James Diddams

James Diddams is the Managing Editor of Providence: A Journal of Christianity & American Foreign Policy. His writing has been featured in Christianity Today, First ThingsProvidenceMere Orthodoxy, Law & Liberty, The American Conservative and the Acton Institute’s Religion and Liberty Online. He graduated from Wheaton College (IL) and his website is jamesdiddams.org.

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Episode 87 | Of American Popes and American Power in a Multipolar Age

Editors James Diddams, Marc LiVecche, Mark Tooley and Robert Nicholson discuss Pope Francis’ legacy, Trump’s recent trip to the Middle East, and the idea of “spheres of influence” in US grand strategy

Foreign Policy Provcast, Episode 86 | Providence Magazine’s 10th Anniversary

Providence editors Mark Tooley, Marc LiVecche, James Diddams, and Robert Nicholson discuss the past and future of Providence as the magazine’s 10th anniversary comes up

Civilizational Ethics Precede National Self-Interest

Calls for America to behave more self-interestedly belie that the definition of national self-interest always depends on a nation’s conception of the Good

Legitimate Internationalism vs. Imperialism in Ukraine

America is best understood as a missionary civilization, not an imperial one

The Holocaust, Hamas, and a Post-Christian West

The decline of Christian culture in the West has implications beyond Christians themselves

Economists as the High Priests of Liberalism

We have to be far, far more critical of which measurements we can take as proxies for a healthy nation. Economists can’t make these distinctions and libertarians don’t want to.

On the “Medieval Question” 

American conservatives have a paradoxical relationship with the Middle Ages – a relationship which today has reemerged as a fascinating cleavage on the American right.

Cities of Men and Architecture of God: A Review of Philip Bess’ Till We Have Built Jerusalem
Cities of Men and Architecture of God: A Review of Philip Bess’ Till We Have Built Jerusalem

Till We Have Built Jerusalem is a challenging book for daring to discuss the connection between ethics and aesthetic theories of architecture and urban design, what Bess calls our “built environment.”

Red and Blue Christian Disunity: A Review of Yancey and Quosigk’s One Faith No Longer
Red and Blue Christian Disunity: A Review of Yancey and Quosigk’s One Faith No Longer

George Yancey and Ashlee Quosigk argue in “One Faith No Longer: The Transformation of Christianity in Red and Blue America” that the gulf between progressive and conservative Christianity is so great they are no longer the same faith.

Either Meritocracy or the Common Good, Not Both: A Review of Michael Sandel’s The Tyranny of Merit
Either Meritocracy or the Common Good, Not Both: A Review of Michael Sandel’s The Tyranny of Merit

In The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good? Michael Sandel eloquently argues a sobering idea: America can pursue meritocracy or the common good, but not both.