Dewi Zephaniah Phillips

Dewi Zephaniah Phillips
Dewi Phillips late in life
Born	24 November 1934 Swansea, Wales, UK
Died	25 July 2006(2006-07-25) (aged 71) Swansea, Wales, UK
Alma mater	Swansea University
Era	20th-century philosophy
Region	Western Philosophy
School	Analytic philosophy
Main interests	Philosophy of religion, ethics, philosophy of literature
Notable ideas	A new role for the philosophy of religion: not in uniting theology and philosophy, but in recognising and analysing their different functions
Influences Kant, Kierkegaard, Weil, Wittgenstein, Rhees, Winch

Dewi Zephaniah Phillips (24 November 1934 – 25 July 2006), known as D. Z. Phillips, Dewi Z, or simply DZ, was a leading proponent of Wittgensteinian philosophy of religion. He had an academic career spanning five decades, and at the time of his death he held the Danforth Chair in Philosophy of religion at Claremont Graduate University, California, and was Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Swansea University.

Dewi Zephaniah Phillips was born in Swansea, South Wales, on 24 November 1934. He was the youngest son of David and Alice Phillips, and one of three brothers. (He was predeceased by the Reverend Cadfan Phillips and Keri Phillips.) He attended the Bishop Gore School, Swansea, and studied at Swansea University (1952–58) and the University of Oxford (St Catherine's Society) (1958–61).

From 1959 until 1961 he was Minister of Fabian Bay Congregational Church, Swansea. In 1959 he married Margaret Monica Hanford. They would have three sons, Aled, Steffan and Rhys – and four grandchildren, Ceri, Bethan, Sian and Emyr.

Phillips began his academic career at Queen's College, Dundee, in 1961, before joining the University College of North Wales, Bangor, in 1963.

In 1965 he returned to Swansea University, to take up a lectureship in the Department of Philosophy. Promoted to a senior lectureship in 1967, he became professor and head of department in 1971. He also served as Dean of the Faculty of Arts (1982–1985) and as a Vice-Principal (1989–1992).

In 1993 he was appointed Danforth Professor of Philosophy of Religion at the Claremont Graduate University in California, and thereafter divided his time between Claremont and Swansea where, in 1996, he became the Rush Rhees Professor Emeritus and Director of the Rush Rhees Archives and Peter Winch Archives based in Swansea University. He held both positions until his death in 2006.

Phillips gave many endowed lectures during his tenure at California's Claremont Graduate University. These included the Cardinal Mercier Lectures (Leuven), Marett Lecture (Oxford), Riddell Lectures (Newcastle), McMartin Lectures (Carleton University, in Ottawa), Hintz Lecture (Tucson), the Aquinas Lecture (Oxford), and Vonhoff Lectures (Groningen).