Speakers Bios
Tyler Bauer
Dr. Tyler Bauer serves as an instructor of apologetics and humanities at Palm Beach Atlantic University and as Professor of Humanities and Dean of Students at Christ College. Dr. Bauer holds a PhD in Philosophy of Religion from Southwestern Seminary. His work focuses on bringing classical theology into conversation with modern metaphysics to answer questions about technology and personhood.
Erica W. Carlson
Erica W. Carlson, Ph.D., is a 150th Anniversary Professor of Physics at Purdue University and Host of The Quantum Age (youtube.com/@TheQuantumAge). Prof. Carlson holds a BS in Physics from the California Institute of Technology (1994), as well as a Ph.D. in Physics from UCLA (2000). A theoretical physicist, Prof. Carlson researches electronic phase transitions in quantum materials. In 2015, she was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society “for theoretical insights into the critical role of electron nematicity, disorder, and noise in novel phases of strongly correlated electron systems and predicting unique characteristics.”
Austin M. Freeman
Austin M. Freeman (PhD Systematic Theology, Trinity Evangelical Divinity School) is the chair of apologetics and assistant professor in the Christianity and Honors departments at Houston Christian University. He is the director of HCU’s Masters in Apologetics program. He has published extensively on a wide array of topics, but is best known as an Inklings scholar. His works as author or editor include Tolkien Dogmatics: Theology through Mythology with the Maker of Middle-earth (Lexham); Tolkien among the Theologians; Theology & H.P. Lovecraft; Theology, Fantasy, & the Imagination, and many more peer-reviewed chapters and articles. His newest book, forthcoming with Baker, is a systematic theology of The Chronicles of Narnia.
Paul Gould
Paul Gould is a professor of Philosophy of Religion and the Director of the M.A. Philosophy of Religion (MAPR) program at Palm Beach Atlantic University. He received a B.A. from Miami University (Ohio), an M.A. in philosophy from Talbot School of Theology (Biola), and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Purdue University. Paul is the author or editor of fourteen scholarly and popular-level books including Philosophical Theology: A Christian Introduction, with Ross Inman (Baker, forthcoming), The Argument from Beauty, co-edited with Paul Copan (Wiley-Blackwell, forthcoming), A Good and True Story (Brazos, 2022), Cultural Apologetics (Zondervan, 2019), Philosophy: A Christian Introduction (Baker Academic, 2019) and The Story of the Cosmos (Harvest House, 2019). He has been a visiting scholar at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School’s Henry Center, working on the intersection of science and faith, and is the founder and president of the Two Tasks Institute. He is a widely sought after speaker in apologetics and philosophy. He speaks regularly at universities, churches, and ministries around the country, including Summit Ministries, Impact 360, and the C.S. Lewis Institute. He is married to Ethel and has four children.
Matthew Mittelberg
Matthew Mittelberg is an experienced Christian teacher and apologist who has spoken to thousands at universities, churches, conferences, and youth events in both the US and the UK. He has led international missions teams in Europe and Asia, and his talks have been seen online hundreds of thousands of times. Matthew is passionate about helping people break through their intellectual barriers to belief, understand that faith in God makes sense, and begin a real relationship with Jesus. Matthew completed his M.A. in Philosophy of Religion at Palm Beach Atlantic University, received his B.A. from Grand Canyon University, and a certificate in theology from Wycliffe Hall at Oxford University.
Dolores Morris
Dolores is an associate professor of instruction in the philosophy department at the University of South Florida in Tampa, Florida. She received her PhD in Philosophy from the University of Notre Dame in 2010. Her current work involves topics in philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, and the overlap thereof—most notably, the implications and ramifications of artificial intelligence. She is the author of Believing Philosophy: Becoming a Christian Philosopher. (Zondervan 2021). Dolores has served on the executive committees for the Society of Christian Philosophers and the Evangelical Philosophical Society. She lives in Tampa with her husband, 3 children, and dog Wilbur.
Gavin Ortlund
Dr. Gavin Ortlund is the President of Truth Unites and Theologian-in-Residence at Immanuel Nashville. Gavin is a fellow of The Keller Center of Cultural Apologetics, The Center for Baptist Renewal, Credo, and a member of the St. Basil Fellowship of The Center for Pastor Theologians. Gavin has a Ph.D. in historical theology from Fuller Theological Seminary and an M.Div. from Covenant Theological Seminary. Gavin runs the YouTube channel Truth Unites and has authored numerous academic articles and nine books, including Why God Makes Sense in a World That Doesn’t. He and his wife Esther have five children.
Jim Spiegel
James S. Spiegel (Ph.D., Michigan State University) is Executive Director of the Geneva College Center for Faith & Life. He has taught at Taylor University, Hillsdale College, and Indianapolis Theological Seminary and has published eleven books and over 100 articles and book chapters. His publications, which primarily explore issues in ethics, philosophy of religion, and virtue epistemology, have appeared in such scholarly journals as Philosophia, Metaphilosophy, Faith and Philosophy, Sophia, Science and Engineering Ethics, and the International Journal for Philosophy of Religion as well as popular periodicals such as Christianity Today, First Things, The Federalist, and Touchstone. Spiegel’s books include The Benefits of Providence (Crossway), Faith, Film, and Philosophy (InterVarsity), Hell and Divine Goodness (Cascade), and the two-volume Idealism and Christianity series (Bloomsbury Press). His upcoming book is entitled A Thing of Beauty: How Everything is Art and Art is Everything (Cascade).
Rachel Van Wyk
Rachel Van Wyk received a Ph.D. in Philosophy of Media & Communication from the European Graduate School, a M.A. in Art History from University of Florida, and a B.A. from Stetson University. Rachel served as a professor of Global Media in Europe for New York University in Paris, Parsons Paris, Rollins College and others. She is the author and editor of several books including Index A to Z (Rizzoli) and was an American correspondent for The New York Times Global Edition in Paris and a contributor to CR Fashion Book, Haute Living and others. She spent nearly two decades consulting in global media, most notably as Prada’s “Girl in Miu Miu,” and has been featured in Vogue Paris, I-D and others. Rachel is a lifelong Christian and believes that the greatest global message is the gospel. She is a wife and mother and has traveled with her husband and son over 1,500 miles of Apostle Paul’s path in the Mediterranean. She continues exploring how the gospel is advancing globally today at instagram.com/atlasonward.
Naomi Wright
Naomi Wright is the daughter of a pseudo-Christian cult leader. She was raised, yet hidden, within mainstream culture and public school education, where no one knew—or the few with a sense of something, stayed silent. She did not know this was the case until she was 28, from which point she has pursued truth, adamant to never find herself so lost again. Naomi is the founder of beEmboldened, a nonprofit organization that exists for the prevention of and healing from spiritual abuse. She holds a Master of Science in Social Work from the University at Buffalo and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in the state of Colorado. She also holds a Master of Arts in Christian Studies from Denver Seminary.