Marc LiVecche

Marc LiVecche is the McDonald Distinguished Scholar of Ethics, War, and Public Life at Providence. He is also a non-resident research fellow at the US Naval War College, in the College of Leadership and Ethics.

Marc completed doctoral studies, earning distinction, at the University of Chicago, where he worked under the supervision of the political theorist and public intellectual Jean Bethke Elshtain, until her death in August, 2013. His first book, The Good Kill: Just War & Moral Injury, was published in 2021 by Oxford University Press. Another project, Responsibility and Restraint: James Turner Johnson and the Just War Tradition, co-edited with Eric Patterson, was published by Stone Tower Press in the fall of 2020. Currently, he is finalizing Moral Horror: A Just War Defense of Hiroshima. Before all this academic stuff, Marc spent twelve years doing a variety of things in Central Europe—ranging from helping build sport and recreational leagues in post-communist communities, to working at a Christian study and research center, to leading seminars on history and ethics onsite at the former Auschwitz-Birkenau Nazi concentration camp in Poland. This latter experience allowed him to continue his undergraduate study of the Shoah; a process which rendered him entirely ill-suited for pacifism.

Marc lives in Annapolis, Maryland with his wife and children–and a marmota monax whistlepigging under the shed. He can be followed, or stalked, on twitter @mlivecche. Additional publications can be found at his Amazon author page.

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Marksism | Episode 1: R.R. Reno, Nuclear Weapons, and More
Marksism | Ep. 1: R.R. Reno, Nuclear Weapons, and More

In the first episode of what will be a weekly series, the three Providence editors—Mark Tooley (editor), Mark Melton (managing…

The Crucible of Hell: A Conversation with Saul David
The Crucible of Hell: A Conversation with Saul David

Writing about his experience in the Battle of Okinawa, US Marine Eugene Sledge reported that “men struggled and fought and…

V-E Day and the American Profession of Arms: A Conversation with Col. Mallard

On this V-E Day, Marc LiVecche connected with Col. Timothy Mallard, Command Chaplain for U.S. Army Europe, to discuss the…

Who Can Be Killed in War? A Conversation with Joseph Chapa on the Just War Tradition
Who Can Be Killed in War? A Conversation with Joseph Chapa on the Just War Tradition

To what degree are combatants in war morally liable to be killed, and to what degree are their adversaries morally permitted—or obligated—to kill them? To discuss this, Marc LiVecche sat down recently with Major Joseph Chapa.

Christian Soldiers as Peacemakers
Christian Soldiers as Peacemakers

Marc LiVecche—executive editor of Providence and the McDonald Visiting Scholar at the McDonald Centre for Theology, Ethics, & Public Life at Christ Church, Oxford University—discusses how Christian can use violence in the pursuit of peace following the just war tradition.

How Can American Christians Change the World?

Robert Nicholson and Marc Livecche discuss the unique opportunity presented to Christians in America, to whom much is given, much…

Marc LiVecche Lecture: “Jean Elshtain & 9/11”

The following lecture was recorded during Providence’s 2017 Christianity and National Security Conference. Marc LiVecche discusses his late doctoral supervisor,…