Thaddeus J. Williams

Thaddeus Williams (Ph.D., Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam) loves enlarging students’ understanding and enjoyment of Jesus at Biola University in La Mirada, CA, where he serves as assistant professor of Systematic Theology for Talbot School of Theology. He has also taught Philosophy and Literature at Saddleback College, Jurisprudence at Trinity Law School, and as a lecturer in Worldview Studies at L’Abri Fellowships in Switzerland and Holland, and Ethics for Blackstone Legal Fellowship the Federalist Society in Washington D.C. He resides in Orange County, CA with his wife and four kids.

Affiliations Faculty, Student
Position Associate Professor of Theology
Degree B.A. Biblical Studies ('01)
Degree M.A. Philosophy of Religion and Ethics ('05)

Author's books

Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth Study Guide: A Guide to 12 Questions Christians Should Ask About Social Justice

In the Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth Study Guide, Williams confronts our religious and political tribalism and challenges readers to discover what the Bible and the example of Jesus have to teach us about justice. He presents a compelling vision of justice for all God’s image-bearers that offers hopeful answers to life’s biggest questions.

Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth Video Study: 12 Questions Christians Should Ask About Social Justice

In the Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth Video Study, Williams confronts our religious and political tribalism and challenges readers to discover what the Bible and the example of Jesus have to teach us about justice. He presents a compelling vision of justice for all God’s image-bearers that offers hopeful answers to life’s biggest questions.

Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth: 12 Questions Christians Should Ask About Social Justice

In today’s volatile climate, it’s vital to be–or become–a people who seek justice. But for Christians, this must be a social justice that is truly biblical, fashioned according to God’s ways. With input from a diverse range of theologians, sociologists, artists, and activists, Thaddeus Williams addresses topics of racism, sexuality, abortion, culture, tribalism, identity politics, and more in Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth.

Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth: 12 Questions Christians Should Ask About Social Justice – Audiobook

In today’s volatile climate, it’s vital to be–or become–a people who seek justice. But for Christians, this must be a social justice that is truly biblical, fashioned according to God’s ways. With input from a diverse range of theologians, sociologists, artists, and activists, Thaddeus Williams addresses topics of racism, sexuality, abortion, culture, tribalism, identity politics, and more in Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth.

Don’t Follow Your Heart: Boldly Breaking the Ten Commandments of Self-Worship

Break away from the pack mired in self-worship and discover profound meaning in God-centered living! Williams asks us to let go of nihilistic thinkers as he highlights hopeful heroes like Augustine, Frederick Douglass, and Corrie ten Boom. He presents a compelling vision of countercultural Christianity by blending theology, philosophy, science, psychology, and pop culture.

God Reforms Hearts: Rethinking Free Will and the Problem of Evil

Must we be free to truly love? Evil is a theological problem for all Christians. When responding to objections that both evil and God can exist, many resort to a “free will defense,” where God is not the creator of evil but of human freedom, by which evil is possible. This response is so pervasive that it is just as often assumed as it is defended. But is this answer biblically and philosophically defensible?

Love, Freedom, and Evil: Does Authentic Love Require Free Will?

The defining premise of the Relational Free Will Defense is the claim that authentic love requires free will. Many scholars, including Gregory Boyd and Vincent Brümmer, champion this claim. Best-selling books, such as Rob Bell’s Love Wins, echo that love “cannot be forced, manipulated, or coerced. It always leaves room for the other to decide.” The claim that love requires free will has even found expression in mainstream Hollywood films, including Frailty, Bruce Almighty, and The Adjustment Bureau.

The analysis shows convincingly that the claim that authentic love requires free will, does not meet the criteria of consistency, compatibility with Scriptural sources, and the demands of concrete encounter with problems of moral evil.

REFLECT: A Personal and Small Group Guide for Mirroring Jesus

REFLECT: A Personal and Small Group Guide for Mirroring Jesus is the personal and small-group study companion to REFLECT: Becoming Yourself by Mirroring the Greatest Person in History by Thaddeus J. Williams. Drawing on science, literature, art, theology, history, music, philosophy, pop culture, and more, REFLECT paints a fresh and inspiring vision of how we become most truly ourselves by mirroring Jesus Christ.

REFLECT: Becoming Yourself by Mirroring the Greatest Person in History

What’s the most important thing in the universe to you? What, more than anything else, permeates your thought life, pulls your heart strings, and propels your actions? Don’t fool yourself. That supreme something—whatever it may be for you—is shaping the person you are becoming, for better or for worse, turning you into someone radiant and full of life, or making you a dim and weightless ghost of yourself.   But what if we worshiped Jesus? Drawing from science, literature, art, theology, history, music, philosophy, pop culture, and more, Thaddeus J. Williams paints a fresh and inspiring vision of how we become most truly ourselves by mirroring the Greatest Person in History. See full description below.

REFLECT: Becoming Yourself by Mirroring the Greatest Person in History – Audiobook

What’s the most important thing in the universe to you? What, more than anything else, permeates your thought life, pulls your heart strings, and propels your actions? Don’t fool yourself. That supreme something—whatever it may be for you—is shaping the person you are becoming, for better or for worse, turning you into someone radiant and full of life, or making you a dim and weightless ghost of yourself.   But what if we worshiped Jesus? Drawing from science, literature, art, theology, history, music, philosophy, pop culture, and more, Thaddeus J. Williams paints a fresh and inspiring vision of how we become most truly ourselves by mirroring the Greatest Person in History. See full description below.

Revering God: How to Marvel at Your Maker

Prepare to be awestruck at the most reliable, enjoyable, victorious, loving, redemptive, and expressive being in existence…your Creator. This is an invitation to revere God. In Revering God, bestselling author Thaddeus Williams invites you to meet the real, living God, offering profound insight into God’s attributes and practical ways to live a God-centered life, bridging the gap between abstract theology and awe-inspired devotion. Learn to encounter God and worship him in a way that draws you into a deeper state of awe, joy, and reverence for the One who made you.