Affiliated Scholars

Dr. Spasimir Domaradzki

Affiliated Scholar
Lazarski University in Warsaw Poland

Spasimir Domaradzki is currently a lecturer of politics and international relations at the Lazarski University Validated Studies Program in cooperation with Great Britain’s Coventry University in Warsaw, Poland. Dr. Domaradzki earned his MA and PhD at the Faculty of International Relations at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. His scholarly interests include the relation between the state and the individual, the role of democracy in international relations as well as U.S., European and Polish foreign policies. Domaradzki has published a number of scholarly articles on the contemporary notion of human rights, American foreign policy, Polish foreign policy, historical policy in international relations, and the American political system. He was a Wilbur Fellow at the Russell Kirk Center and a fellow at the Dialogue Europe Center for Excellence of the St. Kliment Ohridski at Sofia University in Bulgaria. Dr. Domaradzki has delivered lectures and speeches in the United States, Great Britain, the Netherlands, Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria, Croatia, Italy and Ukraine.

Until October 2012, Dr. Domaradzki was associate professor at the Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, where he served as a vice dean of the Faculty of International Relations and head of the Interfaculty Center for Human Rights. He was project manager for the EU-funded project Internationalization of the Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University. Dr. Domaradzki was also an organizer for Security and Cooperation in Europe, election observer in Ukraine, and a member of Team Europe Poland with the Representation of the European Commission in Poland.

Dr. Jonathan Den Hartog

Affiliated Scholar
Northwestern College

Jonathan Den Hartog is an Associate Professor of History at Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minnesota, where he teaches courses in early American history and American
religious history. In 2012-13, he served as the Garwood Visiting Fellow at the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. He has a book on the Federalist Party forthcoming, and he has published several essays in edited volumes regarding the political outlooks of the founding generation, as well as journal articles, book reviews, and blog posts. He has received grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Gilder-Lehrman Institute of American History, the American Antiquarian Society, the University of Notre Dame, and Northwestern College. He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Notre Dame in 2006. Professor Den Hartog is married and lives with his family in the northern suburbs of Minneapolis.

Dr. Jonathan Yonan

Affiliated Scholar
Eastern University

Jonathan Yonan is Associate Professor of History and Dean of the Templeton Honors College at Eastern University. Before coming to Eastern, he taught at Temple, Villanova, Immaculata, and Oxford Universities, and taught high school English in suburban Philadelphia. Yonan earned his D. Phil. and M.St. in Theology, Ecclesiastical History from St. Cross College of the University of Oxford, and a B.A. from Gordon College.

His research focuses on mainly two fields: 18th Century Church History and the Philosophy of Education. His scholarship has appeared in edited volumes as well as The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, The Journal of the History of Sexuality, The Journal of Moravian History, among other periodicals.

Yonan is widely published in both the field of church history and the philosophy of education. He has lectured on these subjects in North America, Britain, Ireland, and Europe.

Dr. Matthew Rose

Affiliated Scholar
Villanova University

Matthew Rose is Arthur J. Ennis Fellow in the Humanities at Villanova University. Rose received his BA from Wabash College and his Ph. D. from the University of Chicago. He is the author of Ethics with Barth: God, Metaphysics, and Morals. Rose worked closely with Fr. Richard Neuhaus as an editorial assistant at First Things before beginning his academic career.

Dr. Zachary R. Calo

Affiliated Scholar
Valparaiso University

Zachary R. Calo is associate professor of law at the Valparaiso University School of Law. He previously practiced banking and commercial law in Washington, DC. He holds a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law, a BA and MA in History from The Johns Hopkins University, a PhD in U.S. History from the University of Pennsylvania, and is a Ph. candidate in Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. He has been a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution, the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, and the Institute for Humane Studies. He serves on the organizing committee of the AALS Law and Religion Section and is a member of the editorial board of the European Journal of Law and Religion and the Journal of Christian Legal Thought. His writing has appeared in such publications as the St. John’s Law Review, the Arizona State Law Journal, the Journal of Law and Religion, and the Journal of Catholic Social Thought. He is currently at work on two books: Rev. John A. Ryan: American Catholic Liberal and The Legal Thought of Richard Hooker.

Dr. Jan Banas

Affiliated Scholar
Catholic University in Ruzomberok, Slovakia

Jan Banas is lecturer in philosophy at Catholic University in Ruzomberok, Slovakia, where he also serves as vice-dean for undergraduate and graduate studies. Banas earned his M.A. degree in Philosophy and English Language at Comenius University in Bratislava (2000-2005). Parallel to his studies at Comenius University he participated in a Liberal Arts Program in The Society for Higher Learning in Bratislava (2000-2003). During his studies he took part in Socrates program and was a visiting student in History of Science at Regensburg University in Germany (2004). Banas has published several scholarly and newspaper articles, has translated a book on Thomas Aquinas, and is currently translating a book on Augustine. He teaches Philosophical Writing, the History of Political Philosophy, and seminars in Ethics and Mediaeval Philosophy. His scholarly interest lies in the study of the relation between Political Philosophy and Ethics, and the philosophy of Thomas Aquinas.

Dr. P.J. Hill

Distinguished Scholar
Wheaton College

P.J. Hill is professor emeritus of economics at Wheaton College at Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois. He received his B.S., Agricultural Economy, from Montana State University, and his Ph.D., Economics, from the University of Chicago. An economic historian by training, Hill has written on institutional change and the evolution of property rights. His book with Terry Anderson, The Not So Wild, Wild West, challenged many of the traditional theories of how the West was settled. Rather than a place of anarchy and violence, it was characterized by local groups forming to solve collective action problems.

Born and raised on a family ranch in eastern Montana, Hill has maintained an interest in cattle ranching while pursuing an academic career. He owns and operates a cattle ranch 35 miles west of Bozeman, and splits ranch work with research at the Property and Environment Research Center (PERC) where he is a senior fellow.

Dr. Thomas Hibbs

Distinguished Scholar
Baylor University

Thomas Hibbs is Dean of the Honors College and Distinguished Professor of Ethics & Culture at Baylor University, where he oversees a number of interdisciplinary programs. Hibbs also serves as a Faculty Mentor for the Lilly Graduate Fellows Program. Hibbs holds academic degrees from the University of Dallas and the University of Notre Dame. Prior to his tenure at Baylor, Hibbs was full professor and department chair in philosophy at Boston College (BC), where he taught for 13 years. At BC, he also served on the Steering Committee for BC’s Initiative for the Future of the Church and on the Sub-Committee on Catholic Sexual Teaching. Hibbs’s interdisciplinary work includes the fields of medieval philosophy, contemporary virtue ethics, and philosophy and popular culture. His popular course on Nihilism in American Culture was featured in a Boston Globe article. Hibbs has introduced texts by African-American authors (Douglass and DuBois) and female authors (Wollstonecraft, Woolf, and Flannery O’Connor) into core curriculum courses, and his graduate courses have been cross-listed in the departments of religion and political science.

Dr. Hibbs’ scholarly publications provide philosophical and theological reflections on virtue, law, and liberal education. His penetrating insights into and reviews of film, popular culture, and Higher Education are in widespread demand, appearing in such publications as Books and Culture, Christianity Today, First Things, New Atlantis, The Dallas Morning News, National Review, The Weekly Standard, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. His books include Virtue’s Splendor: Wisdom, Prudence, and the Human Good, Shows About Nothing: Nihilism in Popular Culture, Dialectic and Narrative in Aquinas: An Interpretation of the Summa Contra Gentiles, and Arts of Darkness: American Noir and the Quest for Redemption.

Dr. Vigen Guroian

Distinguished Scholar
University of Virginia

Vigen Guroian is professor of religious studies in Orthodox Christianity at the University of Virginia. He is Senior Fellow of the Center on Law and Religion of Emory University, Permanent Senior Fellow of the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal, and Senior Fellow of the Trinity Forum. Guroian received degrees from the University of Virginia and Drew University and has held teaching positions at Loyola College in Baltimore, Maryland, St. Nersess Armenian Seminary in New Rochelle, New York, and the Ecumenical Institute of Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary and University, where he was named Distingished Lecturer in Moral and Religious Education. A Master Gardner, Guroian’s theological reflections on culture, society, and politics are informed by the expression they give to Incarnation, eternal longing, and sensation. Author of hundreds of scholarly articles and lectures, his many books include The Fragrance of God, Inheriting Paradise, Tending the Heart of Virtue: How Classic Stories Awaken a Child’s Moral Imagination, Rallying the Really Human Things: Moral Imagination in Politics, Literature, and Everyday Life, Incarnate Love: Essays in Orthodox Ethics, and Ethics after Christendom: Toward an Ecclesial Christian Ethic.

John D. Basie, M.A., Ph.D.

Affiliated Scholar
Atlanta, Georgia

Dr. John D. Basie is an affiliated scholar of the John Jay Institute. His academic and professional interests are in citizenship theory and leadership development. Dr. Basie is particularly interested in the classical and Christian virtues and how they are inculcated through the education process. His academic background in psychology, philosophy, theology and politics and his integrated study of these disciplines have led him to grapple with the necessary educational context for the cultivation of the character virtues and citizenship values necessary for sustaining democratic institutions. Not limited to theoretical studies, Dr. Basie has been involved in pioneering para-academic leadership programs that are focused on character development and worldview formation, namely the Witherspoon Fellowship in Washington, D.C. and most recently the Lifeshape Foundation’s IMPACT 360 program. Currently, Dr. Basie is the Director at IMPACT 360, an academic gap-year program affiliated with the Atlanta-based Chick-fil-A, Inc. The program emphasizes character-based leadership and worldview education for college freshmen. He also serves as Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Union University in Jackson, Tennessee. Dr. Basie has authored articles on higher education in The Associate Reformed Presbyterian and SALVO magazine. He holds membership in the Evangelical Theological Society and the Society of Christian Philosophers. Dr. Basie was graduated from Erskine College with a bachelor’s degree in psychology and Christian education. He earned a master’s degree in philosophy and ethics at the Talbot School of Theology at Biola University and a doctor’s degree in church-state studies with an emphasis in religion and politics at Baylor University. He resides in the Greater Atlanta area with his wife, Marana, and their three children.

Joseph Loconte, M.A., Ph.D.

Affiliated Scholar
New York, New York

Dr. Joseph Loconte is an affiliated scholar of the John Jay Institute. His academic and professional interests are in the areas of religious freedom, religious human rights theory, and the relationship of religion, civil society and democracy. Dr. Loconte has been a frequent contributor to print and broadcast media. For 10 years he served as a monthly commentator for National Public Radio. In 2007 he hosted Britain and America, a weekly political program on the London-based 18 Doughty Street, the United Kingdom’s first internet-television program. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, The New Republic, The American Interest, National Review, and Books and Culture. His most recent book is The End of Illusions: Religious Leaders Confront Hitler’s Gathering Storm (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004). Dr. Loconte has testified before Congress on international human rights and served as a human rights expert for the 2005 Congressional Task Force on the United Nations, contributing to its final report, “American Interests and U.N. Reform.” He also has served as an advisor on human rights and U.N. reform to British MP Andrew Mitchell, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. From 2001-2003, he was an informal advisor to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Dr. Loconte is an associate professor of history at The King’s College in New York City, where he teaches courses on Western Civilization and U.S. Foreign Policy. In 2008, he was named a distinguished visiting professor at the School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University. Previously he served as a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. He also held the first chair in religion as the William E. Simon Fellow at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. Dr. Loconte was graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He earned his master’s degree in Christian history and theology from Wheaton College and his doctor’s degree in history at King’s College, the University of London. A native of Brooklyn, New York, he resides in Fredrick, MD.

Martin Luteran, M.Jur., M.Phil., D.Phil

Affiliated Scholar
Bratislava, Slovakia

Dr. Martin Luteran is an affiliated scholar of the John Jay Institute. A citizen of the Slovak Republic, Dr. Luteran’s scholarly interests and expertise are in moral and legal philosophy and particularly the idea of proportionality in international law and human rights. He is an educational entrepreneur in Slovakia and is the founding rector of the Collegium Anton Neuwirth, a residential study center for university students in the capital city of Bratislava. The Collegium is dedicated to interdisciplinary Christian cultural and western civilization studies. Of his vision for this work, Dr. Luteran says, “I have dreamed for a long time that education in the humanities and social sciences would be taken seriously in Slovakia.” He also founded and directs the Ladislav Hanus Fellowship, an academic fraternity of university students and young professionals in Bratislava. Dr. Luteran previously studied in the United States as a Witherspoon Fellow in Washington, D.C. After receiving his master’s degree in law at Comenius University in Bratislava, Dr. Luteran studied human rights, ethics, and jurisprudence with Professor John Finnis at Oxford University where he earned a second master’s and doctor’s degree in law at Lady Margaret Hall. Dr. Luteran has taught seminars on natural law and moral philosophy to high school and university students and worked as legal counsel to the Office of the National Council of the Slovak Republic. He is a contributor to the forthcoming book, Law and Outsiders: Norms, Processes and “Othering” in the 21st Century (Hart Publishing, 2011).

Ryan S. Messmore, M.T.S., M.Phil., D.Phil.

Affiliated Scholar
Washington, D.C.

Dr. Ryan Messmore is an affiliated scholar of the John Jay Institute. As a Christian theologian, Dr. Messmore’s scholarly interests and expertise are in the integration of faith and politics, religion, and law and Christianity and society studies. He is particularly interested in the theological implications of the Trinity for better understanding the nature of political authority and economics. Dr. Messmore is the William E. Simon Fellow in Religion and a Free Society at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C. At the Foundation his research and scholarship focuses on how religious commitments are brought to bear on political life to improve public discourse, foster civility and strengthen civil society. Dr. Messmore’s commentary and analysis have appeared in major newspapers such as The Washington Times and The Raleigh News and Observer, online venues such as Crosswalk.com and FOXNews.com and in national magazines such as First Things, Comment, and WORLD. He served as lead writer of a six-part, DVD-based curriculum designed for small groups, “Seek Social Justice: Transforming Lives in Need.” Previously, Dr. Messmore was founder and executive director of Trinity Forum Academy in Royal Oak, Maryland, where he designed and implemented a post-undergraduate fellowship program in theology and cultural studies. Dr. Messmore was graduated from Duke University with a bachelor’s degree in public policy and religion. Shortly thereafter he was a Witherspoon Fellow in Washington, D.C. Later he pursued master’s degrees in theology and Christian ethics from Duke Divinity School and Cambridge University. His doctor’s degree is in political theology from Oxford University. Dr. Messmore resides with his wife, Karin, and three children in Maryland.

Alexander Negrov, M.A., M.A., Ph.D.

Affiliated Scholar
St. Petersburg, Russia

Dr. Alexander Negrov is an affiliated scholar of the John Jay Institute. Dr. Negrov’s scholarly interests and expertise are in the history of Biblical hermeneutics, New Testament exegesis, and the cultural contextualization of the Bible - particularly in the areas of spiritual formation and leadership development. Dr. Negrov is especially interested in religious and cultural studies related to pre-communist and post-communist societies in the Russian Federation and in exploring the relevance of moral and ethical issues for perpetuating and sustaining civil society, democratic institutions and a market economy. Dr. Negrov was born in the Ukraine. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States of America in 2008. Currently, he serves as Rector of St. Petersburg Christian University in St. Petersburg, Russia. The evangelical Protestant university provides accredited higher education based on Christian values and aims to create an environment that provides for spiritual growth and the achievement of academic excellence. Its mission is to prepare Christians to serve and lead in both the church and society. Dr. Negrov has taught seminars and courses on the Bible and leadership to university students in Russia and beyond. He has been appointed as Visiting Fellow at St. Vladimir Orthodox Seminary in Crestwood, New York, Visiting Scholar at the University of Notre Dame and Visiting Scholar at Pacific Lutheran University. Dr. Negrov served as Director in a Post-Graduate Program in Biblical Studies validated by University of Wales in the United Kingdom. He has organized and attended various international conferences for theologians and biblical scholars and serves on editorial boards and academic councils. He published numerous academic articles and contributed to various scholarly books. His most recent book is: Biblical Interpretation in the Russian Orthodox Church: A Historical and Hermeneutical Perspective (Beitrage zur historischen Theologie 130 / Mohr Siebeck: Tubungen, 2008). After receiving two master’s degrees in both New Testament and Old Testament at Briercrest Biblical Seminary in Canada, Dr. Negrov studied biblical hermeneutics and New Testament with Dr. Jan G. van der Watt at the University of Pretoria in the Republic of South Africa where he earned his doctor’s degree. He and his wife, Zena, have three children and reside in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Peter J. Richards, J.D., LL.M., J.S.D.

Affiliated Scholar
Louisville, Kentucky

Dr. Peter J. Richards is an affiliated scholar of the John Jay Institute. Influenced by the late Harvard University legal historian Harold Berman, Dr. Richards’ scholarly interests are in international law, historical and natural law jurisprudence, law and religion, and political theology. Dr. Richards also has specialized expertise in military criminal law and tribunals. He is a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve with active duty experience as a prosecutor, defender and staff judge advocate. Dr. Richards served as Associate Professor in Theology and Law at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky where he directed the Center for Law and Theology. Previously he served a one-year fellowship with Harold Berman at the Emory University School of Law, teaching and conducting research in the areas of legal history and international law. He also taught politics and Constitutional Law at the United States Air Force Academy, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Legal Studies. Dr. Richards’ scholarly articles and reviews have appeared in journals such as the Naval War College Review, Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy, Journal of Legal Studies, Journal of Law and Religion, and the Journal of Church and State, among others. His recent book is Extraordinary Justice: Military Tribunals in Historical and International Context (New York University Press, 2007). He graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a bachelor’s degree in Medieval & Renaissance Studies and German (High Distinction Honors). He earned his Juris Doctor degree at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Later Dr. Richards pursued advanced graduate work at Yale Law School where he earned a Master of Laws degree and a Doctor of the Science of Law degree. A native of Michigan, he and his wife, Johanna, have four children.

Caleb A. Verbois, M.A., Ph.D.

Affiliated Scholar
Chesapeake, Virginia

Dr. Caleb Verbois is an affiliated scholar of the John Jay Institute.  His academic and professional interests are on the connections between the American Founding and contemporary politics.  He is particularly interested in theoretical and practical separation of power between the Executive, Congress, and the Courts, as well as federal and state power struggles.  His research focuses on presidential power in foreign affairs, specifically studying President Bush’s actions in the War on Terror and comparing it to the constitutional debates over presidential power and the historical practice of foreign policy by prior executives.  After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science at Oglethorpe University (summa cum laude), Dr. Verbois studied as a Witherspoon Fellow in Washington, D.C.  He earned a master’s degree and Doctor of Philosophy in political science at the University of Virginia.  He teaches American Politics at Regent University.  A native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, he resides in Virginia Beach, VA, with his wife, Rachel, and their new daughter, Katie.