George Haraksin

Director del Programa Comunitario Académico y Académico del personal

Raised by good parents in a virtuous Roman Catholic home, I longed for more. My full conversion to Christ came amid college fraternity life and playing as a professional drummer. I longed to be a morally upright person. That led to a late-night session pleading with God for help, which resulted in a changed life.

Electrical engineering and technical theater were among my majors in college, but I made a radical switch to comparative religions. My aim was to discover whether the Christian faith is true and how it compares with other world religions.

With a passion for both the church and the academy, I pastored a local church for over 20 years while teaching philosophy at the university level. I continue to want to help intellectuals and artists see that Jesus is the smartest man who has ever lived and that in him are hidden all the treasures of wisdom, beauty, and knowledge.

Biography

Biography

George Haraksin serves as Scholar Community program director and a staff scholar at Reasons to Believe (RTB). He has a long history with RTB. While in college, he would drive 30 miles to the old RTB Sierra Madre office in Southern California to retrieve Hugh Ross’s white papers on various science and faith topics, all stuffed in cubbyholes in the back of the office. As a pastor of a local church, he frequently partnered with RTB, hosting and participating in events and bringing RTB staff scholars to speak to his congregation.

Currently, George serves as a senior adjunct professor in philosophy and ethics at Azusa Pacific University (CA), where he has taught since 2002. He was also previously on the adjunct faculty for A. W. Tozer Theological Seminary, Simpson University (CA). At his church, George served as lead pastor for 5 years and as an associate pastor for over 15 years. He and his wife, Tracy, attended and led in that church community for 28 years, participating on the worship teams (George as drummer and percussionist; Tracy as worship leader and vocalist), leading ministry teams to Romania and India, and serving on ministry teams to Hungary, Venezuela, Serbia, and the Czech Republic. George was an elder board member and chairman, a teaching team member, and an apologetics instructor.

George holds a BA in comparative religions from California State University, Fullerton; an MA in philosophy of religion and ethics from Talbot School of Theology, Biola University; and an MA in philosophy from Claremont Graduate University, CA. George has studied under well-known philosophers, ethicists, and apologists such as J. P. Moreland, William Lane Craig, Stephen Davis, the late Dallas Willard, Richard Swinburne, and Linda Zagzebski. His areas of academic interest include philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, metaethics, ethical systems of reasoning (normative ethics), applied ethics, and both philosophical and cultural apologetics.

George has been married to his wife Tracy for 31 years, and they have two adult sons—one who works in cybersecurity for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the other as an IT professional for a financial institution.

Biography

George Haraksin serves as Scholar Community program director and a staff scholar at Reasons to Believe (RTB). He has a long history with RTB. While in college, he would drive 30 miles to the old RTB Sierra Madre office in Southern California to retrieve Hugh Ross’s white papers on various science and faith topics, all stuffed in cubbyholes in the back of the office. As a pastor of a local church, he frequently partnered with RTB, hosting and participating in events and bringing RTB staff scholars to speak to his congregation.

Currently, George serves as a senior adjunct professor in philosophy and ethics at Azusa Pacific University (CA), where he has taught since 2002. He was also previously on the adjunct faculty for A. W. Tozer Theological Seminary, Simpson University (CA). At his church, George served as lead pastor for 5 years and as an associate pastor for over 15 years. He and his wife, Tracy, attended and led in that church community for 28 years, participating on the worship teams (George as drummer and percussionist; Tracy as worship leader and vocalist), leading ministry teams to Romania and India, and serving on ministry teams to Hungary, Venezuela, Serbia, and the Czech Republic. George was an elder board member and chairman, a teaching team member, and an apologetics instructor.

George holds a BA in comparative religions from California State University, Fullerton; an MA in philosophy of religion and ethics from Talbot School of Theology, Biola University; and an MA in philosophy from Claremont Graduate University, CA. George has studied under well-known philosophers, ethicists, and apologists such as J. P. Moreland, William Lane Craig, Stephen Davis, the late Dallas Willard, Richard Swinburne, and Linda Zagzebski. His areas of academic interest include philosophy of religion, philosophy of mind, philosophy of science, metaethics, ethical systems of reasoning (normative ethics), applied ethics, and both philosophical and cultural apologetics.

George has been married to his wife Tracy for 31 years, and they have two adult sons—one who works in cybersecurity for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the other as an IT professional for a financial institution.