John Locke

Christian Realism & Nationalism

Mark Tooley shares an engaging conversation with Rebeccah Heinrichs, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. Heinrichs covers a wide…

Five Lessons during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Five Lessons during the COVID-19 Pandemic

While quarantined with my family during the COVID-19 pandemic, the following five lessons with international affairs applications have come into focus.

What Robert Kagan Gets Wrong about Liberalism and Authoritarianism
What Robert Kagan Gets Wrong about Liberalism and Authoritarianism

Robert Kagan is correct that there are political movements that oppose neoliberal and neoconservative universalism. Authoritarianism is one of them. So, too, is Tocquevillian liberalism.

A Christian Case for Humanitarian Intervention
A Christian Case for Humanitarian Intervention

In the ceaseless struggle between civilization and barbarism, America has tipped the scales toward civilization, toward freedom and justice. In many ways, it has organized its national life—its economic, military, and moral resources—toward this end. Are we still up to the task?

The Debt Christian Foreign Policy Owes Thomas Aquinas
The Debt Christian Foreign Policy Owes Thomas Aquinas

St. Thomas Aquinas’ ideas about just war still affect how Americans feel about wars, including World War II and the Persian Gulf War.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte
Rodrigo Duterte and Heaven’s Justice

With Duterte, many felt heaven’s justice had come, wielding (symbolically and literally) the sword entrusted to government against evildoers. And despite international criticism, the Filipino people widely approve of the Duterte way. When offered the choice between vigilante justice and no justice at all, a downtrodden people will choose the former every time.

Book Review Samuel Moyn Christian Human Rights
The Secret History of a Popular Idea

Samuel Moyn’s Christian Human Rights argues that human rights should not be associated exclusively with the secular liberal left and liberal politics when the Christian right was historically involved with this project.

Susannah Black & Richard Dreyfuss: A Theopolitical Embroilment

The first of a five-part epistolary exchange between the actor Richard Dreyfuss and Providence associate editor Susannah Black exploring such issues as the potential of civics education to combat the appeal of groups like ISIS, the place of religion in public life, and the roots of the ideas of the American founding.

Marrakesh Declaration
The Troubled Conscience of Islam

Last month about 300 muftis, theologians, and scholars held a conference in Marrakesh, Morocco to address the problem of violence in Islamic states. The result is the Marrakesh Declaration, a 750-word document calling on Muslim countries to guarantee “full protection for the rights and liberties to all religious groups” and “confront all forms of religious bigotry.” Yet the crisis in modern Islam is that its leaders still steadfastly refuse to confront their violent past.

 ⏰ 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