About Norman L. Geisler
Dr. Norman Geisler, PhD, is a prolific author, veteran professor, speaker, lecturer, traveler, philosopher, apologist, evangelist, and theologian. To those who ask, “Who is Norm Geisler?” some have suggested, “Imagine a cross between Thomas Aquinas and Billy Graham and you’re not too far off.”
Norm has authored or co-authored over 100 books and hundreds of articles. He has taught theology, philosophy, and apologetics on the college or graduate level for over 50 years. He has served as a professor at some of the finest Seminaries in the United States, including Trinity Evangelical Seminary, Dallas Seminary, and Southern Evangelical Seminary. He now lends his talents to Veritas Evangelical Seminary in Murrieta, California, as the Distinguished Professor of Apologetics.
Education
William Tyndale College, 1950-55 (diploma)
University of Detroit, 1956-57
Wheaton College, 1958 (B.A. in philosophy)
Wheaton Graduate School, 1960 (M.A. in theology)
William Tyndale College, 1964 (Th.B.)
Wayne State University Graduate School, 1964 (work in philosophy)
University of Detroit Graduate School, 1965-66 (work on M.A. in philosophy)
Northwestern University, Evanston, 1968 (work in philosophy)
Loyola University, Chicago, 1967-70 (Ph.D. in philosophy)
Professional Experience
Graduate Assistant in Bible-Philosophy Department, Wheaton College, 1959
Part-time Instructor in Bible at Detroit Bible College, 1959-62
Full-time Assistant Professor of Bible and Apologetics at Detroit Bible College, 1963-66
Full-time Associate Professor of Philosophy at Trinity College, 1970-71
Visiting Professor of Philosophy of Religion, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1969-70
Chairman of Philosophy of Religion, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1970-79
Professor of Systematic Theology, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1979-1988
Dean of Liberty Center for Research and Scholarship, Lynchburg, VA, 1989-91
Co-founder of Southern Evangelical Seminary, 1992
Dean of Southern Evangelical Seminary, 1992-99
President of Southern Evangelical Seminary, 1999-2006
Dean of Southern Evangelical Seminary, 2006-07
Visiting Professor of Apologetics, Southern Evangelical Seminary, 2014-Present
Founder and President of the International Society of Christian Apologetics, 2006-Present
Co-founder of Veritas Evangelical Seminary, 2007
Chancellor of Veritas Evangelical Seminary, 2007-Present
Distinguished Professor of Apologetics at Veritas Evangelical Seminary, 2007-Present
Pastoral/Pulpit Ministries
Director of Northeast Suburban Youth for Christ, near Detroit, 1952-54
Pastor of Dayton Center Church, Silverwood, Michigan, 1955-57 (ordained here 1956)
Assistant Pastor of River Grove Bible Church, River Grove, Illinois, 1958-59
Pastor of Memorial Baptist Church, Warren, Michigan, 1960-63
President of Alumni of Detroit Bible College, 1961-62
Several interim pastorates in Michigan, Illinois, and Texas, 1965+
“Quest for Truth,” radio ministry 1981-91
Senior Pastor of Southern Evangelical Church, Charlotte, NC 2003-2007
Internationally known speaker at churches, retreats, pastor’s conferences, universities, radio, and television since 1960
Books Authored, Co-Authored, and/or Edited by Dr. Geisler
A General Introduction to the Bible (Moody, 1968)
Christ the Theme of the Bible (Moody, 1968) (Bastion Books, 2012)
Ethics: Alternatives and Issues (Zondervan, 1971)
The Christian Ethic of Love (Zondervan, 1973)
Philosophy of Religion (Zondervan, 1974)
From God to Us (Moody, 1974)
* To Understand the Bible Look for Jesus (1975, reprint of #2)
Christian Apologetics (Baker, 1976)
A Popular Survey of the Old Testament (Baker, 1977)
The Roots of Evil (Zondervan, 1978)
Inerrancy (Zondervan, 1979)
Introduction to Philosophy: A Christian Perspective (Baker, 1980)
Options in Contemporary Christian Ethics (Baker, 1981)
Biblical Errancy: Its Philosophical Roots (Zondervan, 1981 / Bastion Books, 2013)
Decide for Yourself: How History Views the Bible (Zondervan, 1982)
The Creator in the Courtroom—Scopes II (Baker, 1982)
What Augustine Says (Baker, 1982)
Is Man the Measure? (Baker, 1983)
Cosmos: Carl Sagan’s Religion for the Scientific Mind (Quest, 1983)
Religion of the Force (Quest, 1983)
To Drink or Not to Drink: A Sober Look at the Problem (Quest, 1984)
Perspectives: Understanding and Evaluating Today’s World Views (Here’s Life, 1984)
Christianity Under Attack (Quest, 1985)
False Gods of Our Time (Harvest House, 1985)
A General Introduction to the Bible, Revised and Expanded (Moody, 1986)
Reincarnation Sensation (Tyndale, 1986)
Origin Science (Baker, 1987)
Philosophy of Religion (Baker revision, 1988)
Signs and Wonders (Tyndale, 1988)
* Worlds Apart (Baker. reprint of #21)
Knowing the Truth About Creation (Servant, 1989)
The Infiltration of the New Age (Tyndale, 1989)
The Battle for the Resurrection (Thomas Nelson, 1989)
Apologetics in the New Age (Baker, 1990)
Come Let Us Reason: An Introduction to Logical Thinking (Baker, 1990)
Gambling: A Bad Bet (Fleming H. Revel, 1990)
The Life and Death Debate (Greenwood, 1990)
In Defense of the Resurrection (Quest, 1991)
Thomas Aquinas: An Evangelical Appraisal (Baker, 1991)
Matters of Life and Death: Calm Answers to Tough Questions (Baker, 1991)
Miracles and the Modern Mind: A Defense of Biblical Miracles (Baker, 1992)
When Critics Ask: A Handbook on Bible Difficulties (Victor, 1992)
Answering Islam (Baker, 1993)
Roman Catholics and Evangelicals: Agreements and Differences (Baker, (1995)
Love is Always Right (Word, 1996)
Creating God in the Image of Man? (Bethany, 1997)
When Cultists Ask (Baker, 1997)
The Counterfeit Gospel of Mormonism (Harvest House, 1998)
Legislating Morality (Bethany, 1998)
Baker’s Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (Baker, 1999)
Chosen But Free (Bethany, 1999)
Unshakable Foundations (Bethany, 2001)
Why I Am a Christian (Baker, 2001)
The Battle for God (Kregel, 2001)
Living Loud: Defending Your Faith (Broadman & Holman, 2002)
The Roots of Evil (Zondervan, 1981)
Four Views on Eternal Security (Zondervan, 2002)
Answering Islam, Updated and Revised (Bethany, 2002)
Systematic Theology, Vol. 1 (Bethany, 2002)
Who Made God? (Zondervan, 2003)
Is Your Church Ready? (Zondervan, 2003)
Systematic Theology, Vol. 2 (Bethany, 2003)
I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Crossway, 2004)
Systematic Theology, Vol. 3 (Bethany, 2004)
Systematic Theology, Vol. 4 (Bethany, 2005)
Bringing Your Faith to Work (Baker, 2005)
* Correcting the Cults (Baker, 2005, reprint of #45)
Why I Am a Christian (revised for Baker, 2006)
Integrity at Work (Baker, 2007)
Creation in the Courts (Crossway, 2007)
A Popular Survey of the New Testament (Baker, 2007)
Love Your Neighbor (Crossway, 2007)
Reasons for Faith (Crossway, 2007)
Conviction Without Compromise (Harvest House, 2008)
The Apologetics of Jesus (Baker, 2008)
Conversational Evangelism (Harvest House, 2008)
Is Rome the True Church (Crossway, 2008)
* The Big Book of Bible Difficulties (Baker 2008, reprint of #40)
* Making Sense of Bible Difficulties (Baker, 2009, abridgement of #40)
Chosen But Free (third edition, revised and expanded, Bethany, 2010)
Christian Ethics, Second Edition (Baker, 2010)
If God, Why Evil? (Bethany, 2011)
* A Handbook on World Views (Bastion Books, revision of #21)
Systematic Theology in One Volume (Bethany, 2011)
Defending Inerrancy (Baker, 2012)
Reasons to Believe (Bethany, 2012)
A Popular Handbook of Biblical Archaeology (Bethany, 2012)
The Big Book of Christian Apologetics (Baker, 2012) (*revision of #48)
Christian Apologetics (revised, Baker, 2012)
Twelve Points that Show Christianity is True (Bastion Books, 2012)
Explaining Biblical Inerrancy: Official Commentary on the ICBI Statements (Bastion Books, 2011)
* The Christian Ethic of Love (2012 revision of #4)
Is the Pope Infallible: A Look at the Evidence (Bastion Books, 2012)
* The Roots of Evil (Bastion Books, 2013. Revision of #4)
Should Believers Make Ashes of Themselves? Cremation, the Burning Question (Bastion, 2013)
* Should Old Aquinas Be Forgotten? (Bastion Books, 2013. Revision of #37)
The Atheist’s Fatal Flaw (Baker, 2014)
The Jesus Quest: the Danger from Within (Xulon, 2014)
The Bible’s Answer to 100 of Life’s Biggest Questions (Baker, 2015)
The Shack: Helpful or Hurtful? (Bastion Books, 2011)
Teacher’s Guide to Twelve Points That Show Christianity is True (Bastion Books, 2012).
Beware of Philosophy (Bastion Books, 2012)
A History of Western Philosophy: Vol 1: Ancient and Medieval (Bastion Books, 2012)
A History of Western Philosophy: Vol 2: Modern and Contemporary (Bastion Books, 2012)
* A Handbook on World Views (Bastion Books, 2013. Revision of #21)
* Biblical Inerrancy: The Historical Evidence (Bastion Books, 2013. Rev of #14.)
* What in Cremation is Going On? (Bastion Books, 2014. Abridgement of # 86)
A Popular Survey of Bible Doctrine (Bastion Books, 2015)
The Doctrine of God (Bastion Books, 2015)
Vital Issues in the Inerrancy Debate (Wipf & Stock, 2015)
The Religion of the Force (Bastion Books, 2015. Major revision to #19)
God: A Philosophical Argument (Bastion Books, 2015)
Evidence of an Early New Testament Canon (Bastion Books, 2015)
Romans in Logical Form (Bastion Books, 2015)
Vital Issues in the Inerrancy Debate (Wipf & Stock, 2016)
How to Know God (Bastion Books, 2016)
A Prolegomena to Evangelical Theology (Bastion Books, 2016)
Is Man the Measure? An Evaluation of Contemporary Humanism and Transhumanism (Bastion Books, 2016 – Forthcoming)(* A revision and expansion of #….)
Note: Major revisions are counted in these numbers. *Minor ones are not.
Translations of Dr. Geisler’s Books
Teologia Sistemática (Brazilian Portuguese edition of Systematic Theology) CPAD details
Não tenho fé suficiente para ser ateu (Brazilian Portuguese edition of I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist)
Editora Vidadetails (Romanian edition of I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist)
I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Korean edition of I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist)
Ik heb te weinig geloof om een atheïst te zijn (Dutch edition of I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist) details
Book Contributions
MissionShift: Global Mission Issues in the Third Millennium (B&H, 2010)
Evangelicals Engaging Emergent: A Discussion of the Emergent Church Movement (B&H, 2009)
The Apologetics Study Bible (2007)
The Portable Seminary: A Master’s Level Overview in One Volume (Bethany House, 2006)
Passionate Conviction: Contemporary Discourses on Christian Apologetics (B&H, 2007)
The New Evidence that Demands a Verdict (1999. A “managing editor.” link)
The Cult of the Virgin: Catholic Mariology and the Apparitions of Mary (1992)
“Biblical Studies,” Opening of the American Mind: The Integration of Biblical Truth in the Curriculum of the University (Baker, 1991)
Walvoord: A Tribute (Moody, 1982)
DVD Lectures
(Partial List)
Reason and Faith
12 Points that Prove Christianity is True – Order
Overcoming Obstacles to Sharing Christ (8 hours)
If God, Why Evil?
Answering the Emergent Church Series
Who Made God? And Answers to Other Tough Questions of the Christian Faith
Truth in the Balance: The Case for Christianity Annual Apologetics Conference 2009
Debates
“Can the Existence of God Be Proven?” with Professor Milton Rosenberg at College of Lake County (1973)
“Sexual Morality: Relative or Absolute?” with Professor Kenneth Simonson at College of Lake County (1973)
“Is Christianity Credible?” with Dr. Michael Scriven at University of Calgary (1974)
“Is Humanistic Ethics Superior to Biblical Christianity?” with Dr. Joseph E. Barnhart at North Texas State University (January 24, 1974)
“Can the Existence of God Be Proven?” with Dr. Jonathan Saville (Spring 1976) at University of California, San Diego
“The Existence of God,” Southern Methodist University (March, 1977)
“Is Christianity Credible?” with John Riteris at IUPU, Indianapolis (November 2, 1977)
“The Reasonableness of God’s Existence” with Dr. William Wisdom, Temple University (November 8, 1979)
“Does God Exist?” with Dr. Wisdom, Temple University (February, 1980)
“Christianity vs. Humanism” with Dr. K. Kolenda, Rice University (March 14, 1980)
“Inerrancy of Scripture” with Dr. Norman Beck (January, 1981)
“Does God Exist?” with Dr. William De Vries, Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts (April 8, 1981)
“The Inerrancy of Scripture” with Dr. Thor Hall, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga
“Creation/Evolution” with Dr. Claud Rupert (January 10, 1982, NBC-TV)
“Creation vs. Evolution” with Dr. Paul Edwards (May 1983
“Should Creationism be Taught (as science) in the Public School? with Fred Edwards and Steve Schafersman (May 6, 1983)
“Does God Exist?” with Harry Benswanger (April 9, 1984)
“Why do Bad Things Happen to Good People?” a TV debate with Rabbi Kushner (1984)
“Should Creation be Taught in Public Schools?” with Philip Kitcher (November 8, 1985)
“Should Roe vs. Wade (Abortion) Decision Be Reversed?” with Charlotte Taft (January 17, 1986)
“Christianity vs. Secular Humanism” with Dr. Paul Kurtz (1986), author of Humanist Manifesto II
“Is Christianity Rational” with Harvey Siegel (1987)
“Process Theism vs. Classical Theism” with John Cobb (April, 1988)
“Should Creation be Taught in the Public Schools” with ACLU attorney Crawford (March 5, 1991)
“Did Jesus Rise from the Dead” with Farrel Til (March, 1994)
Honors and Recognitions
Graduated with honor from Wheaton College (1958)
Chosen as an “Outstanding Educator of America” (1975)
Philosophy of Religion chosen as a “Choice Evangelical Book of the Year” by Christianity Today (1975)
First president of Evangelical Philosophical Society (1976)
Elected to the Wheaton Scholastic Honor Society (1977)
Listed in Who’s Who in Religion, Writers Who’s Who, and Men of Achievement
Honored as Alumnus of the Year – William Tyndale College (1982)
Quoted in Time magazine (Jan. 1982, Sept. 1985)
General Introduction to the Bible won the Cornerstone Magazine book of the year award in its category (1986)
When Skeptics Ask was nominated for the Medallion Award of the year in the category of Missions/Evangelism (1991)
President of Evangelical Theological Society (1998)
Gold Medallion Award for Legislating Morality (1999)
Silver Medallion Award for Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics (2000)
Founder and first President of the International Society of Christian Apologetics (2006)
Outreach Magazine recognized If God, Why Evil? as the 2012 Outreach Resource in Apologetics
Family
Married for 59 years (as of 2016) to wife Barbara Jean, graduate of Fort Wayne Bible College (Taylor University)
Dr. and Mrs. Geisler have (as of 2016) six children, fifteen grandchildren, and three great grandchildren