Providence: A Journal of Christianity & American Foreign Policy is hosting this groundbreaking two-day conference on essential historic Christian teaching about God’s purpose for government, starting with its vocation for security and public order. The conference will include leading scholars and practitioners of political theology and national security. They will address issues such as Just War teaching, nuclear weapons, Reinhold Niebuhr, Christian Realism, nationalism, international human rights, American Exceptionalism, torture, and terrorism. This event is open to all but is especially aimed at Christian young people who are graduate students or early career. Event includes two lunches and two breakfasts. Scholarships are available to students, military and clergy.
November 1st & 2nd 2019
Washington D.C.
Speakers
Marc LiVecche
Managing editor of Providence and Scholar of Christian Ethics, War, & Peace at the Institute on Religion and Democracy
Marc LiVecche completed doctoral studies at the University of Chicago, dissertation: With Malice Toward None: The Moral Ground for Killing in War. Currently he is a Fellow at Christ Church College, Oxford University.
Thomas Farr
President, Religious Freedom Institute
Thomas F. Farr is president of the Religious Freedom Institute, an NGO committed to achieving worldwide acceptance of religious liberty. He is also a senior fellow at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion and at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, New Jersey. After a distinguished career in the U.S. Army and the Foreign Service, Farr served as the first director of the U.S. State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom from 1999 to 2003.
Travis Wussow
Serves as the Vice President for Public Policy and General Counsel for the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission.
Travis led the ERLC’s first international office located in the Middle East prior to joining the Washington DC office. He received a B.B.A. in Finance from The University of Texas at Austin and a J.D. from The University of Texas School of Law.
Dr. Joshua W. Walker
A recent contributor to Providence
Dr. Joshua W. Walker served as the Global Head of Strategic Initiatives and Japan in the Office of the President at Eurasia Group, the world’s leading political risk consultancy. He was recently announced as the incoming President of the Japan Society, NYC.
Keith Pavlischek
Military affairs expert with focus on just war theory and ethics of war
Keith Pavlischek is a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel with Iraq and Afghanistan service, author of John Courtney Murray and the Dilemma of Religious Toleration.
Daniel Strand
Professor of Ethics and expert in Political Theory
Daniel Strand is a contributing Editor to Providence.
Emilie Kao
Director of the Richard and Helen DeVos Center for Religion & Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation
Emilie Kao was formerly with U.S. State Department and The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty.
Mary Habeck
Adjunct professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced & International Studies
Mary Habeck held appointment with the National Security Council and served as associate professor of history at Yale University.
Matthew Kroenig
Associate Professor in Department of Government and Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University and Senior Fellow in Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security at The Atlantic Council
Matthew Kroenig is the author or editor of six books, including the forthcoming, The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy (Oxford University Press). His articles have appeared in many publications, including: American Political Science Review, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, International Organization, The Wall Street Journal, & The Washington Post.
Faith McDonnell
Director of Religious Liberty Programs and of the Church Alliance for a New Sudan
Faith McDonnell writes and speaks on the subject of the persecuted church and has organized rallies and vigils for Sudan in front of the White House, the State Department, the Canadian Embassy, and the Sudanese Embassy. She has drafted legislation on religious persecution for the Episcopal Church and for the United States Congress. In June 2007, her book, Girl Soldier: A Story of Hope for Northern Uganda’s Children, was published by Chosen Books, a division of Baker Publishing Group.
Paul Miller
Professor of the Practice and Concentration Chair for Global Politics and Security at Georgetown University School of Foreign Service.
Paul Miller was formerly Associate Director at the University of Texas Clements Center for National Security. His research focuses on grand strategy, U.S. national security policy, the intelligence community, stability operations, just war, and related issues. Currently, he is working on books on the war in Afghanistan and on the history of the just war tradition, and another writing project on religion and American nationalism.
Dr. Scott Redd
Dr. Scott Redd is the president and an associate professor of Old Testament at the Washington, D.C., campus of Reformed Theological Seminary.
Dr. Redd's interests include literary approaches to the Bible, linguistics and the biblical languages, ancient Near Eastern backgrounds to Scripture, and Old Testament theology. He cares deeply about the teaching of Scripture and its application to all situations in life, particularly in the context of a learning and worshiping community. Due to this interest, he continually finds himself drawn to the learning community of the seminary as well as that of the church.
Joseph Capizzi
Ordinary Professor of Moral Theology/Ethics at Catholic University of America
Joseph E. Capizzi teaches social and political theology, including peace and war, citizenship, political authority, and Augustinian theology, just war theory, bioethics, the history of moral theology, and political liberalism. He is the Executive Director of the Institute for Human Ecology at Catholic University.
Nicole Bibbins Sedaca
Professor in the Practice of International Affairs at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service
Nicole Bibbins Sedaca served for ten years in the United States Department of State, working on democracy promotion, human rights, human trafficking, religious freedom, refugees, and counterterrorism. She later opened and directed the International Republican Institute’s local governance program in Ecuador. She’s board chair for International Justice Mission, a non-governmental organization fighting human trafficking and violence against the poor.
Matthew Anderson
Assistant Teaching Professor in Islamic Studies at Georgetown University
Matthew Anderson is an ordained Anglican clergyman and former Washington, DC pastor who has taught and studied about Islam in Jordan and Egypt. He worked with the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding and the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, serving as a co-editor for the Religious Freedom Research Project's 2014 volume, "Islam and Religious Freedom: A Sourcebook of Scriptural, Theological, and Legal Texts."
Chaplain (Colonel) Timothy Mallard
Command Chaplain, U.S. Army Europe
Colonel Mallard leads theater-level religious support supervision for the 100,000 U.S. Army Soldiers, Families, and DA Civilians in the 53 countries of the European area of operations. He has served as a U.S. Army chaplain since 1988. He is also Adjunct Professor of Christian Ministry and Biblical Theology at Regent University School of Divinity in Virginia Beach.
Nicholas Dujmovic
Assistant Professor of Politics at Catholic University of America
Nicholas Dujmovic directs Catholic University’s program in intelligence studies. He served at the Central Intelligence Agency 26 years and 14 years in the United States Coast Guard. Currently he teaches three courses in intelligence. At the CIA he analyzed the USSR and East Europe, and later was a speechwriter for the Director of Central Intelligence, editor of the President’s Daily Brief, and a manager of analysts working on Southeast Asia. He is a deacon of the Orthodox Church.
Eric Farnsworth
Vice President, Council on Americas, Washington, DC Office
Eric Farnsworth has led the Washington office of the Council of the Americas and the Americas Society since 2003. He previously worked at the U.S. State Department of State’s Western Hemisphere Affairs office, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, and as the senior advisor to the White House special envoy for the Americas. He is a frequent commentator in print and on television about Latin America.
Eric Patterson
Executive Vice President of the Religious Freedom Institute in Washington, DC
Eric Patterson is a scholar-at-large at Regent University in Virginia Beach, VA where he was previously dean of the Robertson School of Government. Patterson’s expertise on just war thinking is informed by time at the U.S. State Department, the Air National Guard, and as a White House Fellow. The author or editor of 14 books, his most recent is Just American Wars: Ethical Dilemmas in U.S. Military History (2019).
Schedule: Day 1
| Time | Speaker | Talk |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00am | Continental breakfast available in ballroom | |
| 9:20am | Mark Tooley | Welcome |
| 9:30am | Eric Patterson | Just War & America’s Wars |
| 10:00am | Eric Farnsworth | Interview with Brazil’s Ambassador |
| 10:30am | Thomas Farr | Theology of Religious Liberty |
| 11:00am | Mary Habeck | Morality & American Power |
| 11:30am | Scott Redd | Reformed Theology & State |
| 12:00pm | Lunch | |
| 1:00pm | Matthew Kroenig | Morality & Nuclear Weapons |
| 1:30pm | Travis Wussow | Southern Baptists & World |
| 2:00pm | Paul Miller | Nationalism, Internationalism, and Liberal Order |
| 2:30pm | Nicole Bibbins Seda | Christianity & Democracy |
| 3:00pm | Nicholas Dujimovic | Intelligence & Christian Ethics |
| 3:30pm | Joshua Walker | Geopolitics of US Grand Strategy in the GZero World |
| 4:00pm | Wrap-up Panel | |
| 5:00pm | Adjourn | |
| 6:30pm | Reception & Book Party at IRD office, 1023 15 St NW |
Schedule: Day 2
| Time | Speaker | Talk |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00am | Continental breakfast available in ballroom | |
| 9:30am | Keith Pavlischek | Just War’s Critics |
| 10:00am | Emilie Kao | Sex, Gender & International Human Rights |
| 10:30am | Timothy Mallard | Dietrich Bonhoeffer |
| 11:00am | Matthew Anderson | Christians in Egypt |
| 11:30am | Lunch | |
| 12:30pm | Joe Capizzi | Catholic Teaching & Statecraft |
| 1:00pm | Daniel Strand | Christian Realism |
| 1:30pm | Marc LiVecche | Reinhold Niebuhr & Paul Ramsey |
| 2:00pm | Faith McDonnell | Theology of Christian Advocacy |
| 2:30pm | Wrap-up Panel | |
| 3:30pm | Adjourn |
