Publications and Presentations

Wings of Steel (ISBN: 0-8280-0739-X) -- This is a book about my 39-day ascent of a new route on El Capitan. The book appeals to climbers, those interested in climbing,  and to Christians, as the story includes many spiritual parallels.

Miracles, Faith, and Unanswered Prayer (ISBN: 9780828020152) -- In this book, I discuss the nature of genuine Christian faith, distinguishing it from the many sentiments falsely claimed to be faith. I consider the role of miracles and prayer in Christian experience, and I conclude that God is prepared to provide far more power and striking answers to prayer than Christians generally realize. This book contains deep, careful thinking about some of the thorniest questions in Christianity, as well as providing practical responses to real-life situations.

Wings of Steel (Slide Show) -- In the years since Mark Smith and I completed our ascent of Wings of Steel, I have traveled all over the United States giving slide shows about the ascent to tens of thousands of people. I have several versions of the program, making it suitable for school assemblies (challenging and motivational), business groups (motivational), church groups (challenging/devotional/inspirational),  clubs (depends on context), and prison groups (depends on context). The program can range from forty-five minutes to two hours in length (depending upon the situation), which includes a question and answer period at the end.

Seminars -- I have delivered numerous philosophical seminars, including: A Critique of Evolutionary Arguments, Kantian Metaphysics, Introductory Logic, Introductory Philosophical Methods and Thinking, and Political Philosophy, among others.  These seminars are typically ten sessions of about three hours each; they provide the uninitiated lay person with an introduction to the topic issues and then an increasing depth of understanding and exposure to the literature on the subject.

Divine Command Ethics: An Argument in Favor of the Command Over the Will Formulation (Ph.D. Dissertation) -- the title links to a downloadable PDF that is 920K in size. I provide a background into Metaethics, particularly how so called "Divine Command Theories" attempt to resolve certain ethical problems.  I then distinguish between two strands of Divine Command Theories: Command and Will formulations.  Finally, I argue that the Command formulation is superior to the Will formulation, and in so doing I address and resolve a number of classical ethical puzzles (such as the Euthyphro dilemma).

www.sabbath-day.com -- This is a website devoted to discussion about the seventh-day Sabbath. Here I address the relations between the law and grace, the two covenants, the role of the law in salvation, the nature of authority to command, Pauline theology, and early church history, among many other related topics.  This site has been called by many readers, "The most comprehensive and yet accessible website about the Sabbath available."