A Short Bio
Dr. Barry Whitney
is Professor of Christian Studies (Theology and Philosophy
of Religion) and Religion and Culture. He has taught for
33 years at the University of Windsor (in Windsor,
Ontario, Canada) -- 21 of those years in the Department
of Religious Studies where he served as Department Head,
and for the past several years in the Religion and
Culture program. Before commencing
an extended leave in 2007, he had taught several thousand
students in more than 165 courses. His classes
have been popular among students with over 500 students
enrolled in his latest offerings: courses on "God
and Evil," "God
and Atheism," "Religion
and Culture," and "Justifying
Religious Beliefs." Dr. Whitney taught more than 25
different courses in Christian Philosophy of Religion and
various other areas, including "World
Religions," "Religion
and Science," "Process Theology," "Religion
and Literature," and etc. (see Course pages).
He also directed and assessed over two dozen M.A.
theses and Ph.D. dissertations, and has been active
in research, writing, and composing
meditative Christian music.
Video
Clips and more of Dr. Whitney's Podcasts are being made avaliable
(as time permits)
Teaching has been
Dr. Whitney's priority: he has taken in large
numbers of students each year despite the extra burden
of preparations, administration and counseling which comes
with large classes. When time permitted, he taught
also outside the classroom in a variety of churches
and in academic settings (including a graduate course
in Theodicy at The Claremont School of Theology). His has
published a dozen Books and Book Chapters, and was Editor
of the international academic journal, Process
Studies for 14 years, editing 28 issues from 1996-2009
and serving that journal previously as Abstracts Editor
and Dissertations Abstracts Editor (1990-1997). Dr. Whitney
also has written more than 130 articles and book reviews
for several academic theology and philosophy journals.
and is a member of the International Editorical Advisory
Board for the Australian journal, Sophia:
International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, Metaphysical
Theology and Ethics. He served also as the "Religion
and Science" Book Review sub-Editor for Religious
Studies Review. Dr. Whitney
has been a Fellow and Tutor of Admissions for Canterbury
College, Windsor, a Lecturer for the Pastoral Care Program
at the Southwestern Regional Center in Blenheim, Ontario,
a member of the Anglican-Roman Catholic Dialogue and of
several theological and philosophical societies. Dr. Whitney
remains as active as time permits in the religious community,
presenting teachings on Christianity -- including
the Problem of Reconciling Belief in God with Evil and
Suffering, Christianity and the New Age, Christianity and secular
atheisism, and other Apologetic areas.
Dr.
Whitney is a regular
communicant in the Catholic Church and has been
engaged in teaching and writing towards a coherent
defense ("apologetic" justification) of traditional
Christianity. Dr.
Whitney holds a unique, greatly modified understanding
of process thought which is consistent with biblical theology
and the best of traditional Christian theism. He
believes that many of the criticisms of process thought
by traditional theists are based on misunderstandings,
often due to the lack of clarity by process thinkers.
At the same time, he believes that many criticisms are
legitimate with respect to versions of process thought
that Dr. Whitney does not endorse. As time permits, one
of his current research projects is to publish his defense
of traditional Catholic Christianity, informed by certain
features in the process theism of Charles Hartshorne (1897-2000),
his esteemed teacher at the University of Texas.
Dr. Whitney earned an Honours B. A. in
Biblical Studies and Christian Theology, an Honours B.A.
in English Literature, and a Ph.D. in Christian Theology
and Philosophy of Religion (with a minor in Buddhism).
Both degrees included several philosophy courses as well.
Dr. Whitney has extensive background in Eastern religions
and the state of contemporary Christianity amid the cultural
conflicts between Christian theism and both atheistic secular
humanism and the New Age spiritualities which are, in effect,
the spiritual and optimistic side of cynical postmodern deconstructionism.
He has taught and written in the theological/philosophical
field of philosophy of religion and Christian Theology, with
his main expertise and emphasis on the problem of reconciling
belief in God with evil and suffering.
Besides publishing
over 130 Academic Articles and Reviews, a dozen books and
book chapters and 28 edited issues of Process Studies,
Dr. Whitney has published more than 350 other Articles
and Abstracts for academic journals, and has given dozens
of academic papers, seminars, workshops and public lectures.
He has debated the New Age guru Deepak
Chopra and
the controversial Bishop Joseph Sprague on Vision TV, and
has been interviewed on CBC
television and radio (Canada) and in print media,
including Time
magazine (Canadian edition), The New York Times, The
Washington Times, Newsday, Long Island, The Chicago Tribune,
The Ottawa Citizen, etc.
Dr. Whitney has taught
Christianity, Philosophy of Religion, and Religion and
Culture at the University of Windsor since 1976 where he
has received several merit awards, research grants, a Research
Professorship, and promotion to the
the rank of Full Professor (in 1990). He has chaired and
served on several Faculty of Arts and University
committees, as well as being elected for a term to the
University Senate. He also served for a brief term as Head
of the Religious Studies Department and as Tutor of Admissions
and Fellow of Canterbury College in Windsor.
Dr. Whitney's major resource book, Theodicy, has
been
the standard academic reference work in the important study
of reconciling belief in God with the world's evil and
suffering, a project which took seven years of research
to complete before its publication (1993) and two more
years to complete a second (expanded) edition
(1998). He has also co-authored The
Reality of God (1982), and
authored Evil
and the Process God (1985), and What
Are They Saying About God and Evil? (1989). He has
publised academic articles, reviews and abstracts and has
given several media interviews on the Problem of reconciling
(justifying) belief in God. He was commissioned to write
the "Evil," "Theodicy," and
"Paul Tillich" entries in the New
Catholic Encyclopedia (2002) and "the Problem
of Evil" entry in the New Westminster
Dictionary of Christian Theology. Testimonies to
his work can be found on the Theodicy
pages.
Dr. Whitney
has one of the world's largest libraries on Theodicy,
the Problem of God and Evil. His collection includes
over 1,500 books and 8,000 photocopied articles.
This is the centerpiece of his 15,000-book theological
library. He also has a large collection of Icelandic
books and recordings.
Dr. Whitney is currently on an extended
leave from the University of Windsor.
He
is married to Juliann Whitney (nee Blackmore), a former
CTV and CBC (Canada) Television award-winning producer/
reporter/ anchor, and the director of several television
shows and the widely acclaimed Icelandic-Canadian film, A
Saga of Hope: An Icelandic Odyssey.
Juliann is
the producer of Dr. Whitney's podcasts.
Dr. Whitney can be reached by email at <DrBarryWhitney@mac.com>
