Robert Joustra

Robert J. Joustra is an associate professor of politics and international studies at Redeemer University, outside Toronto, Canada. He is an editorial fellow with The Review of Faith & International Affairs and author and editor of several books, including most recently Power Politics and Moral Order: Three Generations of Christian Realism (Cascade, 2022). He tweets sporadically @rjoustra.

All Author Content

Author Articles

Author Podcasts

Author Videos

Herbert Butterfield’s Antinuclear Christian Realism

Herbert Butterfield, despite having been one of the world’s foremost Christian Realists, was deeply conflicted on nuclear arms.

The Unhappy Narcissism of Missionary Modernity: A Review of Jocelyn Cesari’s We God’s People
The Unhappy Narcissism of Missionary Modernity: A Review of Jocelyn Cesari’s We God’s People

Jocelyn Cesari’s latest—”We God’s People: Christianity, Islam and Hinduism in the World of Nations”—will take readers’ full attention. She does not suffer fools, either in style or substance, but those who come with a bit of background and an honest and sincere interest are not likely to find many her match.

In Defense of Christian Realism
In Defense of Christian Realism

Eric Patterson and Robert Joustra discuss their recently released book, “Power Politics and Moral Order,” and defend the necessity of a Christian realist framework with which to pursue political ends.

Solving the Nuclear Puzzle: A Review of Lieber and Press’ The Myth of the Nuclear Revolution
Solving the Nuclear Puzzle: A Review of Lieber and Press’ The Myth of the Nuclear Revolution

Keir A. Lieber and Daryl G. Press argue in “The Myth of the Nuclear Revolution” that the Atomic Age isn’t too different from other ages. Geopolitical rivalries, arms races, military doctrines, stalemates, and much else are still the same.

Was Abraham Kuyper a Christian Realist?

Abraham Kuyper unquestionably had his failures and his blind spots. But he also labored to find balanced and faithful Christian realist positions on international affairs. We would do well to imitate those principles today.

Abraham Kuyper Among the Nations
Abraham Kuyper among the Nations

We have an introductory, if provisional, picture of anti-Revolutionary foreign policy and Abraham Kuyper’s platform coming into the highest political office in the Netherlands in the early twentieth century. How did this platform fair? What “necessary adjustments” (as Kuyper called them) did he need to make between his Calvinistic international theory and the actual work of foreign policy?

Abraham Kuyper Overseas Manifesto
Abraham Kuyper’s Overseas Manifesto

While much has been made of Abraham Kuyper’s Calvinistic contributions to domestic political theory, very little (in English) has been said of his foreign policy.

Jealous Gods: Review of Jonathan Fox’s Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me
Jealous Gods: Review of Jonathan Fox’s Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me

Jealousy, love, and punishment are not bad ways of understanding the rise in both government-based religious discrimination and societal religious discrimination, as Jonathan Fox shows in his newest book, Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me: Why Governments Discriminate against Religious Minorities.

“Be Joyful, the Shield and Protection of our Fatherland”: Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy in the Age of St. Seraphim - Book Review Dmitry Adamsky
“Be Joyful, the Shield and Protection of our Fatherland”: Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy in the Age of St. Seraphim

Dmitry Adamsky’s outstanding Russian Nuclear Orthodoxy explains the religious imagination that has swept not only through the Russian nuclear arsenal since 1991, but also into all levels of the country’s nuclear tirade, military forces, and even Russian foreign policy more broadly.

What Can American Conservatives Republicans Learn from Canada? A Review of Stephen Harper’s Right Here, Right Now: Politics and Leadership in an Age of Disruption
What Can American Conservatives Learn from Canada? A Review of Stephen Harper’s Right Here, Right Now: Politics and Leadership in an Age of Disruption

In Right Here, Right Now, Stephen Harper, Canada’s former prime minister, explains how his Canadian conservatism bridges the gap between populism and the establishment.