Dr. Macdonald has taught and worked in the Department of Philosophy at the United States Air Force Academy since 2013: as the William Lyon Endowed Chair in Professional Ethics from 2013-2018; as Assistant Professor of Philosophy from 2018-2020; as Associate Professor of Philosophy from 2020-2023; and as Professor of Philosophy since 2023.  He graduated from Wheaton College, IL in 1995 with a B.A. in Philosophy and English Literature. He received his Master’s Degree from Yale University Divinity School in 1998 and then his Ph.D. in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia in 2003.  Before joining the Philosophy Department at the U.S. Air Force Academy, he taught and worked for eight years in the Department of Religion at Bucknell University, where he received tenure in 2011.  He has also taught at Villanova University and served as a Visiting Fellow at the Center for the Study of Religion at Princeton University.

His scholarly interests and work lie at the intersection of philosophy, theology, and religious studies.  He has published three books: God, Evil, and Redeeming Good: A Thomistic Theodicy (Routledge, 2023), Christian Theology and the Secular University (Routledge, 2017), and Knowledge and the Transcendent: An Inquiry into the Mind’s Relationship to God (The Catholic University of America Press, 2009).  In addition, he has published articles in philosophy, religious studies, and theology journals on topics such as religious and theological epistemology and the problem of evil.  Much of his work is informed and inspired by the thought of medieval philosopher and theologian Thomas Aquinas.

At the U.S. Air Force Academy, he has taught courses on moral theory and the morality of war, philosophy of religion and theology, comparative religion, medieval philosophy, and philosophy and animals.  He serves as team lead for the Ethics and Respect for Human Dignity Outcome Team and advisor for the Religion Studies minor. He also leads a philosophy of religion reading group within the Department of Philosophy.

Ph.D., University of Virginia (2003)

M.A., Yale University Divinity School (1998)

B.A., Wheaton College, IL (1995)

Department of Philosophy, U.S. Air Force Academy (2013-present)

Department of Religion, Bucknell University (2005-2013)

Villanova Center for Liberal Education, Villanova University (2004-2005)

Center for the Study of Religion, Princeton University (2003-2004, 2007)

Philosophy of religion

Philosophical theology

Thomistic philosophy and theology