Eric Patterson

Eric Patterson, Ph.D., is President & CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation in Washington, DC and scholar-at-large and past dean of the Robertson School of Government at Regent University. His expertise, informed by time at the US Department of State and in the military, is on just war thinking, the nexus of religion and national security, and Christian Realism. He is the author or editor of 22 books, including Just American Wars, Politics in a Religious World, and Ending Wars Well.

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Jonathan Mayhew: Colonial Pastor against Tyranny
Jonathan Mayhew: Colonial Pastor against Tyranny

Today would be the 300th birthday of colonial pastor Jonathan Mayhew—a pastor, citizen, and prophet who articulated a rationale for self-defense by British citizens in North America.

Eight Principles for Christian Realism
Eight Principles for Christian Realism

Followers of Christian realism generally share these eight assumptions, which can be found in the works of Reinhold Niebuhr, John C. Bennett, Jean Bethke Elshtain, and others.

Why We Need Religious Freedom for All: An Appeal and Invitation to the Church | Review of Luke Goodrich’s Free to Believe – The Battle Over Religious Liberty in America
Why We Need Religious Freedom for All: An Appeal and Invitation to the Church | Review of Luke Goodrich’s Free to Believe

Luke Goodrich’s “Free to Believe – The Battle Over Religious Liberty in America” is desperately needed because religious freedom is poorly understood and under assault across America. If it is lost here, can it thrive anywhere else?

Violence against Nigerian Christians Risks Destabilizing West Africa
Violence against Nigerian Christians Risks Destabilizing West Africa

The violence against Nigerian Christians has recently entered a new, deadlier phase. Unless conditions on the ground change, Nigeria’s Middle Belt Christians face death or expulsion in many areas.

New Christian Realism from the Amsterdam School: Review of Simon Polinder & Govert Bujis’ Christian Faith, Philosophy, and International Relations: The Lamb and the Wolf
New Christian Realism from the Amsterdam School: Review of Simon Polinder & Govert Bujis’ Christian Faith, Philosophy, and International Relations: The Lamb and the Wolf

Simon Polinder and Govert Bujis advance a new school of Christian international relations thinking that they call “The Amsterdam School.” Time will tell if this distinctively Neo-Calvinist international relations approach is possible.

Evangelicals’ Foreign Policy Views Are More Diverse than Academic Portrayals | Book Review of Timothy D. Padgett’s Swords and Plowshares
Evangelicals’ Views on Foreign Policy and War Are More Diverse than Many Assume | Review of Padgett’s Swords and Plowshares

Modern authors tend to view American evangelicals as a monolithic assembly, rarely describing the varying facets of their beliefs. In his book “Swords and Plowshares: American Evangelicals on War, 1937–1973,” Timothy D. Padgett attempts to dispel this misconception.

The Treaty of Versailles and Religious Freedom
The Treaty of Versailles and Religious Freedom

The Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, was signed one hundred years ago this week. What is often forgotten is that this treaty—or better yet, set of treaties—did recognize and advance, albeit in a limited way, the religious freedom of average citizens.

Donald Trump 2019 State of the Union Inspired
Trump’s State of the Union Address Inspired

In his State of the Union Address, Donald Trump promoted a vision of American leadership for the twenty-first century.

Pompeo Criticizes Obama’s Middle East Policy, Explains New Era Has Begun
Pompeo’s Cairo Speech Criticizes Obama’s Middle East Policy, Explains New Era Has Begun

Observers expected Pompeo’s Cairo visit to defend President Trump’s drawdown in Syria. Instead, Pompeo systematically dismantled the failed Middle East policies of the Obama administration.

Europe Populism Nationalism Threat
Does Europe Face a Populism, Nationalism Threat?

There are at least two powerful nationalisms in Europe that are chauvinistic, appropriate religious institutions and identities, and are led by powerful leaders.

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