Pruis Rule of Law Lecture

  • Thursday, December 6, 2018
  • 6:00 PM–7:30 PM

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The Pruis Rule of Law Lecture series has been sponsored by the Henry Institute at Calvin since 2010, and features speakers who are researching issues related to the rule of law or who have personally experienced issues surrounding the development of the rule of law in countries around the globe.

The 2018/19 Pruis Rule of Law Lecture will feature Patrick Deneen, author of the current bestselling book on democracy, law and Christian faith entitled Why Liberalism Failed, speaking on Liberalism is Not Free: The Myth of Religious Liberty. According to Deneen, Christians are apt today to invoke "religious liberty" as a defense against an increasingly hostile secular state and academy. The appeal to these liberties assert the centrality of religion as a founding right in the liberal order. He believes this appeal is understandable in the current context, but may be ultimately misguided,since the liberal order arose not to protect such freedoms, but ultimately to control the churches.

Deneen holds a B.A. in English literature and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Rutgers University. Serving as a Professor of Political Science at Notre Dame since 2012, where he holds the David A. Potenziani Memorial College Chair of Constitutional Studies, Deneen previously worked as Speechwriter and Special Advisor to the Director of the United States Information Agency, was an Assistant Professor of Government at Princeton University, and held the Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis Associate Professor of Government post at Georgetown University.  

Deneen's teaching and writing interests focus on the history of political thought, American political thought, religion and politics, and literature and politics. His current work focuses on the growing conflict between, and potential new alignments arising out of, a globalist meritocratic elite and populist nationalists and his published books include:

  • Why Liberalism Failed  (Yale University Press, 2018)
  • Conserving America? Thoughts on Present Discontents  (St. Augustine Press, 2016)
  • The Democratic Soul (ed.),  (University Press of Kentucky, 2011)
  •  Redeeming Democracy in America (ed.),  (University Press of Kansas, 2011)
  • Democratic Faith  (Princeton University Press, 2005)
  • Democracy's Literature (ed.),  (Rowman and Littlefield, 2005)
  • The Odyssey of Political Theory  (Rowman and Littlefield, 2000)