Jeffrey J. Jordan (1959-2025)
Jeffrey J. Jordan, professor of philosophy at the University of Delaware, has died.
Professor Jordan worked mainly in philosophy of religion. He was the author of Pascal’s Wager: Pragmatic Arguments and Belief in God (2006), along with many articles, and was the editor of Gambling on God: Essays on Pascal’s Wager (1994) and the co-editor (with Daniel Howard-Snyder) of Faith, Freedom and Rationality: Essays in the Philosophy of Religion (1996). You can learn more about his writing here.
Jordan joined the University of Delaware Department of Philosophy faculty in 1990. Before that, he held a one-year position at the University of Notre Dame. He earned his PhD at Purdue University and his BA from Hardin-Simmons University; between the two he earned a a post-graduate degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.
The University of Delaware has posted a memorial notice here, and there is an obituary here.
I never met Prof. Jordan in person, but I have followed his work closely and I gained a lot of respect for his positions and arguments, even when I ultimately disagreed with them. I graduated from Hardin-Simmons University (a couple of decades after him), and I took some encouragement from the fact that someone else from my our little school in west Texas had so much success in mainstream philosophy.
Feel free to not post this, Justin, as I’m just noting a typo. The first line of this post spells Jeffrey’s last name as “Jordon,” instead of “Jordan” (it’s spelled correctly in the title and the rest of the post).
Thanks for letting me know. I’ve made the correction.
This news is very sad for me. Jeff was my colleague my entire 22 years at UD. He was a good philosopher and a good person. He was a great family man. I had the pleasure of having his son as a student. Jeff was rightly very proud of him. Jeff will be missed by many.