My research focuses on the relationship between faith and politics in the history of political thought. The origin and subsequent corruption of the human race is a central theme of political life, but it is also a fundamental concern of religious faith. Thus, I engage political reason and religious faith as fruitful interlocutors. My dissertation appropriated Augustine’s account of the Fall from Eden and used this idea to think realistically about the challenges and opportunities of contemporary life, such as the burdens and joys of work, the dangers and opportunities of ambition, the role of property, profit and self-interest, and the protection of human dignity. I am currently working on a paper that provides a novel account of political founding by exploring its theological dimensions.

My work also explores this fruitful tension from a robustly political perspective, one informed by ancient and modern philosophy. Can religion be useful to democracy and self-government? My scholarship raises this question – the social and political utility of religion – in the thought of the baron de Montesquieu and in Alexis de Tocqueville, two modern philosophers of the first rank.

In my spare time, I enjoy spending time in the great outdoors (skiing, biking, camping, swimming, walking) with my beautiful wife and three children. I also (rather inordinately) love collegiate sports, Wodehouse, and Tolkien.