Prizes and Awards

The St. Thomas Philosophy of Religion Project announces two prizes for work in the philosophy of religion and/or philosophical theology. Both prizes have been made possible by a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation.

The C.S. Lewis Book Prize

The C.S. Lewis Book Prize recognizes the best recent book in the philosophy of religion or philosophical theology written for a general audience. A panel of three expert reviewers will select one first place winner, who will receive a $15,000 prize, and one second place winner, who will receive a $7,500 prize.

Entries will be judged on quality of argumentation, importance of the positions argued for, level of accessibility to a general audience, and stylistic or literary merits.

Books submitted should have a publication date of 2007 or later. Books that are in press but have not yet reached the shelves are eligible. Only books published in English are eligible. To make a submission, please send a cover letter containing your contact information and three copies of the monograph to:

C.S. Lewis Book Prize
The St. Thomas Philosophy of Religion Project
Department of Philosophy, JRC 241
University of St. Thomas
2115 Summit Avenue
Saint Paul, MN 55105-1096

If published reviews of the book are available, they may be included with your submission. The submission period will begin on May 1, 2010 and close on March 1, 2012. The winner will be announced in September 2012.

Call for Submissions for the 2011 Excellence in Philosophy of Religion Prize

The 2011 Excellence in Philosophy of Religion Prize attempts to identify the three best papers published in 2011 in the areas of philosophy of religion or philosophical theology. A panel of three expert reviewers will select three winners. Each winner will receive an award of $2,000.

Papers should have a date of publication of 2011. (If the actual paper will not appear until 2012, that is acceptable, as long as the official publication date of the journal issue or book is 2011.) Preference will be given to papers that are published in academic forums (e.g., peer-reviewed journals and edited volumes). Entries will be judged on quality of argumentation, clarity of exposition, the significance of the positions argued for, and the degree to which the paper advances the discussion on the topic in question. Entries are limited to one per person. Self nominations are encouraged. Nominations of a paper by someone other than the author(s) are accepted, but only with permission of the author. Papers should be published in English.

Please submit entries by email to ustphilrel@stthomas.edu, and write "Excellence in Philosophy of Religion Prize" in the subject line of your email. Attach an electronic copy of your paper (Word or pdf) to your email. Please also include your contact information and a bibliographical entry for your paper in the body of your email. The deadline for submissions is April 15, 2012. Winners will be announced September 15, 2012.

Winners of the 2010 Excellence in Philosophy of Religion Prize

We received a strong pool of forty-four submissions for our 2010 article prize, and after careful deliberation the selection panel has named the three winners. In alphabetical order, they are: 

W. Matthews Grant for “Can a Libertarian hold that Our Free Acts are Caused by God?” Faith and Philosophy 27:1 (January 2010): 22-44.

Dr. Grant is Associate Professor of Philosophy at University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN). His research has focused on medieval and contemporary philosophy of God, especially on divine simplicity and the relationship between divine and human agency. He is Associate Editor of the American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly. 

David M. Holley for “Treating God’s Existence as an Explanatory Hypothesis” American Philosophical Quarterly 47:4 (October 2010): 377-88.

Dr. Holley is Professor of Philosophy and Chair of the Department of Philosophy and Religion at The University of Southern Mississippi. He specializes in philosophy of religion and ethics. His most recent book is entitled Meaning and Mystery: What It Means to Believe in God (Wiley-Blackwell, 2010). His published articles include “Disengaged Reason and Belief in God” (Faith and Philosophy), “The Role of Anthropomorphism in Hume’s Critique of Theism” (International Journal for Philosophy of Religion), “Is God A Utilitarian?” (Religious Studies), “Should Believers Be Interested in Arguments for God’s Existence?” (American Philosophical Quarterly), “Self-Interest and Integrity” (International Philosophical Quarterly), “Self-Transforming Experiences” (The Personalist Forum), “Sidgwick’s Problem” (Ethical Theory and Moral Practice), and “Everyone’s Doing It: Common Practice and Moral Judgment” (Journal of Value Inquiry).

Yujin Nagasawa for “The Ontological Argument and the Devil,” Philosophical Quarterly 60 (October 2010): 72-91.

Dr. Nagasawa is Reader in Philosophy of Religion and Co-Director of the John Hick Centre for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Birmingham, UK. His research focuses on philosophy of religion and philosophy of mind. He is author of God and Phenomenal Consciousness (Cambridge University Press, 2008) and The Existence of God (Routledge, 2011).

Winners of the 2009 Excellence in Philosophy of Religion Prize

We received a strong pool of forty submissions for our 2009 article prize, and after careful deliberation the selection panel has named the three winners. In alphabetical order, they are:

Jeffrey E. Brower for "Simplicity and Aseity," in The Oxford Handbook to Philosophical Theology, eds. Thomas P. Flint and Michael C. Rea (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 105-128.

Dr. Brower is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Purdue University. His research focuses on metaphysics, medieval philosophy, and philosophy of religion. He is currently working on a book manuscript entitled Aquinas on Material Objects.

Hud Hudson for "Omnipresence," in The Oxford Handbook of Philosophical Theology, eds. Thomas P. Flint and Michael C. Rea (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), pp. 199-216.

Dr. Hudson is Professor and Chair of the Philosophy Department at Western Washington University, where he has taught for the last 20 years. His publications include Kant's Compatibilism (Cornell 1994), A Materialist Metaphysics of the Human Person (Cornell 2001), and The Metaphysics of Hyperspace (Oxford 2006) as well as three dozen articles in his main areas of specialization: Metaphysics, Philosophy of Religion, Ethics, and Kant Studies.

Wes Morriston for "What if God commanded something terrible?: A worry for divine-command meta-ethics," Religious Studies 45:3 (Sept. 2009): 249-267.

Dr. Morriston is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He is the author of over 25 articles in the philosophy of religion and has won several awards for his teaching.

Questions on either prize can be directed to Dr. Michael Rota at ustphilrel@stthomas.edu.