Francis Joseph Beckwith, Ph.D., is a philosopher who teaches, publishes, and speaks on a variety of topics and issues in ethics, law, politics, and religion. He is currently professor of philosophy & church-state studies at Baylor University, where he also serves as associate director of the graduate program in philosophy and affiliate professor of political science.
He is the author of over 100 academic articles, book chapters, reference entries, and reviews. Among his more than one dozen books are Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice (Cambridge University Press, 2007), Politics for Christians: Statecraft as Soulcraft (IVP, 2010), and Taking Rites Seriously: Law, Politics, and the Reasonableness of Faith (Cambridge University Press, 2015), winner of the American Academy of Religion’s prestigious 2016 Book Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in Constructive-Reflective Studies. His most recent book is Never Doubt Thomas: The Catholic Aquinas as Evangelical and Protestant (Baylor University Press, 2019). A graduate of the Washington University School of Law in St. Louis (M.J.S.) and Fordham University—where he earned the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in philosophy—Dr. Beckwith has held visiting appointments at the University of Colorado, Boulder (2016-17 Visiting Professor of Conservative Thought & Policy), the University of Notre Dame (2008-9 Mary Ann Remick Senior Visiting Fellow in the Center for Ethics & Culture), and Princeton University (2002-3 Visiting Research Fellow in the James Madison Program).
