top of page
Back to Top

About the FRC​

Foundation for Reasonable Christianity

exploring

Christianity's reasonable foundation

Thomas J. Frost -
People
Board of Directors -
.McCarthy Crenshaw, Jr -
Products
Nature
Purposes
Processes
Inception

The People of the FRC

u283_normal.png
​​​​Thomas J. Frost, Th.M., M.A., M.A., Ph.D.

​​​Founder, President, Board Member, Christian Philosopher

 

Tom Frost received his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he majored in metaphysics—the study of ultimate reality—and wrote his dissertation in epistemology—the study of knowledge and rationally justified belief. The subfield of epistemology that his dissertation focused on was the epistemology of modality: the study of how we know or are rationally justified in believing in what is possible, impossible, and necessary. He wrote on this topic because he believes that doing any serious metaphysics demands having answers to such questions and that most of the big metaphysical questions are closely related to the foundational claims of the Christian faith.

 

He also holds an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, an M.A. in philosophy of religion and ethics from Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, a Th.M (Master of Theology with a major in Bible exposition) from Dallas Theological Seminary, and a B.S. in physical education from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, where he was a wrestler on the UW wrestling team and—along with board member Dave Goodspeed (see below)—won the U.S.A. National Jr. World Freestyle Wrestling Championships at 163 pounds. Dave won it at 136.5 pounds. As such they were both members of the U.S.A. age 20-and-under World Team. About 16 months later, however, Tom gave up his dreams for wrestling stardom, ended his wrestling career early to the shock of many, and committed his life to bringing glory to Christ rather than to himself.

 

Tom was an agnostic from the time he was in 2nd grade until his freshman year of college. But after coming up with his own argument that agnosticism had to be false, he started searching for answers to the big questions of life: How did the world get here? Why does everyone die? What happens after death? Who am I? Why am I here? Where am I going? Etc. That process eventually led him to give his life to Christ in the spring of his junior year. Very quickly thereafter he became a student leader with Campus Crusade for Christ, and, after graduating, he joined their staff for a decade, during which time he did his Th.M. at Dallas Theological Seminary.

 

Being the curiosity-driven soul that Tom Frost is, he eventually experienced such intense cognitive dissonance and angst over certain intellectual questions about the faith that he could not not explore philosophy to see if there were any answers for him there. And that is what led him to get the M.A. in philosophy of religion and ethics from Talbot and both the M.A. and Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.

 

During the research phase of the Ph.D. program, he started the FRC with the intention to give lectures with Q & A on the foundational claims of the Christian faith on as many campuses as possible. And he did do that in multiple universities (and churches too) to the extent that resources were available to do so. However, a combination of a lack of funding and his doctoral research demands eventually led him to invest two years writing his preliminary exam papers and passing his written and oral dissertation prospectus exams before investing yet another two-and-a-half years writing his 280 page dissertation and defending it. After graduating in May of 2012 and through 2023, he worked for the FRC and simultaneously was an adjunct professor of philosophy at several colleges and universities in Southern California. But now he is back to lecturing, teaching, and dialoguing fulltime for the FRC.​​​​​​​​

​

​

Board of Directors
u272_normal.png

​​​​​​​​​​David C. Goodspeed, M.D., Board Member

 

Dave Goodspeed holds two degrees from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, an M.D. from the University of Wisconsin – Madison Medical School and a B.S. in Bacteriology. He also invested multiple years working toward a Ph.D. in oncology/molecular biology at University of Wisconsin-Madison, in part simultaneously with going to medical school, and in the process, he discovered a passionate love for orthopedic surgery that ultimately pulled him out of the lab and into the operating room. Upon completing his M.D., he did a residency in orthopedic surgery, also at University of Wisconsin - Madison, followed by a fellowship in orthopedic trauma surgery in Indianapolis. Then he became an Assistant Professor of orthopedic trauma surgery at Penn State University Hospital in Hershey, PA for several years, before returning to University of Wisconsin - Madison Medical Center where he is currently an Associate Professor of Orthopedic Trauma Surgery specializing in pelvic and lower extremity trauma and reconstructive surgery.

​​

​

Mack.jpg

​​​​McCarthy Crenshaw, Jr., J.D. Th.M., Board Member

 

Mack Crenshaw has a B.A. in History and a J.D., both from the University of Georgia, and a Th.M. from Dallas Theological Seminary.  After graduating with his undergraduate degree, he joined the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ for four years, the last year of which he invested as a member of the Athletes in Action basketball team, which was Campus Crusade for Christ’s team of “basketball missionaries”.  After his CCC years, law school called, and so, after getting his J.D., he invested five years in private law practice before attending Dallas Theological Seminary and earning his Master of Theology (Th.M.) degree.  After graduating from DTS, he returned to his pre-DTS home of Jacksonville, FL and was elected a Circuit Judge in the state of FL. He then served as a Circuit Judge for twenty years, five years in Duval County and fifteen years in Clay County.  

​​

​​

The Nature of the FRC

​​

The Foundation for Reasonable Christianity, Inc. is an IRS-approved 501(c)3 non-profit, public charity. Its Employer Identification Number (EIN) is 85-0485820. The FRC is not a private foundation. The word ‘foundation’ is in the title of the organization because of the word play involved within the title itself and because of the word play that exists between the title and the caption under the title on each page of this website: exploring Christianity’s reasonable foundation. All the FRC’s accounting and tax work is done by Garrett & Johnston, Inc., 1700 Adams, Suite 212, Costa Mesa, CA 92626.

​​

​

The Inception of the FRC

​

The FRC was conceived of by Tom Frost and founded by him in 2003 while he was in the research phase of his Ph.D. program in philosophy at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. He founded it for two primary reasons: first, because he believes that there is a need to learn about Christ and the Christian life, on the one hand, and to communicate about Christ and the Christian life, on the other hand, in an integrated way, that is, integrating all that we can learn from the special revelation of Scripture with all that we can learn from the general revelation of philosophy (And other fields when relevant; but philosophy is always relevant.); and second, because he believes that his life experiences have prepared him to at least play a part in fulfilling these needs by being a Biblically saturated, philosophically subtle, and grace-filled teacher of integrated truth, especially (but far from exclusively) as that truth relates to the foundational claims of the Christian faith. 

​

​

The Purposes of the FRC

​

The purposes of the FRC are “to discover—and help others discover—many important aspects of Christianity’s reasonable foundation” (CRF).

​

(For his purposes, Tom defines ‘CRF’ as the complete set of arguments that make it reasonable to believe that the foundational claims of the Christian faith are true.)

​

​

The Processes of the FRC

 

Since the FRC’s purposes are to discover—and help others discover—many important aspects of CRF, Tom's primary processes must be to explore CRF and to explain what he discovers about it to others. For it is intellectually honest and courageous exploration that is most conducive to significant discovery, and it is gracious, clear explanation of what one has discovered that is most conducive to helping others to discover. And so, this is what he does. He explores the Biblical, theological, and philosophical issues (and sometimes scientific issues) that are relevant to an intellectually insightful and reasonable understanding of the foundational claims of the faith, especially the saving content of the gospel; and then he explains what he discovers both in various kinds of events described below and in scores of conversations he has with anyone interested in such topics anywhere he happens to be.

 

 

The Products of the FRC

 

Because Tom Frost loves to relate to people face to face (or at least voice to voice), the primary products of the FRC are threefold: first, the open-to-the-whole-campus events that he and other student organizations cosponsor at secular colleges and universities in which he unpacks what he hopes will be clear, insightful, and therefore interesting arguments for the truth of some foundational aspect of the faith; second, the lectures and interactions he has with students and faculty members in secular college and university philosophy department classrooms where he is invited to be a guest lecturer on some philosophical topic related to the faith; and finally, the scores of conversations he has everywhere he goes with everyone he meets who is interested in discussing Christ, major philosophical or worldview questions, or anything else interestingly related to either of them.

 

His favorite format (but far from the only format he’s willing to do) for his open-to-the-whole-campus events is one that he created that he calls “Mini-lectures-and-dialogues-with-the-audience”. You can get the sense of this format best by going to this website’s videos page and clicking on the link to watch some short video clips of Tom using this format in an event he did at UC, Irvine. He hopes to have opportunities to put on such events on the foundational claims of the Christian faith at as many secular colleges and universities in the country as he can, including as many of the top-tier colleges and universities in the country as he can.

bottom of page