of humanity through the lens of Christian truth and graduate with a Minor in Influence & Innovation.
Throughout his career, Groothuis has devoted himself to demonstrating that Christianity is both intellectually credible and transformationally true. At a time when many young adults are searching for truth, purpose, and meaning, he challenges students to understand their identity as God’s creation and discover how a life devoted to Jesus Christ offers a more compelling vision of human flourishing than the competing philosophies, religions, and ideologies shaping contemporary culture. Grounded in Scripture and historic Christian orthodoxy, he teaches that truth is objective, every person bears the image of God, and Jesus Christ is uniquely Lord and Savior.
Education
- Ph.D., Philosophy, University of Oregon
- Graduate, Sociology, University of Washington
- M.A., philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Madison
- Graduate, Theological and Biblical Studies, New College-Berkeley
- B.S., Philosophy, University of Oregon
Selected Books
- Christian Apologetics: A Comprehensive Case for Biblical Faith
- Unmasking the New Age
- World Religions in Seven Sentences
- The Knowledge of God in the World and in the Word(with Andrew Shepardson)
- Fire in the Streets
- Truth Decay
- Philosophy in Seven Sentences
- The Soul in Cyberspace
- Jesus in an Age of Controversy
- Christianity That Counts
- Revealing the New Age Jesus
Presentations & Speaking Topics
Groothuis is a nationally recognized speaker who has addressed universities, churches, conferences, and public audiences throughout the United States and internationally. Known for making complex ideas accessible to broad audiences, he regularly speaks on:
- Christian Apologetics
- Christian Worldview Formation
- The Case for Christianity
- Truth, Meaning, and Human Flourishing
- New Atheism and Contemporary Challenges to Faith
- World Religions and Comparative Religion
- Ethics and Moral Reasoning
- Philosophy of Technology and Artificial Intelligence
- Cultural Criticism and Public Life
- C.S. Lewis
- Philosophy, Beauty, and the Arts
Publications & Media
Groothuis has published more than thirty scholarly articles in journals including Academic Questions and Philosophia Christi and has contributed dozens of articles, essays, reviews, and commentaries to publications such as The Chronicle of Higher Education, Christianity Today, and The Christian Research Journal. His work has reached audiences through hundreds of interviews, debates, lectures, podcasts, radio programs, and public forums.
- Personal Website: DouglasGroothuis.com
- Truth Tribe Podcast
- The Douglas Groothuis Blog