Mark Tooley

Mark Tooley is IRD’s president and editor of IRD’s foreign policy and national security journal, Providence. Prior to joining the IRD in 1994, Mark worked eight years for the Central Intelligence Agency. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and is a native of Arlington, Virginia. He is the author of Taking Back The United Methodist Church, published in 2008; Methodism and Politics in the 20th Century, published in 2012; and The Peace That Almost Was: The Forgotten Story of the 1861 Washington Peace Conference and the Final Attempt to Avert the Civil War, published in 2015.

Follow Mark on Twitter: @markdtooley

All Author Content

Author Articles

Author Podcasts

Author Videos

National Depravity & Divine Judgment

The Captain is a German WWII film about the spiral of personal and national depravity. Specifically, it’s about war criminal…

Putin and American Christianity
Putin and American Christianity

Putin, like the czars and boyars of old Russia, is a kleptocrat and tyrant who torments his opponents, sometimes murders them, represses voices of dissent, exploits religion, shamelessly deploys propaganda, presides over a labyrinth of espionage and manipulation, and warily views the world as vicious and zero-sum.

Yoder
Yoder, Sex Abuse, and War

Recently, the legacy of John Howard Yoder has come under scrutiny in light of his prolific sexual misconduct. Mark Tooley argues that these revelations further demonstrate that Yoder twisted his theology to suit his lifestyle.

Macron, De Gaulle, America, and France
Macron, De Gaulle, America, and France

Headlines stressed French President Macron’s purportedly implied critique of Trump in his address to the United States Congress last week. But more significant is its continuity with the historical American-French friendship, however sometimes bumpy. Macron noted his speech was on the fifty-eighth anniversary of his predecessor President Charles de Gaulle’s 1960 address to the US Congress.

Part 1: Protestant Roots of US Foreign Policy Divisions Michael Doran Mark Tooley FDR Teddy
Part 1: Protestant Roots of US Foreign Policy Divisions

The foreign policies of Teddy Roosevelt and his distant cousin Franklin D. Roosevelt represent an intersection between two different Protestant worldviews.

Loser America?

Jesuit priest and author Thomas Reese wrote a Religion News Service column critical of the US missile strikes on Syria’s…

“Dragon Lady” & “Mother of the Nation”

Anna Chennault and Winnie Mandela, two formidable women who represented some of the last century’s great international conflicts, have died.

Entebbe & Hedy Lamarr

“Seven Days at Entebbe” spiritually fails because it doesn’t fully acknowledge the necessity and justice of Entebbe, instead seeking moral equivalence amid banalities about peacemaking. “Bombshell: The Hedy Lamarr Story” is more inspirational.

Bonhoeffer’s Protector

German theologian and anti-Nazi martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer is justifiably celebrated for his brilliance and devotion unto death. But there is…

Battle Hymn of Responsibility
Battle Hymn of Responsibility

Christian clergymen of today typically prefer to disparage power and prestige as demonic ensnarements that Jesus shunned when offered. But Jesus exemplifies not the rejection of power per se but rather a godly deployment of it.

 ⏰ Sponsor a student for Christianity & National Security 2024

Providence's biggest event of the year takes place the final Thursday and Friday of each October, attracting close to 100 students and professors from around the country to spend two days hearing lectures and discussing the intersection of Christian ethics and foreign policy. For $300, Providence can afford to feed and house a student flying in from California, Texas, and other parts of the country for the conference. Christianity & National Security is unique; there is no other such event examining national security in light of Just War Theory and realist ethics in the Christian tradition. Please consider making a donation to allow us to continue hosting Christianity & National Security.

Christianity & National Security 2023

Sponsor a student