Welcome, Dr. Chris Firestone

Champion Christian College is thrilled to welcome Dr. Chris Firestone for the fall 2024 semester! Dr. Firestone will be serving as part of the executive team at Champion as the Associate Executive Vice President, and he will also be joining the faculty as the new Lead Teacher of Biblical Studies. 

Dr. Firestone brings an impressive educational background to Champion; after graduating with a B.A. in philosophy and a B.S. in mathematics from the University of Illinois, he earned an M.A. in Christian thought from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School and a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh. He received his License of Christian Ministry from the Evangelical Free Church of America and has been a professor of philosophy at Trinity College for the past twenty-five years.

However, Dr. Firestone’s contributions go beyond the classroom. He is the author of multiple articles and books that explore the intersection of philosophy and theology, including In Defense of Kant's Religion (Indiana University Press, 2007), Kant and Theology at the Boundaries of Reason (Ashgate Publishers, 2009), The Persistence of the Sacred in Modern Thought (Notre Dame University Press, 2012), and Kant and the Question of Theology (Cambridge University Press, 2017). In addition, he served as the director and moderator of the Trinity Debates for nearly two decades and was even the co-writer and producer of the feature film Killing Poe (2017).

When he’s not engaged in his academic and theological pursuits, Dr. Firestone enjoys collecting Legos, sports cards, and precious metals as well as spending time with his wife Beth and five children: Hannah Chow (associate director of the economics lab at Stanford University), Matthew Firestone (Green Beret medic in the United States Army), Emma Firestone (preschool teacher at Loyola University), Rebekah Firestone (sophomore honors student and cross-country athlete at Taylor University), and Andrew Firestone (freshman honors student at Lipscomb University). Dr. Firestone’s father, Harold Firestone, owns and operates Firestone Tax Service in Hot Springs. 

Dr. Firestone understands Champion Christian College to be a significant part of the great realignment of American education in the twenty-first century.  He hopes to add value to and help sharpen Champion's already robust focus on biblical worldview, the Western intellectual tradition, and the founding documents and storied history of the United States of America. According to Dr. Firestone, Champion promises not only to bring about local renewal through cost-affordable, high-quality college education for students in and around Hot Springs, but also to attract students from all over the country by joining with national partners in Christian conservative education to provide an educational alternative to the ideological shift in America's historic institutions of higher education. He is delighted to be able to join the Champion team in this grand endeavor.

Once again, please help us welcome Dr. Chris Firestone to the Champion family! We are excited to see how the Lord will use his valuable contributions in the days to come.