Education

Courses

• The Story of Philosophy (PHL-121)
• Logic (PHL-122)
• Faith and Philosophy (PHL-210)
• Asian Philosophy (PHL-220)
• Ancient Philosophy (PHL-222 (HIS-260))
• Medieval and Early Modern Philosophy (PHL-224 (HIS-261))
• Epistemology (PHL-245)
• Philosophy of Science (PHL-314)
• Environmental Philosophy (PHL-366 (ENV-366))
• Ethics (PHL-337)
• Social Philosophy (PHL-343)
• Biomedical Ethics (PHL-440 (HSC-440))

About

Adam Barkman (PhD, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) is Professor of Philosophy at Redeemer University and the series editor for Bloomsbury Books’ “Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Directors.” He has written more than a hundred and eighty articles and book chapters and is the author and editor of more than a dozen 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 seven 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 Research Publications

Books

Barkman, Adam, and Antonio Sanna, eds. A Critical Companion to Mel Gibson. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2024.

Barkman, Adam, Matt Hodge, and Antonio Sanna, eds. A Critical Companion to Julie Taymor. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2024.

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

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

Barkman, Adam, and Antonio Sanna, eds. A Critical Companion to James Cameron. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2019.

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

Barkman, Adam, and Robert Arp. Downton Abbey and Philosophy. Chicago: Open Court, 2016.

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

Barkman, Adam, Ashley Barkman, and Nancy Kang, eds. 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, eds. 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.

Recent Chapters and Articles

Barkman, Adam, and Tristan Barkman. “A Virtue Approach to Mass Animal Suffering; or, the Problems and Promise of C. S. Lewis’s Theory of Animal Pain.” In An Afternoon with C. S. Lewis: Modern Perspectives on Lewis’s Life, Work, and Legacy, edited by Stanley Porter. Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2026.

Barkman, Adam, and Aaron Korvemaker. “Christopher Nolan’s Joker as a Consistent Naturalist (And That’s Still a Bad Thing).” Religions 14 (2023).

Barkman, Adam, and Enzo Guerra. “The Gaucho in a Globalized World.” In Contemporary Cowboys: Reimagining an American Archetype in Popular Culture, edited by Clint Wesley Jones, 1-10. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2023.

Barkman, Adam. “‘Make What You Can of It If You Are a Philosopher’: An Essay on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s ‘Christian Spiritualism.’” Religions 12 (November 2021).

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.