Degrees Earned
D.Phil., University of Oxford, Politics, 1997
M.A., Boston College, Political Science, 1994
B.A., University of Toronto, Political Science, 1992
Undergraduate Courses Taught
Political Science Senior Seminar
Early Modern Political Philosophy
American Political Thought
Augustine’s City of God
Foundations: Art & Politics II
Slavery in Western Civilization
Foundations: Art & Politics I
Rome: City of Emperors, Popes, and Saints
Religion and Politics
Political Philosophy
Publications & Editorships
Leo Strauss and His Catholic Readers, editor (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2018)
“The Hobbit Redemption: Christian Heroism and Humility in the Work of J.R.R. Tolkien,” with Jennifer Vaughan, Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity 28.5 (2015): 27-31.
“Town and Gown: What Great Cities Can Teach Higher Education.” Chronicle of Higher Education 24 Oct. 2014: A25-26.
“Citizenship and American Identity,” July 30, 2019.
“If Angels Educated Men,” Library of Law and Liberty, July 26, 2019.
“The Federalist Option for Higher Education,” Library of Law and Liberty, March 27, 2019.
“Who Wants to Limit the Power of the Courts?” The Public Discourse, Nov. 29, 2018.
“Shouts and Protests on Campus Are Signs of a More Pernicious Problem,” The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal. June 23, 2017.
“The Ballad of Boris and the Donald,” National Review June 27, 2016
Behemoth Teaches Leviathan: Thomas Hobbes on Political Education (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2002).
“Town and Gown: What Great Cities Can Teach Higher Education.” Chronicle of Higher Education 24 Oct. 2014: A25-26.
“Harry Jaffa’s Egalitarian Natural Law,” Anamnesis: A Journal for the Study of Tradition, Place, and ‘Things Divine’ 2.2 (2013): 100-116.
“Incommunicative Action: The Esoteric Response to Deliberative Democracy,” Critical Review 22.2-3 (2010): 293-310. Reprinted in Paul Gunn ed., Democratic Deliberation in the Modern World (London: Taylor & Francis, 2014).
Presentations
“Harry V. Jaffa’s Changing Views on the Natural Law,” at International Society for Law and Morality, Wolfson College, Dec. 11, 2008.
“Freedom of Thought without Freedom of Speech: Leo Strauss on Esoteric Writing and Self-Censorship,” at Morrell Conference, University of York, 19-21 September, 2007.
“Leo Strauss and the Natural Law,” at International Society for Law and Morality, Wolfson College, Cambridge, 4 January, 2007.
“Contemporary Political Education,” at International Society for Law and Morality, Wolfson College, Cambridge, 4 January, 2006.
“Philosopher-Statesmen and the Creation of the Guardian-Squire: the American Founders,” at Education and Culture in the Long Eighteenth Century (1688-1832), Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, 8-10 September, 2005
“Philosopher-Statesmen and the Creation of the Guardian-Squire,” at The American Political Science Association, 2 September, 2004
Grants and Awards
Fr. Fortin Memorial Fund $5,000 for Conference on Leo Strauss and his Catholic Readers (with Daniel J. Mahoney) 2015
Earhart Foundation Grant $15,000 for Conference on Leo Strauss and his Catholic Readers (with Daniel J. Mahoney) 2015
Grant from Fr. Fortin Memorial Foundation 2012-2013
Earhart Foundation Grant 2005
UMBC Special Research Initiative Award 2004