John Mark Reynolds

It's all found in Plato.

Recent Essays

Doubt, Truth, and Wonder in Ministry

John Mark Reynolds | Theology | 03.18.2010

Every man wonders, and a man who is sure, beyond any doubts, has no faith. Without faith it is impossible to please God and a man displeasing to God has no business speaking for Him. The man without wonder is unfit for ph... Read More...

How I Loathe the Tea Parties

John Mark Reynolds | Politics | 03.13.2010

Once I had a membership card in the Moral Majority and my wife listens to Dr. James Dobson. We work at Biola University, a flagship university for conservative Christians in the United States. Recent media reports about... Read More...

Lessons from a TV Little House

John Mark Reynolds | Culture | 03.11.2010

There are shows that died before their time, such as Firefly. There were certainly shows that suffered from a lack of love and budget cuts, see the third season of Star Trek: The Only Non-Derivative Version. One televisio... Read More...

A Bully in Nanny’s Clothing

John Mark Reynolds | Theology, Politics | 03.05.2010

It is bad enough if bad information costs you the value of your 401-K, but worse if it costs your soul. Being told you are wrong is important at any time, but hearing that you might be wrong about critical areas is vital. ... Read More...

Let’s Argue the Truth of Our Ideas

John Mark Reynolds | Theology, Politics | 02.26.2010

The problem with American foreign policy is that it never considers that a particular religious belief might be true or that some beliefs might be false. We don’t argue with religious folk, we attempt to placate them. There... Read More...

Deeds Not Words: End Our Discrimination Against God’s Children

John Mark Reynolds | Culture | 02.19.2010

Americans too often worry more about what we call people than how we treat them. The term “retarded” has outlived any usefulness, having turned into an insult, but the more important problem is how we treat differences... Read More...

A Republic in Peril: the Death of Liberty

John Mark Reynolds | Culture, Politics | 02.03.2010

Nothing, not a plague of Biblical proportions or a President Jon Edwards, would harm the Republic more than allowing a handsome football quarterback and his mother to give a Super Bowl commercial celebrating life. The Supe... Read More...

Gotta Be Dominos

John Mark Reynolds | Culture | 01.17.2010

The Constitution of 1789 and republican values. Ronald Reagan and tax cuts. Orthodoxy and icons. Some things go together naturally and pizza and NFL play-off football are two naturals. Over the course of my life no p... Read More...

Ignorance allows certainty, but punishes with narrowness

John Mark Reynolds | Culture, Theology | 01.14.2010

Ignorance allows certainty, but punishes with narrowness. Ignorance grants ease of mind, but produces costly errors. No place is this more evident in American culture than in those ignorant of Christianity. They think they... Read More...

One Bad Argument in Favor of Torture

John Mark Reynolds | Politics | 01.07.2010

Traditional Christians oppose torture based on their understanding of Divine Revelation and centuries of experience learning the corrosive effects torture has on the society that justifies its use. Traditional conservative... Read More...

Advent and Thomas: Dark Before Christmas

John Mark Reynolds | Culture | 12.21.2009

Things are hard and the message of Advent, the days before Christmas, is not to cheer up, but to look up. The redemption of all people is coming, but it is coming on God's timing. That frustrates me and I suspect I am not ... Read More...
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Miscellaneous Notes

Contact Me!

Reynolds' Blogroll

Hugh Hewitt
hughhewitt.townhall.com
Ancient Faith Radio
ancientfaithradio.com
The Corner at NRO
corner.nationalreview.com
Evangelical Outpost
evangelicaloutpost.com
The Perseus Project
(ancient texts)
www.perseus.tufts.edu
Free Republic
freerepublic.com
Box Office Mojo
boxofficemojo.com
BBC News
www.bbc.com
Daily Kos
dailykos.com
Huffington Post
huffingtonpost.com
Packers Plus
www.jsonline.com
MiceAge
miceage.com
MousePlanet
mouseplanet.com
Leiter Reports
leiterreports.typepad.com
Post-Darwinist
post-darwinist.blogspot.com
Red-Blue Christian
www.redbluechristian.com
Panda's Thumb
pandasthumb.org
Touchstone Blog
merecomments.typepad.com
Uncommon Descent
uncommondescent.com
California Republic
californiarepublic.org
Acton Institute
acton.org
Antiochian Orthodox Church Website
antiochian.org


Collected Quotations

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth."
John 1:14
"In the name of Our dearly beloved homeland, We call on Our faithful sons of the fatherland to fulfill their sacred duty to the fatherland, to obey the tsar in the heavy moment of national trials, and to help Him, together with the representatives of the people, to guide the Russian Empire on the road to victory, welfare, and glory. May the Lord God help Russia!"
from the abdication of Nicholas II
"Where do we go from here?"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
(Musical Episode)
"Khan!"
James Tiberius Kirk
(Star Trek II)
"…but where is the fourth?"
Socrates (Timaeus)
"I went down to the Piraeus with Glaucon, the son of Ariston…"
Socrates (Republic)
"…the story will save us, if we are persuaded by it…"
Socrates (Republic)
"Lord Jesus Christ, son of God, have mercy on me a sinner."
Jesus Prayer
"I believe, o Lord, and confess that thou art truly the Christ the son of the living God…"
Liturgy of the Western Rite Orthodox Church
"I will not cease from mental fight, / Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand / Till we have built Jerusalem / In England's green and pleasant land."
William Blake
"Who's there?"
Hamlet, William Shakespeare
"Who shall be Pendragon in the time when Saturn descends from his sphere? In what world did he learn war?"
Merlin, That Hideous Strength

Biographical Sketch

Biographical Sketch

John Mark Reynolds is the founder and director of the Torrey Honors Institute, and Associate Professor of Philosophy, at Biola University. In 1996 he received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Rochester.

John Mark Reynolds' Curriculum Vitae
PDF (36KB)

Publication Overview

Dr. Reynolds' first book, Three Views on the Creation and Evolution Debate, was co-edited with J.P. Moreland. His latest book, Towards a Unified Plationic Human Psychology, is a close examination of Plato's view of the soul as seen in the Timaeus. Several of his technical articles have been published on philosophy of religion as well as popular articles in journals such as The New Oxford Review and Touchstone.


Lecturer and Speaker

Dr. Reynolds lectures frequently on ancient philosophy, philosophy of science, home-schooling and cultural trends. He regularly appears on radio talk shows, including the Hugh Hewitt Show, and activelly blogs on cultural issues. For speaking requests email Michael Fatigati


John Mark Reynolds

John Mark and his wife Hope have four homeschooled children: L.D., Mary Kate, Ian and Jane. John Mark and his family love Disneyland and make frequent trips to the ‘Happiest Place on Earth’ with his students at the Torrey Honors Institute of which John Mark is the founder and director.


Top 10 Books

I am reminded by the folk at America's best magazine, Touchstone, that C.S. Lewis published a famous "top ten list" of the books which most influenced his life. I am not listing the best books or the books that impact me now, but the books that have influenced the course of my life. To make the top ten list (or the close 20) is to have read the book more than five times, carefully, and not for work. The top ten list must have influenced my life for more than five of my forty years. Books in the top ten list should still be meaningful, thus giving some slight preference to the grown up me.

1. The Bible

I don't remember a time when the stories of this book were not being read to me and I read it every day. My parents raised me in an atmosphere super-saturated with this Book of Books.

2. That Hideous Strength (C.S. Lewis)

Torrey is based on the image of Saint Anne's in this book. This is the truest account of the state of the West written in the last one hundred years.

3. Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)

I have read this book every year of my life since seventh grade. Even the smallest hobbit can do great things for God.

4. Republic (Plato)

The two years spent with this book and Al Geier were the most academically productive of my life. Since then, I have come to find almost every truth needed in the pages of this book, saving only the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.

5. Nicholas and Alexandra (Massie)

This book seized my imagination and shaped my view of politics forever.

6. A Severe Mercy (Vanauken)

My favorite book on love, marriage, and the problem of pain.

7. Chronicles of Narnia (Lewis)

I still hope the elevator in Sutherland will open to Narnia someday.

8. Divine Comedy (Dante)

The most influential book of the last four years of my life.

9. Timaeus (Plato)

This is the first and last word on science for me.

10. Reason in the Balance (Johnson)

The book that still shapes the educational experience at Torrey.


Top 5 Movies

1. Passion of Joan of Arc
2. Anything by Andrei Tarkovsky
3. It's a Wonderful Life
4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
5. Sense and Sensibility