Anglican priest · Theologian · Philosopher
I write, teach, and preach at the intersection of Christian theology and the philosophy of mind — asking what it means to be a soul in an age of artificial intelligence.
Forthcoming & Recent Engagements
2027
Tentative title
Keynote · Ruhr University Bochum · Bochum, Germany
May 20–22, 2027
Confirmed2027
Workshop Lecture · Puducherry, India
February 15–19, 2027
Confirmed2026
Workshop Paper · Vancouver, Canada
September 23–27, 2026
ConfirmedProfessional & Research Engagement
Consultant · John Templeton Foundation · Madrid, Spain
Selected Books
Iff Books
The Mirror to the Universe
A compelling philosophical and theological case for the reality of the soul, integrating scientific inquiry, philosophy of mind, and Christian thought to illuminate consciousness, personal identity, and what it means to be human.
Iff Publishers
A Case for the Soul
An accessible case for the reality of the immaterial self, drawing on introspection, phenomenal consciousness, and the enduring puzzles of personal identity. Farris argues that selves are not assembled from parts but originate as wholes.
Baker Academic
Humans, Both Creaturely and Divine
A wide-ranging textbook mapping the doctrine of humanity — origins, constitution, the image of God, sin, and final destiny — for students of theology and philosophy. It presents the major options fairly while arguing for a distinctly dualist and creationist account.
Research
My work circles a small set of questions about the human person — what we are, how we know it, and what follows for church and society.
See all research themes →Substance dualism, hylomorphism, and emergent-individual views in conversation with Scripture, tradition, and contemporary philosophy of mind.
The image of God, sexual difference, embodiment, the fall, and the eschatological destiny of the human person.
The hard problem, mental causation, and the theological stakes of taking first-person experience seriously.
What large language models, machine cognition, and transhumanist ambitions reveal — and obscure — about being human.
Ministry & Initiatives
Founder
Soul Science Ministries
A ministry pairing rigorous theology of the soul with pastoral formation for the church.
Founder & Director
Soul Science Institute
A research and teaching hub advancing scholarship on souls, consciousness, and Christian anthropology.
Founder
Spiritually Driven Leadership
Consulting and coaching for leaders who want their organizations shaped by a serious anthropology of persons.
Priest
New Streams Anglican Church
Sacramental worship, catechesis, and mission in the classical Anglican stream.
Host
Tapping Theology
Conversations at the pub-table intersection of theology, philosophy, and everyday Christian life.
Faculty
Lay Institute of Anglican Studies
Serious theological education for laypeople in the Anglican tradition, offered online and in parish settings.
A word
“To recover the soul is not nostalgia — it is the beginning of any honest conversation about consciousness, artificial intelligence, and the future of the human person.”
— Joshua R. Farris