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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My Lai Thompson
Horror & Heroism in 1968: 50 Years After My Lai

My Lai is rightly associated with disgrace, abhorrence, and sorrow. But because of the actions of a few brave men who stood against their own, My Lai ought also to be associated with courage, decency, and love.

15:17 to Paris
15:17 to Paris: A Bad Review of an Incredible Story

Clint Eastwood’s film about the incredible acts of heroism performed by Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler, and Alek Skarlatos largely fails as a cinematic experience. But the story he tells remains an extraordinary tale about courage and God’s leading.

First to Fight Back: A Review of 12 Strong

They were the first boots on the ground in the War on Terror. Their footprints were horse hooves.

Never Surrender: Movie Review of Dunkirk
Never Surrender: Review of Dunkirk

The historic event grounding Christopher Nolan’s Dunkirk involved a military crisis that was, in its beginning, as dark, desperate, and seemingly hopeless as it was extraordinary, full of heroism, and even miraculous in its conclusion. Whether his film captures any of that sufficiently is an open question.

The Blood-dimmed Tide is Loosed: The Bolshevik Revolution a Century On

100 years ago the Bolshevik Revolution convulsed Russia and changed the world. It was a moral, economic, and cultural horror. It was also a warning.

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,…

Six Days of War: An Interview with Michael Oren

50 years ago, one war lasting approximately 132 hours changed the Middle East. Forever.

Marc LiVecche Providence National Security Conference
On Our National Security Conference & An Upcoming Event

By all accounts, the Providence Christianity and National Security conference was a great success. Providence will also be hosting another exciting event.

Jim Mattis
New Rules of Engagement Help the Battle

Two changes to how we fight will allow US and coalition forces to fight both justly and to win

Michael Cromartie Speech at Providence Launch Event
Mike’s Mandate: Augustinian Sensibility

From the Newsletter: Michael Cromartie’s vision for Providence continues