

Dr. Cary is a philosopher married to a midwife (he thinks about the mysteries of life; she puts her hands on them). He and his wife have three sons and two grandchildren. His favorite theologian is Martin Luther, which means he feels quite comfortable in a high-church Anglican congregation where they love both Word and Sacrament.
Dr. Cary loves Luther because he thinks we know people by hearing their words, and that’s how Luther taught us to know God. He was writing a dissertation on this theme at Yale, while working on a double degree in philosophy and religious studies back in the early 90s. He was planning to write a little chapter on the Augustinian background to Luther’s theology, but this grew into a whole large dissertation, which then grew over the years into three books on Augustine, who is endlessly fascinating and different from what he had expected.
Dr. Cary loves learning things by reading old books, and that is essentially what he teaches. As far as he is concerned the best old book is the Bible, because it contains the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It always cheers him up to teach anything that has to do with the Gospel. Consequently, he has written a theological commentary on the presence of the Gospel in the book of Jonah, as well as a little book based largely on conversations with his students where he hopes to lure them into trusting the Gospel rather than applying a whole slew of “practical” ideas to their lives—unbiblical ideas that do little more than make them anxious. It turns out the Gospel of Christ tends to cheer them up, too.
M.A. Yale University
Ph.D. Yale University
At Eastern Since 1998
It’s lovely to spend time in a classroom where teacher and students get to learn together how to think like Christians, which is one aspect of learning to be Christians. Most universities wouldn’t allow this kind of thing; Eastern encourages and expects it.
Western Civilization, Philosophy and Literature, Ancient Philosophy, Medieval Philosophy, Modern Philosophy, Continental Philosophy, The Christian Mind, and Truth and Meaning.
Augustine, Luther, History of Christian Thought, Theological Interpretation of Scripture
- The Nicene Creed: An Introduction (Lexham Press, 2023).
Spanish: El Credo Nicena: Una Introducción (Logos Bible Software). - The Meaning of Protestant Theology: Luther, Augustine and the Gospel That Gives Us Christ (Baker Academic, 2019).
- Does God Have a Strategy?, co-authored with Jean-François Phelizon (Wipf & Stock, 2015).
- Good News for Anxious Christians: 10 Practical Things You DON’T Have to Do, (Brazos Press, 2nd ed., 2022).
- Augustine and Philosophy, co-edited with Kim Paffenroth and John Doody, (Lexington Books, 2010).
- Jonah (Theological Commentary on the Bible), (Brazos Press, 2008).
- Inner Grace: Augustine in the Traditions of Plato and Paul, (Oxford University Press, 2008).
- Outward Signs: The Powerlessness of External Things in Augustine's Thought, (Oxford University Press, 2008).
- Augustine's Invention of the Inner Self: The Legacy of a Christian Platonist, (Oxford University Press, 2000).
- “Augustine and Luther” in T&T Clark Companion to Augustine and Modern Theology, ed. C. C. Pecknold and Tarmo Toom (London and New York: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2013) 151-173.
- “The New Evangelical Subordinationism: Reading Inequality into the Trinity,” in The New Evangelical Subordinationism? Perspectives on the Equality of God the Father and God the Son, ed. Dennis W. Jowers and H. Wayne House (Eugene OR: Wipf & Stock, 2012).
- "Why Luther is not Quite Protestant: The Logic of Faith in a Sacramental Promise," in Pro Ecclesia 14/4 (Fall 2005): 447-486.
- "Believing the Word: a Proposal about Knowing Other Persons," in Faith and Philosophy 13/1 (Jan. 1996): 78-90.
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"How the Nicene Creed expresses the Gospel" with Austin Suggs at Gospel Simplicity, posted June 3, 2023.
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"Distinguishing Law & Gospel with Phillip Cary" in Outside Ourselves podcast series, posted April 3, 2023.
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“Purgatorio, Canto 10” in 100 Days of Dante podcast series, posted Dec. 17, 2021.
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“Inferno, Canto 15” in 100 Days of Dante podcast series, posted Oct. 11, 2021.
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“This is the HEART of Protestant Theology,” interview with Austin Suggs on Gospel Simplicity pocast, posted July 14, 2021.
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On Good News for Anxious Christians for Michael Easley In Context, Aug. 11, 2020.
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“Modernism, Postmodernism, and Virtue, with Dr. Phillip Cary,” The Robin & Boom Show, episode 16, Sept. 18, 2019.