Dr. Adam Barkman

Professor of Philosophy

Series Editor of Lexington Books’ Critical Companion to Contemporary Directors


Phone: (905) 648-2139   Ext:4226

Email: abarkman@redeemer.ca

Office: 128E

Programs: Philosophy, Health Sciences, Environmental Science, Environmental Studies

Education

Ph.D. (2009), Philosophy, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.

M.A. (2002), English Literature, University of Toronto

Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults (2002), Cambridge University

Honours B.A. (2001), Philosophy and English Literature, Simon Fraser University

Courses

  • The Story of Philosophy (PHL-121)
  • Logic (PHL-122)
  • Faith and Philosophy (PHL-210)
  • Asian Philosophy (PHL-220)
  • Ancient Philosophy (PHL-222)
  • Epistemology (PHL-245)
  • Philosophy of Science (PHL-314)
  • Social Philosophy (PHL-343)
  • Biomedical Ethics (PHL-440)

About

Adam Barkman (PhD, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) is Professor of Philosophy at Redeemer University and the series editor for Lexington Books’ Critical Companion to Contemporary Directors. He has written more than a hundred and fifty articles and book chapters and is the author and editor of thirteen books, including A Critical Companion to Robert Zemeckis (Lexington, 2020) and Making Sense of Islamic Art & Architecture (Thames & Hudson, 2015). Barkman is internationally-recognized for his work on the philosophy of C. S. Lewis, world religions and philosophies, and aesthetics (the philosophy of film). Like Tennyson’s Ulysses, Barkman is passionate about “following knowledge like a sinking star,” and spends a lot of his time reading, traveling and questioning. But there is nothing he enjoys more than spending time with his wife and children.

Research Interests

  • Aesthetics (esp. philosophy of film, inter-religious aesthetics)
  • Ethics and social philosophy (esp. theories of justice, gender issues)
  • Philosophies of world religions (esp. East Asian, Islamic, Christian)
  • Philosophy as a way of life (esp. ancient Greece, Rome and China)

Selected Publications

Barkman, Adam and Antonio Sanna, ed. A Critical Companion to Robert Zemeckis. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2020. 

Barkman, Adam and Antonio Sanna, ed. A Critical Companion to Steven Spielberg. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2019. 

Barkman, Adam and Antonio Sanna, ed. A Critical Companion to James Cameron. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2018. 

Barkman, Adam and Antonio Sanna, ed. A Critical Companion to Tim Burton. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2017.

Barkman, Adam, and Robert Arp. Downton Abbey and Philosophy. Chicago: Open Court, 2015.

Barkman, Adam. Making Sense of Islamic Art & Architecture. London: Thames & Hudson, 2015.

Barkman, Adam, Ashley Barkman, and Nancy Kang, ed. The Culture and Philosophy of Ridley Scott. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2013.

Barkman, Adam. Imitating the Saints: Christian Philosophy and Superhero Mythology. Hamden, CT: Winged Lion Press, 2013.

Barkman, Adam, Robert Arp, and James McRae, ed. The Philosophy of Ang Lee. Lexington, KT: University Press of Kentucky, 2013.

Barkman, Adam. Above All Things: Essays on Christian Ethics and Popular Culture. Hamden, CT: Winged Lion Press, 2012.

Barkman, Adam. Through Common Things: Philosophical Reflections on Global Popular Culture. Hamden, CT: Winged Lion Press, 2010.

Barkman, Adam, and Josef Steiff, eds. Manga and Philosophy. Popular Culture and Philosophy. Chicago: Open Court, 2010.

Barkman, Adam. C. S. Lewis and Philosophy as a Way of Life: A Comprehensive Historical Examination of His Philosophical Thoughts. Allentown, PA: Zossima Press, 2009.

Selected Recent Chapters and Articles

Barkman, Adam and Bennet Soenen. “Cosmic Rectitude in Scientology, Gnosticism and Christianity.” In The Philosophy of Forgiveness, Vol. 5: Underrepresented Perspectives on Forgiveness, edited by Courtland Lewis. Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press, 2022. 

Barkman, Adam and Bennet Soenen. “What Does It Mean to Be ‘Worthy’?” In Marveling Religion: Critical Discourse and the Marvel Cinematic Universe, edited by Jennifer Baldwin and Daniel White Hodge. Landham, MD: Lexington Books, 2021. 

Barkman, Adam. “Hayao Miyazaki’s Shinto Environmental Philosophy: A Critical Appreciation.” Christian Scholar’s Review 48, no. 4 (spring 2019). 

Barkman, Adam and Enzo Guerra. “Aristotle, Avicenna and Aquinas on Forgiveness.” In The Philosophy of Forgiveness, Vol. 3, Forgiveness in World Religions, edited by Greg L. Bock, 97-108. Wilmington, DE: Vernon Press, 2018.

Barkman, Adam. “From Contingency to Necessary Being: Revisiting and Revising Aquinas’s Third Way.” In Thomas Aquinas and Arguments for God’s Existence: Then and Now. Edited by Robert Arp. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2016.

Barkman, Adam and Travis Dyk. “(Im)Morality in Action: Marcus Aurelius and the Choice to Abuse.” In Philosophy and Breaking Bad. Edited by Kevin Decker, David Koepsell and Robert Arp. New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2016.

Barkman, Adam. “Reply to Donald Williams.” C. S. Lewis’s Apologetics: For and Against. Edited by Gregory Bassham. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2015.

Barkman, Adam. “C. S. Lewis’s Theory of Spiritual Longing and The Idea of the Holy.” In The Ten Books That Most Influenced C. S. Lewis’s Vocation and Philosophy. Edited by David Werther. London: Bloomsbury Press, 2015.