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Contact details

2N11, second floor, north wing, Burns Building, 95 Albany Street
Tel +64 3 479 5232
Email gregory.dawes@otago.ac.nz

Academic qualifications

2007: PhD (Philosophy), Otago
1995: PhD (Biblical Studies) Otago
1988: SSL Pontifical Biblical Institute
1985: P.G.DipTheol (hons 1) Otago
1983: BTheol Otago

Research interests

Greg gained his first graduate degree at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome (1988) before returning to New Zealand, where he completed PhD degrees in both Biblical Studies (1995) and Philosophy (2007).

He taught for some years in Theology and Religion, as well as in Philosophy. In 2010 he obtained a joint appointment, working across the two Departments.

Greg teaches Phil 229/329 (Philosophy of Religion), as well as Rels 217/317 (Religion, Science, and Magic) and Rels 225/325 (Science, Religion, and Knowledge).

His research focuses on the interaction between scientific modes of thought and those characteristic of religion. This has given rise to two books, one on the historical Jesus debate and another on the possibility of theistic explanations (explanations that appeal to a divine agent).

Greg has a new book, just published, entitled Galileo and the Conflict between Religion and Science. This offers a new defence of the 'warfare thesis', arguing that religious and scientific communities exhibit very different attitudes to knowledge, so that conflicts between the two are practically inevitable.

Publications

Sole authored books

  • Dawes, Gregory W., Galileo and the Conflict between Religion and Science, Routledge Studies in the Philosophy of Religion (New York: Routledge, 2016)
  • Dawes, Gregory W. Theism and Explanation. Routledge Philosophy of Religion Series. New York, NY: Routledge, 2009.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. Introduction to the Bible. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2007. Chinese translation: Shengjing xuedaolun: jiu yue (juan yi) 聖經學導論: 舊約 (卷一) (Introduction to the Bible: Old Testament [Volume 1]). Taipei: Kuangchi Press, 2011.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. The Historical Jesus Question: The Challenge of History to Religious Authority. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2001.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. The Body in Question: Metaphor and Meaning in the Interpretation of Ephesians 5:21–33. Biblical Interpretation Series. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1998.

Edited books

  • A New Science of Religion, edited by Gregory W. Dawes and James Maclaurin. Routledge Studies in Religion. New York: Routledge, 2012.
  • The Historical Jesus Quest: Landmarks in the Search for the Jesus of History, edited by Gregory W. Dawes. Leiden: Deo Publishing, 1999 / Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2000.

Book chapters

  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘The Act of Faith: Aquinas and the Moderns’. In Oxford Studies in Philosophy of Religion 6, edited by Jonathan L. Kvanvig, 58–86. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2015.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Could There Be an Islamic Philosophy of Religion?’ In The Teaching and Study of Islam in Western Universities, edited by Paul Morris, William Shepard, Paul Trebilco, and Toni Tidswell, pp. 143–52. Islamic Studies Series. London: Routledge, 2014.
  • Dawes, Gregory W., and Maclaurin, James (2013). ‘What is Religion?’ In A New Science of Religion, edited by G. W. Dawes & J. Maclaurin, 11–25. Routledge Studies in Religion. New York: Routledge.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Justified Believing: Avoiding the Paradox.’ In Rationis Defensor: Essays in Honour of Colin Cheyne, edited by James Maclaurin, 11–21. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 28. Dordrecht: Springer, 2012.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘“A Certain Similarity to the Devil”: Historical Criticism and Christian Faith.’ In Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Authority of Scripture, edited by Carlos Bovell, 354–70. Eugene, OR: Pickwick Publications, 2011.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Religion without God?’ In A Religious Atheist? Critical Essays on the Work of Lloyd Geering, edited by Raymond Pelly and Peter Stuart, 111–123. Dunedin: University of Otago Press, 2006.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘The Sense of the Past in the New Testament and the Qur’an.’ In Islamic and Christian Cultures: Conflict or Dialogue? Bulgarian Philosophical Studies III, 9–31. Washington, DC: Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 2001.

Encyclopedia entries

  • Dawes, Gregory W. and James E. Harding. ‘Body.’ In Oxford Encyclopedia of the Bible and Theology, edited by Samuel E. Balentine, vol. 1, 86 –92. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Creationism.’ In Encyclopedia of Sciences and Religions, edited by Anne Runehov and Lluis Oviedo, pp. 522–30. Springer Reference. Dordrecht: Springer, 2013.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Ernst Troeltsch.’ In Jesus in History, Culture and Thought: An Encyclopedia, edited by Leslie Houlden, 2: 855–57. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2003.

Referred journal articles

  • Dawes, Gregory W., ‘Experiment, Speculation, and Galileo’s Scientific Reasoning’, Perspectives on Science 24 (2016): 343–60.
  • Dawes, Gregory W., ‘Who Wants to Be a Saint?’, Think: Philosophy for Everyone (Royal Institute of Philosophy) 15:42 (March 2016): 105–116.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Basic Beliefs and Christian Faith.’ Religious Studies 51 (2015): 61–74.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Participation and Causality: Lévy-Bruhl Revisited.’ Studies in Religion / Sciences Religieuses 43 (2014): 294–318.
  • Dawes, Gregory W., ‘The Rationality of Renaissance Magic.’ Parergon 30:2 (2013): 33–58.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Belief is Not the Issue: A Defence of Inference to the Best Explanation.’ Ratio NS 26 (2013): 62–78.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. and Jonathan Jong. ‘Defeating the Christian’s Claim to Warrant.’ Philo 15:2 (Fall/Winter 2012): 127–44.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Religion, Science, and Explanation.’ Ars disputandi: The Online Journal for Philosophy of Religion 12 (2012) http://www.arsdisputandi.org/publish/arti-cles/000399/index.html
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Evolution and the Bible: The Hermeneutical Question.’ Relegere: Studies in Religion and Reception 2 (2012): 37–63.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘In Defense of Naturalism.’ International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 70 (2011): 3–25.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Paradigmatic Explanation: David Friedrich Strauss’s Dangerous Idea.’ Louvain Studies 32 (2008): 64–77. http://www.kuleuven.ac.be/theometh/pe-ter/
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Can a Darwinian Be a Christian?’ Religion Compass 1:6 (Nov. 2007): 711–24. http://www.religion-compass.com
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘What is Wrong with Intelligent Design?’ International Journal for Philosophy of Religion 61 (2007): 69–81.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Why Historicity Still Matters: Raymond Brown and the Infancy Narratives.’ Pacifica 19 (2006): 156–76.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Religious Studies, Faith, and the Presumption of Naturalism.’ Journal of Religion and Society 5 (2003). http://www.creighton.edu/JRS
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Could There Be Another Galileo Case? Galileo, Augustine and Vatican II.’ Journal of Religion and Society 4 (2002). http://www.creighton.edu/JRS
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘God Beyond Theism? Bishop Spong, Paul Tillich, and the Unicorn.’ Pacifica 15:1 (Feb. 2002): 65–71.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Derrida among the Teachers of the Law: Deconstruction and Biblical Studies.’ Pacifica 9 (1996): 301–309.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Religious Studies and Theology in the University: “Some Ambiguities” Revisited.’ Religion: a Journal of Religion and Religions 26 (1996): 49–68.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘The Danger of Idolatry: 1 Cor 8:7–13.’ Catholic Biblical Quarterly 56 (1996): 82–98.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Analogies, Metaphors and Women as Priests.’ Pacifica 7 (1994): 47–58.
  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘“But if you can gain your freedom” (1 Cor 7:17–24).’ Catholic Biblical Quarterly 52:4 (Oct 1990): 681–697.

Referred conference proceedings

  • Dawes, Gregory W. ‘Faith and Reason in Christianity and Islam’ Bulletin ET – Conference Issue: Religion and the European Project [European Society for Catholic Theology] (2007): 119–30.

Teaching and supervision

Philosophy courses regularly taught:

  • PHIL 229 Reason, Belief, and the Sacred: the Philosophy of Religion
  • PHIL 329 Reason, Belief, and the Sacred: the Philosophy of Religion
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