Inman to Lead New Center for Apologetics and Civil Discourse

 Charleston Southern University is pleased to announce Dr. Ross Inman as founding executive director of the Center for Apologetics and Civil Discourse, beginning summer 2027.  The Center for Apologetics and Civil Discourse will equip students and faculty to defend the Christian faith across and through the academic disciplines. Programming will be built around immersive learning and relational environments that cultivate intellectual depth, community, and civil discourse. An inaugural lecture series will be announced in the spring. 

Inman is currently associate professor of philosophy at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He is the lead editor of Philosophia Christi, the academic journal of the Evangelical Philosophical Society, a fellow of the Center for Baptist Renewal, the L. Russ Bush Center for Faith and Culture at Southeastern, and a research affiliate of the Martin Institute’s Dallas Willard Research Center at Westmont College.  

Dr. Ben Phillips, dean of CSU’s College of Christian Studies, said, “What most excites me about Ross Inman is his conviction that apologetics is not merely about winning arguments, but about forming men and women of wisdom, humility, and Christian character. At a time when public discourse is increasingly polarized and shallow, his vision for the Center for Apologetics and Civil Discourse offers a compelling model for cultivating thoughtful, courageous, and gracious Christian witnesses. I believe Charleston Southern University is uniquely positioned to become a national leader in this important work, and I am thrilled to welcome Ross as the founding executive director of the Center.” 

Inman said, “To say that I am thrilled to join the team at CSU and serve as the Center’s founding executive director is an understatement. It’s an immense privilege to lead this new Center devoted to cultivating Christian wisdom in CSU students, faculty, and the wider public for the purpose of equipping them to communicate and defend the credibility of Christianity with theological clarity and civility.”  

He is the author of Christian Philosophy as a Way of Life: An Invitation to Wonder, What is Reality? An Introduction to Metaphysics, Contemplating Divine Simplicity: Five Views, and Substance and the Fundamentality of the Familiar: A Neo-Aristotelian Mereology.  

Currently, Inman teaches master’s and doctoral classes at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary and great books classes at Judson College. “I am deeply committed to equipping the church in the task of creating a cultural and ecclesial environment that is increasingly receptive to the truth, goodness, and beauty of the Gospel,” said Inman. 

President Keith Faulkner said, “I am excited about Dr. Inman joining the Charleston Southern community and am confident that he will make a significant impact on the formation of our students and faculty through the Center for Apologetics and Civil Discourse. His unique giftings and experience are exactly what we were seeking as we selected the founding executive director.” 

Prior to Southeastern, Inman was an assistant professor of philosophy and chair of the department of philosophy at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He held Templeton Research Fellowships at the University of Notre Dame Center for Philosophy of Religion and at Saint Louis University with the Philosophy and Theology of Intellectual Humility Project and was a visiting scholar at Oxford University working alongside the Power Structuralism in Ancient Ontologies project.  

Inman holds a PhD in philosophy from Trinity College, Dublin, an MA in philosophy and an MA in theology from Talbot School of Theology at Biola University, and a BA in biblical studies and philosophy from San Diego Christian College. Inman is married to Suzanne, his high school sweetheart, and they have three children, Hudson, Declan, and Verity.