Cornelius Plantinga

Cornelius "Neal" Plantinga Jr. (born 14 February 1946 ) is an American theologian. He served as president of Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan from 2002 to 2011.

Early life and education Plantinga was born on February 14, 1946 in Jamestown, North Dakota, the son of a psychology professor who taught at Calvin College for 25 years.

He received an AB degree from Calvin College in 1967, a BD degree from Calvin Theological Seminary in 1971, and a PhD degree from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1982. He is the brother of philosopher Alvin Plantinga and musicologist Leon Plantinga.

Plantinga was appointed President of Calvin Seminary in 2001. He served as President from 2002 until 2011. During Plantinga's presidency, Calvin Seminary received its largest gift up to that time from the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation to fund the Charles W. Colson Presidential Chair at the seminary.

He was Senior Research Fellow at the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Calvin University from 2012 until his retirement in 2024.

Publications Plantinga has written several books, including Not the Way It's Supposed to Be (Eerdmans, 1995), the Christianity Today "Book of the Year" in 1996, and Engaging God's World (Eerdmans, 2002), a Christianity Today "Book of the Year" in 2003. He presented the Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary in 2012.

Personal life Plantinga is married to Kathleen (Talsma) Plantinga, and has two children.

Selected publications