"I see the same coffee table everywhere. It's mass marketing." -- Douglas Wilson
Douglas James Wilson (born 18 June 1953) is a conservative Reformed and evangelical theologian, pastor at Christ Church in Moscow, Idaho, faculty member at New Saint Andrews College, and prolific author and speaker. He is currently featured in the documentary film Collision documenting his debates with anti-theist Christopher Hitchens on their promotional tour for the book "Is Christianity Good for the World?".
"Being in the design industry, I've tended to meet more people who are affected by HIV and AIDS.""I am the young, edgy New Yorker.""I enjoy talking to fans.""I gave the couple a hint of a design that would work great with the bones of their home. They weren't ready for it, and they embarrassed themselves and that's too bad.""I know people don't think I work.""I look at each episode in two ways - from a design standpoint and from an entertainment standpoint - this is TV, after all. We usually succeed on at least one of the levels.""I was supposed to be the antithesis of Frank.""I'm having the time of my life and I'm glad people are enjoy it.""I'm opinionated. I always stick to my design plan. I don't waver.""I'm very flattered, but I don't think I'm the sexiest man on the planet.""I've enjoyed being a part of something from the beginning, when we were still finding our footing.""I've had rooms that didn't come out to my liking.""I've made an incredible amount of money stealing fans from homeowners.""In two days, it's hard to to get the quality you would normally want for a design project.""Inexpensive is good.""It's a character I've created. Actually, that's pretty much the opposite of me, off a farm in the Midwest.""Little did we know it would be watched by millions of people and break viewing records.""Ripping up carpet is easy, tiling is the issue.""There are lighter colors of granite and I like to break the rules.""They don't know they're living in a glass house.""Throughout the country, I see the same design problems and solutions over and over.""Use plants to bring life.""Whether it was working on theatre sets or stage lighting, I didn't realize most all of the skills I was exposed to were going to come in handy later on when I became a designer.""Yeah, I spent about 20 years in a dorm room. It took me a while to graduate."
Wilson earned a B.A. in classical studies and a B.A. and an M.A. in philosophy from the University of Idaho. In addition to his role as pastor of Christ Church, he is a founder and Senior Fellow in Theology at New Saint Andrews College, founder and editor of Credenda/Agenda magazine, and founder of Greyfriars Hall, a three-year ministerial training program. He also serves on the governing boards of New Saint Andrews, Logos School (a Christian private school), and the Association of Classical and Christian Schools. Wilson was instrumental in forming the Confederation of Reformed Evangelical Churches. He is married to Nancy Wilson and has three children, including N. D. Wilson, and 15 grandchildren.
Doug Wilson has said that "if someone wants a quick and easy way to figure out what makes me tick" they should read three of his books:Reforming Marriage, Angels in the Architecture and Joy at the End of the Tether. Wilson said "if someone read those three books they'd have a pretty good grasp of what I think is important"
Wilson is the publisher of and a contributor to the Reformed cultural and theological journal Credenda/Agenda, and is a former contributor to Tabletalk, the magazine published by R. C. Sproul's Ligonier Ministries. He has published a number of books on culture and theology, several children's books, and a collection of poetry.
On education
Wilson has been a prominent advocate for classical Christian education, and he laid out his vision for education in several books and pamphlets, especially in Recovering the Lost Tools of Learning (1991, ISBN 0-89107-583-6). In those writings, he argues that the American public schools are failing to educate their students, and he proposes a Christian approach to education based on the Trivium, a Greco-Roman approach to education which emphasizes grammar, rhetoric, and logic and advocates a wide exposure to the liberal arts, including classical Western languages such as Latin and Greek. The model has been adopted by a number of Christian private schools and homeschoolers.
On family
Wilson and his wife have also written a number of books on family issues based on their understanding of the Bible, including Reforming Marriage (ISBN 1-885767-45-5), Federal Husband (ISBN 1-885767-51-X), Her Hand in Marriage (on biblical courtship; ISBN 1-885767-26-9), Standing on the Promises: A Handbook of Biblical Childrearing (ISBN 1-885767-25-0), and Future Men (ISBN 1-885767-83-8).
On theology
Wilson has written on theological subjects in books such as Mother Kirk: Essays and Forays in Practical Ecclesiology (ISBN 1-885767-72-2), To a Thousand Generations (ISBN 1-885767-24-2) on infant baptism, and "Reformed" Is Not Enough: Recovering the Objectivity of the Covenant (ISBN 1-59128-005-2). He has also been a noted advocate for Van Tillian presuppositional apologetics and postmillennialism. Letter from a Christian Citizen (ISBN 0915815664) is Wilson's response to atheist Sam Harris's Letter to a Christian Nation. In May 2007, Wilson debated another noted atheist, Christopher Hitchens, in a six-part series published by Christianity Today. In October of the following year, they debated in person in three separate venues on three consecutive days.
Wilson's views on covenant theology as espoused in "Reformed" Is Not Enough and in his contribution to The Federal Vision (ISBN 978-0-9753914-0-2) have caused some controversy as part of the Federal Vision theology, partly because of its similarity to the New Perspective on Paul, which Wilson does not fully endorse, though he has praised some tenets that are in line with his theology. The RPCUS denomination, consisting of twelve congregations in the United States, declared his views on the subject to be heretical, and although "Reformed" Is Not Enough was already in process when the RPCUS's resolution was published, Wilson sought to address some of their charges in that book.
The Christian faith is good for the world because it provides the fixed standard which atheism cannot provide and because it provides forgiveness for sins, which atheism cannot provide either. We need the direction of the standard because we are confused sinners. We need the forgiveness because we are guilty sinners. Atheism not only keeps the guilt, but it also keeps the confusion.
Wilson's most controversial work is probably his pamphlet Southern Slavery, As It Was (ISBN 1-885767-17-X), which he wrote along with League of the South co-founder Steve Wilkins. Historians such as Peter H. Wood, Clayborne Carson, and Bancroft Prize winner Ira Berlin condemned the pamphlet's arguments, with Wood calling them as spurious as holocaust denial.
Wilson held a February 2004 conference for those who supported his ideas, such as pastor George Grant, in the University of Idaho. The University published a disclaimer distancing itself from the event, and numerous anti-conference protests took place. Wilson described critical attacks as 'abolitionist propaganda'. He also has repeatedly denied any racist leanings. Wilson has described his own views as 'paleo-Confederate'. He has said his "long war" is not on behalf of white supremacy, rather, Wilson seeks to revive the memory...however rose-tinted...of eras in Western history when faith and reason seemed at one, when family, church, and the organic "community of Christians" that T. S. Eliot describes in Christianity and Culture were more powerful than the state.
Canon Press ceased publication of Southern Slavery, As It Was when it became aware of serious citation errors in several passages authored by Wilkins. Robert McKenzie, the history professor who first noticed the citation problems, described the authors as being "sloppy" rather than "malevolent." Wilson reworked and redacted the arguments in the tract, and published (without Wilkins) a new set of essays under the name Black & Tan (ISBN 1-59128-032-X) after consulting with historian Eugene Genovese.
