Areas of Specialization and Research

I work in political theory, democratic theory, and moral theory, and in particular, in the connections between them. I also work on the relationships among theology, political theory, and political commitments. Additionally: environmental political theory and ecotheology; the moral theory of liberalism, communitarianism, and socialism; peace and violence; justice, international relations and foreign policy in respect to moral theory; and virtue, or aretaic ethics, in respect to the above. 

Papers Presented

"Shareholder Activism and Environmental Racism" at Johns Hopkins University , 1984.

"A Critique of Communitarianism: When Baptists Go Bad" at Baylor University , 1999.

"Freedom Beyond Berlin: A Communitarian View of Liberty" at Southern Utah University , April 2001.

"The Strong Poet or the Voice in the Conversation of Humankind: Poiesis and Morality in Richard Rorty and Michael Oakeshott" at UVSC, 2001.

"On Mormonism and Americanism: An Essay" at UVSC, 2001.

"Epistemic Virtue: On the Nature of Truth" at UVSC, 2001.

"An Anabaptist Perspective on Violence and Religion" at UVSC' s Annual Religion and the Humanities Conference, October 2001. 

"Theistic Evolution: Christian Reflection on Darwinian Science" at UVSC, 2002.

"On Postmodern Patriotism: Can Liberals be Patriotic?" at UVSC' s fourth Annual Conference by the Faculty, September 2002.

"Can Liberal Theory be Radical?" at the Society of Radical Philosophy, Brown University , November 2002.

"Setting the Captives Free: Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Intolerable Offense of Slavery" at UVSC’s annual Martin Luther King, Jr., Commemoration, 2003.

"The Tragedy of Brigham City : How a Film about Morality Becomes Immoral," presented to the Association of Mormon Letter Conference, Feb.21, 2003.

"On Just War Theory and " at UVSC, 2003.

"What to do about Saddam" at UVSC, 2003. 

"The Politics of Jesus" at Salt Lake Theological Seminary, 2003 (and at a UVSC Philosophy Colloquium, Fall 2003).

"Hobbes: Lessons from the First Great English Philosopher," for UVSC’s "Great Thinkers" lecture series, Fall 2003.

"Political Ecology and the Question of Sustainability: The Need for Democracy and Civil Society" at the annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics, George Washington University , July 2004.

"Authority and Rule of Law as Contingent Moral Practices in Michael Oakeshott's Civil Association," at the sixth Annual Conference by the Faculty at UVSC, September 2004.

"When Soldiers Aren't Heroes" at the Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities co-sponsored by the Asia Pacific Institute of Peking University, the East-West Council for Education, and the University of Louisville Center for Sustainable Urban Neighborhoods; January 2005.

"Democratic Civil Society Under the Burden of Empire" at the annual meeting of the Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics; Central European University, Budapest, Hungary; June, 2005.

"Loving Nature and Imaging God: A Sketch for a Political Theology of Nature" at the Salt Lake Theological Seminary; July, 2006.

“Beyond Rawls, Habermas, and Dryzek: Radical and Green Democratic Theory,” at the annual meeting of the Radical Philosophy Association; Omaha , November 4, 2006.

"Democracy, Equality, and Economy: Necessary Trends” the annual meeting of the Society of the Advancement of Socio-Economics; Copenhagen , , June 30, 2007.  

Publications

The article on "Anabaptism" in the Encyclopedia of Religion and Violence, Gabriel Palmer-Fernandez, ed. ( New York : Routledge, 2004).

"On Postmodern Patriotism" and "Political Ecology and the Question of Sustainability" above, have been published by the Center for the Study of Ethics at UVSC, as will be "Authority and Rule of Law as Contingent Moral Practices in Michael Oakeshott's Civil Association."

"When Soldiers Aren't Heroes" is published in the Fall 2004 issue of Teaching Ethics.

Living Ethics, co-edited with Christine Weigel ( Belmont, CA : Thomson Wadsworth, 2006). Custom edition for UVSC Ethics and Values courses (national edition to be published in 2008). 

The Democratic Theory of Michael Oakeshott: Discourse, Contingency, and “the Politics of Conversation” will be published by Imprint Academic in 2009.  

Organization Memberships

 The American Philosophical Association

 The American Political Science Association

 The Western Political Science Association

 The Radical Philosophy Association

 Concerned Philosophers for Peace

 The Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics

 The International Philosophers for the Prevention of Omnicide

 The Utah Academy of Arts, Sciences, and Letters

 The Society for Ethics Across the Curriculum

Courses Taught at UVSC

 PHIL2050: Ethics and Values

 PHIL1610: Western Religions

 PHIL 3700: Social and Political Philosophy

 PHIL450R: The Philosophy of Liberalism

 PHIL450R: Contemporary Political Philosophy

 PHIL 451R: Virtue Ethics

 PHIL 3510: Business and Professional Ethics

 PHIL 366R: Introduction to Christian Theology

 PHIL 3530: Environmental Ethics

 PHIL 3540: Christian Ethics

 PHIL 450R: The World After 9/11

 PHIL 450R: Senior Ethics Seminar: Ethics Bowl

 PHIL 460R: Democratic Theory

 PHIL 492R: Christianity and Politics

 PJST 3020: The Ethics of War and Peace 

Other Academic Work

Director, and Student Advisor, Peace and Justice Studies Program
 
I serve on the following UVSC committees: 

The Executive Committee for the Center for the Study of Ethics

 The Martin Luther King, Jr., Commemoration Advisory Board

 The Religious Studies Committee