Ronald K. Tacelli

Ronald K. Tacelli SJ is an American Jesuit priest and associate professor of philosophy at Boston College, where his teaching and research focus on metaphysics, ancient philosophy, and Christian apologetics within a broadly Thomistic and classical Catholic framework. He is best known for his collaborations with Peter Kreeft, particularly the Handbook of Christian Apologetics (1994) and Pocket Handbook of Christian Apologetics (2003), which present systematic case-by-case defenses of theism, the existence of God, the divinity of Christ, the resurrection, and traditional Christian moral teaching. The works survey arguments such as the cosmological, design, moral, and ontological proofs, alongside responses to the problem of evil, religious pluralism, and naturalistic objections, aiming at clarity for non-specialist readers rather than original metaphysical advances. Tacelli's apologetic approach is cumulative-case in style and rooted in Aristotelian-Thomistic realism, in continuity with neo-scholastic Catholic philosophy. Critics within analytic philosophy of religion have noted that the Handbook compresses complex debates and sometimes treats contested arguments (e.g., versions of the moral argument or historical claims about the resurrection) more confidently than the underlying philosophical literature warrants. Within Catholic apologetic literature, however, the book is widely cited as an accessible reference. Tacelli has also published essays on Plato, Aquinas, and the philosophy of religion in journals such as the International Philosophical Quarterly.