Biography
I joined Marian happily in 2023 after earning my PhD in philosophy from Washington University in St. Louis. Before my time at Wash U, I earned an MA in philosophy from the University of Missouri - St. Louis and BS in biology from Rockhurst University. Between degrees, I spent three years working as a policy analyst for local government and a think-tank. I regularly teach courses that serve the general education curriculum, the St. Ive's Pre-Law program, the Civic Leadership and Capitalism minor, and the philosophy major.
Courses Taught:
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PHL 110: Philosophical and Cultural Debates
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PHL 130: Human Nature and Person
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PHL 150: Logic
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PHL 203: Plato and Aristotle
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PHL 205: Augustine and Aquinas
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PHL 305: Scotus and Ockham
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PHL 330: Philosophy of Being
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CIV 100: Moral Capitalism
Much of my academic scholarship has focused on better understanding Aristotle's natural philosophy and metaphysics. One major project concerns how one might fashion a reasonable hylomorphism that avoids issues besetting more traditional versions of the view. I am also interested in questions in the philosophy of religion. I have written on how work in metaphysics and ethics can help make progress on questions in philosophical theology, e.g., what God's power consist in, how we relate to God. I am currently thinking about how our beliefs about God might be justified, and how to best understand God's interaction with the created order.
Publications:
- Renz, Graham (2026) 'Forms are not Emergent Powers' Inquiry 69: 686- 706
- Renz, Graham (2025) 'Whence the Form?' Australasian Journal of Philosophy 103: 926-943
- Renz, Graham (2024) 'Do Substances have Formal Parts?' Analytic Philosophy 65: 561-572
- Renz, Graham (2021) 'What is God's Power?' European Journal for the Philosophy of Religion 13: 87-112
