Foundation for Reasonable Christianity
exploring
Christianity's reasonable foundation
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. His dissertation focused on 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) 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.
Picture on the left: the U.S.A. National Jr. World Freestyle Wrestling Champions. Front row second from your right, Dave Goodspeed, 136 pound champion. Back row far left, Tom Frost, 163 pound champion. Picture on the right: Tom on the victory stand.
​​​​​​​​​​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.
Tom and his mom on May 18th, 2012: the day he graduated with his Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. She was fighting lung cancer and passed away on Tom's birthday (and his step-father's birthday) exactly a year and four months later, September 18th, 2013.
After taking five years of graduate seminars in philosophy--and being a teaching assistant for four of those years--Tom entered the research phase of the Ph.D. program. That was when 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 a year passing his preliminary exam papers, another year passing his written and oral dissertation prospectus exams, and then 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 full-time for the FRC.​​​​​​​​​​