Helen De Cruz (1978–2025) was a Belgian philosopher and Danforth Chair in the Humanities at Saint Louis University who specialised in philosophy of religion, experimental philosophy, and philosophy of cognitive science.
De Cruz obtained their PhD in philosophy at the University of Groningen in 2011, and a PhD in archaeology and art sciences at the Free University of Brussels in 2007. They held appointments as Senior Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University, assistant professor at VU Amsterdam, postdoctoral fellow of the British Academy at Oxford University, FWO postdoctoral fellow at the University of Leuven, and as Templeton residential fellow at Oxford University.
Their work examined why and how humans engage in pursuits that seem remote from the immediate concerns of survival and reproduction, such as theology, mathematics, and science. They were editor-in-chief for Res Philosophica, associate editor for Ergo, executive editor of the Journal of Analytic Theology, and editorial board member of the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
De Cruz wrote several books, including A Natural History of Natural Theology: The Cognitive Science of Theology and Philosophy of Religion (with Johan De Smedt), Religious Disagreement, and Wonderstruck: How Wonder and Awe Shape the Way We Think (2024). They also edited and illustrated Philosophy Illustrated: Forty-Two Thought Experiments to Broaden Your Mind and co-edited Philosophy Through Science Fiction Stories. In addition to their philosophical work, De Cruz wrote public philosophy for The Guardian, Aeon, and Psyche, wrote short fiction, and played the Renaissance lute and archlute. Helen De Cruz died on June 20, 2025, at the age of 46. Read Robert Lawrence Kuhn’s tribute: Helen De Cruz: A Tribute to an Astonishing Life.
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Wonderstruck: How Wonder and Awe Shape the Way We Think Buy the Book
The Challenge of Evolution to Religion Buy the Book
