EDUCATION
Ph.D. Political Science, Boston College, 2017
B.A. Political Science, Williams College, 2006
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Associate Professor, University of Dallas 2018-present
Interim Associate Dean, Constantin College of Liberal Arts, Dallas, 2020-2021
Research Associate, Catholic University of America, 2018-2019
Assistant Professor, University of Dallas 2012-2018
Postdoctoral Fellow, Thomas Jefferson Center for Core Texts and Ideas, University
of Texas, 2014–15
RECENT COURSES
POL 1311 Principles of American Politics
POL 3325 American Foreign Policy
POL 3332/5304 Aristotle’s Politics
POL 3334/5306 Enlightenment and Liberal Democracy
POL 3342 Politics and the Family
POL 5308 Resistance & Revolution
POL 6377 Cicero
POL 6387 Locke
POL 6388 Rousseau
POL 7371 Xenophon
POL 7374 Plato's Laws
IPS 8326 Augustine & Aquinas
IPS 8342 Hobbes and Rousseau
ARTICLES
“Democracy in the Thought of John Locke.” In Democracy and the History of Political Thought, edited by Patrick N. Cain, Stephen Patrick Sims, and Stephen A. Block (Lanham, MD:
Lexington Books, 2021), pp. 201–217.
“A Time to Build Schools.” Public Discourse, 20 Feb. 2021.
“The Pitfalls of Christian Political Moralism: Book 1 of Utopia and its Augustinian Source.” Moreana 57, no. 1 (2020), pp. 89–102.
“Augustine and Platonic Political Philosophy: The Contribution of Joseph Ratzinger." In Augustine’s Political Thought, edited by Richard Dougherty (Rochester, NY: University of Rochester, 2019), pp. 245–72.
“Liberal Practice v. Liberal Theory.” National Affairs 41 (Fall 2019), pp. 127–41.
“Ökumene an der Basis. Ein Blick auf die Reisen Benedikt XVI. nach Deutschland.” In Ut Unum Sint. Theologie der Ökumene bei Joseph Ratzinger / Benedikt XVI,, edited by Michaela C. Hastetter and Stefanos Athanasiou (Regensburg: Friedrich Pustet, 2018), pp. 148–64.
“Augustinians and Lockeans on Religion in American Public Life.” In Religion und Politik in der freiheitlichen Demokratie / Religion and Politics in Liberal Democracy, edited by Klaus Stüwe (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 2018), pp. 95–111.
“Ratzinger on the Augustinian Understanding of Religious Freedom.” Communio: International Catholic Review 44, no. 2 (2017), pp. 296–322.
“Alfarabi and the Creation of an Islamic Political Science.” Review of Politics 77, no. 3 (2016), pp. 365–89.
“The Place of the Bible in the Strauss-Kojève Debate.” In Philosophy, History, and Tyranny: Re-examining the Debate Between Leo Strauss and Alexandre Kojève, edited by Timothy Burns and Bryan-Paul Frost (Albany: SUNY, 2016), pp. 83–117.
“Augustine on the Moral Significance of Human Law.” Revue d’études augustiniennes et patristiques 61, no. 2 (2015), pp. 273–98.
PRESENTATIONS
“Augustine on Pagan and Christian Social Hierarchies,” at Augustine: Frontiers of Pluralism, held by Augustinian Institute at Villanova University, 15–16 June 2022.
“The Platonism of Augustine’s Political Thought,” at Southern Political Science Association Meeting, 13–15 Jan. 2022.
“Augustine on the Meaning of Human Dignity,” at Human Dignity in a Secular World, held by diNicola Center for Ethics and Culture, Notre Dame University, 11–13 Nov. 2021.
“Patriotism and Honesty,” at America, Liberalism, and Catholicism, held at University of Dallas, 16 April 2021.
“A Political Theorist Goes to Washington: My Year in the Federal Government.” Public lecture at Lee University, 19 March 2021.
“Liberal Theory v. Liberal Practice.” Public lecture at Hillsdale College, 25 Feb. 2020.
“What is ‘Religious Freedom’? Competing Definitions in the American Tradition.” Lecture at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, 30 April 2019.
“Augustine on the Foundations of Christian Political Thought.” Public lecture at St. John’s College Annapolis, 25 Jan. 2019.
What Makes Freedom of Religion Different from Freedom of Speech? Public lecture at Catholic University of America, 17 Sept. 2018.After Nationalism: Being American in an Age of Division, by Samuel Goldman. National Review 73, no. 15 (16 Aug. 2021), pp. 36–38.
The Decadent Society: America Before and After the Pandemic, by Ross Douthat. National Review 73, no. 13 (12 July 2021), pp. 43–45.
Redefining the Muslim Community: Ethnicity, Religion, and Politics in the Thought of Alfarabi, by Alexander Orwin. Contemporary Political Theory 18 (2019), pp. S12–S15.