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College of Family, Home, and Social Sciences
Psychology
Ed Gant

Ed Gantt

Professor, Applied Social Psychology, Developmental
Faculty
Website: https://fhssfaculty.byu.edu/directory/ed-gantt
Email: ed_gantt@byu.edu

1086 KMBL

801-422-9785

EDWIN E. GANTT is currently Professor of Psychology at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah where he has been a member of the faculty for 27 years and teaches History of Psychology, Personality Theory, Psychology of Religion, The Restored Gospel and Psychology, Phenomenological Psychology, and Philosophy of Psychology. After growing up in Idaho Falls, Idaho, he served a two-year religious mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Japan. After returning home, he attended Brigham Young University where he received his Bachelors Degree in Psychology Teaching, with dual minors in History and Philosophy. He received a Masters Degree in Psychology and a Doctoral Degree in Clinical Psychology from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he focused on Existential-Phenomenological psychology and qualitative research methods. He has authored and co-authored over 80 scholarly articles and book chapters. His primary research interests revolve around the questions of moral agency, psychological explanation, and the relationship between religion, science, and psychology. In particular, he is interested in countering naturalistic and deterministic theories in contemporary psychology, especially those found in evolutionary psychology and social psychology, in order to help sustain an intellectual space where human agency, meaning, and morality can be taken seriously in our study of the whole person. He is co-author (with Richard N. Williams) of the books Psychology-for-the-Other:  Levinas, Ethics, and the Practice of Psychotherapy, Hijacking Science:  Exploring the Nature and Consequences of Overreach in Psychology (both with Richard N. Williams) and Who is Truth? Reframing Our Questions for a Richer Faith (with Jeffrey L. Thayne), as well as previous Editor of the textbook series Taking Sides:  Clashing Views on Psychological Issues. He is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology. He and his wife Anita are the proud parents of four sons, three daughters-in-law, and the indulgent grandparents of four rambunctious, beautiful grandsons. In addition to his scholarly work, he also twice served as the head coach of the BYU Men’s Ice Hockey team.

See professor Ed Gantt's website here.

Publications

Journal Articles

Gantt, E. E., & Holmes, B. (2025). The structure of non-scientific revolutions: Evolutionary psychology, explanation and the ruination of reason. The Humanistic Psychologist. https://doi.org/10.1037/hum0000405

Williams, R. N., & Gantt, E. E. (2025). Theory as truth and ethics. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 45(3), 195-210. https://doi.org/10.1037/teo0000271

Williams, R. N., Gantt, E. E., & Purtschert, E. (2024). Methodological implications of the phenomenon of mispresence. Journal of Humanistic Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/00221678241273365

Gantt, E. E., Thayne, J. L., & Garrett, M. R. (2024). Connecting the theoretical, the personal, and the ethical in psychology: George Kelly and Emmanuel Levinas. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 45(1), 67-94.

Gantt, E. E., *Purtschert, E., & Aguirre, K. (2024). Newtonianism, relationality, and the ethical intersubjectivity of time. Journal of Phenomenological Psychology, 55(1), 1-35.

Gantt, E. E., Yanchar, S. C., & Parker, J. C. (2023). Questioning consilience and autonomy in self-determination theory: A critique and hermeneutic-phenomenological alternative. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, 53(1), 21-41. https://doi.org/10.1111/jtsb.12367

Gantt, E. E., & Williams, R. N. (2022). The triumph of the will: Evolutionary psychology and the conceptual incoherence of enhancement. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 62(5), 694-717.

Williams, R. N., Gantt, E. E., & Fischer, L. (2021). Agency: What does it mean to be a human being? Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1-12. Accessible at https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.693077

Gantt, E. E., & Williams, R. N. (2021). Psychology and the legacy of Hobbesianism: Egoism, motivation, and the death of meaning. Journal of Mind and Behavior, 42(1), 53-72.

Gantt, E. E., & Williams, R. N. (2020). Methodological naturalism, saturation, and psychology’s failure to save the phenomena. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 50(1), 84-102.

Gantt, E. E., Christensen, M. R., & Tubbs, J. D. (2020). Help thou my unbelief: Exploring the secular sources of our clients’ doubts. Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy, 40, 4-24

Gantt, E. E., Wages, B. D., & Thayne, J. L. (2015). The keystone of our science: Exploring the premises and promises of the Book of Mormon for psychology and psychotherapy. Issues in Religion and Psychotherapy, 36 (1), 1-16.

Gantt, E. E., & Williams, R. N. (2014). Psychology and the legacy of Newtonianism: Motivation, intentionality, and the ontological gap. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 34(2), 83-100.

Book Chapters

Gantt, E. E., Parker, J. C., & Aguirre, K. M. (2022). Reductive naturalism and evolutionary psychology’s empty ethics of enhancement: A phenomenological alternative. In B. D. Slife, S. C. Yanchar, and F. C. Richardson (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 209-229. New York, NY: Routledge Press.

Williams, R. N., & Gantt, E. E. (2022). Preserving agency as a human phenomenon. In B. D. Slife, S. C. Yanchar, and F. C. Richardson (Eds.), The Routledge International Handbook of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 370-388. New York, NY: Routledge Press.

Gantt, E. E., Yamada, S., & Top. D. N. (2019). Introduction: On the Value of taking sides, clashing views, and critical thinking. Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Psychological Issues (21st Ed.), 9-14. Dubuque, IA: McGraw-Hill.

Williams, R. N., & Gantt, E. E. (2018). Science, scientism, and psychology. In E. E. Gantt and R. N. Williams (Eds.), On Hijacking Science: Exploring the Nature and Consequences of Overreach in Psychology, pp. 1-12. London, UK: Routledge Press.

Gantt, E. E. (2018). Scientism and saturation: Evolutionary psychology, human experience, and the phenomenology of Jean-Luc Marion. In E. E. Gantt and R. N. Williams (Eds.), On Hijacking Science: Exploring the Nature and Consequences of Overreach in Psychology, pp. 52-67. London, UK: Routledge.

 

Gantt, E. E., & Knapp, S. J. (2017). Contracts, covenants, and the meaning of marriage. In L. Fischer & A. Jackson (eds.), Turning Freud Upside Down 2:  More Gospel Perspectives on Psychotherapy’s Fundamental Problems (pp. 92-113). Provo, UT: BYU Press.

Gantt, E. E., & Williams, R. N. (2016). Explanation versus understanding in psychology: A human science approach. In L. Laubscher, C. Fischer, & R. Brooke (Eds.), The Qualitative Vision for Psychology: An Invitation to the Human Science Approach, pp. 31-48. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.

 

 

Books

Thayne, J. L., & Gantt, E. E. (2019). Who is truth?  Reframing our questions for a richer faith.Seattle, WA: Verdand Press.

Gantt, E. E., & Williams, R. N. (Eds.) (2018). On hijacking science: Exploring the nature and consequences of overreach in psychology. London, UK: Routledge Press.

Williams, R. N., & Gantt, E. E. (Eds.) (2011). Responding to the New Atheism: Scientific and Religious Perspectives. Provo, UT: Wheatley Publications.

Gantt, E. E., & Williams, R. N. (Eds.) (2002). Psychology-for-the-Other: Levinas, Ethics, and the Practice of Psychology. Pittsburgh, PA: Duquesne University Press.

Public Scholarship

Hardy, S. A., & Gantt, E. E. (2025). Navigating Your Faith Journey: Questioning is Good. Public Square Magazine. Retrieved June 2, 2025, https://publicsquaremag.org/faith/gospel-fare/link-between-faith-doubt-spiritual-growth/

Holmes, B., & Gantt, E. E. (2025). When safe spaces aren’t safe: How unconditional acceptance can stifle growth. Public Square Magazine. Retrieved January 15, 2025, https://publicsquaremag.org/health/mental-health/echo-chambers-validation-therapy/

Gantt, E. E. (2024). Beyond happiness: The scriptural roots of joy. Public Square Magazine. Retrieved July 10, 2024, https://publicsquaremag.org/faith/gospel-fare/understanding-difference-between-joy-happiness/

Gantt, E. E. (2024). The enduring nature of joy. Public Square Magazine. Retrieved July 5, 2024, https://publicsquaremag.org/faith/gospel-fare/joy-vs-happiness-exploration-enduring-peace/

Gantt, E. E. (2024). Is psychology facing an identity crisis? Public Square Magazine. Retrieved April 1, 2024, https://publicsquaremag.org/media-education/education/activism-scientism-postmodernism-psychology/

Gantt, E. E. (2024). How power masquerades as education. Public Square Magazine. Retrieved March 25, 2024, https://publicsquaremag.org/media-education/education/power-crisis-higher-education/

Gantt, E. E. (2024). The academy’s creed of skepticism. Public Square Magazine. Retrieved March 22, 2024, https://publicsquaremag.org/media-education/education/the-academys-creed-of-skepticism/

Gantt, E. E. (2024). The lost art of curiosity: Education’s ideological confinement. Public Square Magazine. Retrieved March 18, 2024, https://publicsquaremag.org/media-education/education/rethinking-scientism-education-curiosity/

Gantt, E. E. (2024). The crisis of purpose in academia. Public Square Magazine. Retrieved March 11, 2024, https://publicsquaremag.org/media-education/education/higher-education-crisis/

Gantt, E. E. (2022). Therapists aren’t neutral. Let’s stop pretending they are. Public Square Magazine. Retrieved July 1, 2022, https://publicsquaremag.org/health/mental-health/therapists-arent-neutral-lets-stop-pretending-they-are/