Faith and Law

In recognition of the 500th Anniversary of the Reformation, Dr. Joseph Loconte addressed Faith & Law on "How Martin Luther's Reformation Transformed the World."  As the lecture title suggests, Loconte gently pushed back against Rod Dreher's "Benedict Option."  One of the first things Luther did as he secured his position in Germany was to abolish all of the monastic orders.  Loconte will explain why Luther chose this course of action.Joseph Loconte, PhD, is an Associate Professor of History at The King’s College in New York City, where he teaches courses on Western Civilization, American Foreign Policy, and International Human Rights. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War: How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in the Cataclysm of 1914-1918(Harper Collins, 2015) and winner of the 2017 Best Article award from the Tolkien Society for his article How J.R.R. Tolkien Found Mordor on the Western Front.Dr. Loconte previously served as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University, where he taught on religion and public policy. He was a Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and from 1999-2006 he held the first chair in religion and civil society as the William E. Simon Fellow at the Heritage Foundation.Dr. Loconte’s other books include: God, Locke, and Liberty: The Struggle for Religious Freedom in the West(Lexington Books, 2014); The Searchers: A Quest for Faith in the Valley of Doubt (Thomas Nelson, 2012); The End of Illusions: Religious Leaders Confront Hitler’s Gathering Storm (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004); and Seducing the Samaritan: How Government Contracts Are Reshaping Social Services (The Pioneer Institute, 1997).Dr. Loconte’s commentary on religion and public life appears in the nation’s leading media outlets, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, the National Interest, the Weekly Standard, and National Review. He is also a regular contributor to the London-based Standpoint and the Huffington Post. For 10 years he served as a commentator for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered.Dr. Loconte has testified before Congress on international human rights and served as a human rights expert on the 2005 Congressional Task Force on the United Nations, contributing to its final report, “American Interests and U.N. Reform.” From 2001-2003, he was an informal advisor to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. More recently, he was a speechwriter for British MP Andrew Mitchell, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development. He now serves as a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum and as an affiliated scholar at the John Jay Institute.A native of Brooklyn, NY, Dr. Loconte divides his time between New York City and Washington, D.C.Support the show

In this lecture, Dr. Jay W. Richards gave highlights from his upcoming book on human uniqueness and the claim that machines will replace us.  He will show how the Christian understanding of the human person helps provide guidance in the debate about artificial intelligence and automation, and how to respond to it.A thousand futurists predict that in the next few decades, machines will take over even more of our work, leaving mass joblessness in its wake. How should we respond to these claims? It’s true that machines will do many tasks we imagined could only be done by people. But many of these claims are based on a materialistic view of the human person that contradicts both faith and reason.Dr. Richards argued that we do need to prepare for massive job disruption. And we'll need to adapt by focusing on key virtues that separate man from machine. But machines will never replace us.Jay W. Richards, Ph.D., is the Executive Editor of The Stream. He is an Assistant Research Professor in the School of Business and Economics at The Catholic University of America and a Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute. He is author of many books including the New York Times bestsellers Infiltrated (2013), and Indivisible (2012), co-authored with James Robison. He is also the author of Money, Greed, and God, winner of a 2010 Templeton Enterprise Award; and co-author of The Privileged Planet with astronomer Guillermo Gonzalez. His most recent book, co-authored with Jonathan Witt, is The Hobbit Party: The Vision of Freedom that J.R.R. Tolkien Got and the West Forgot. He has a Ph.D., with honors, in philosophy and theology from Princeton Theological Seminary.Support the show

The Rev. Bill Haley is Executive Director of Coracle and the Associate Rector at The Falls Church Anglican.  A graduate of Bethel College (1991) and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary (magna cum laude, 1994), he is an Anglican priest and spiritual director, having completed his training with the Shalem Institute for Spiritual Formation (2007). His life has been profoundly shaped by many international experiences, particularly in places of deep brokenness in the world, and he has devoted many years to ministering in urban contexts, especially in inner-city Washington DC. With his wife Tara and four kids, Bill lives at Corhaven in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.Since 1996 he has ministered with The Falls Church in a number of different capacities.  Bill was the founding Rector of St. Brendan’s in the City in Washington DC.  He recently served as the Director of Formation for The Washington Institute and  previously served as president of The Regeneration Forum and publisher of re:generation quarterly, a magazine devoted to “community transforming culture”.  He has also served on staff at the Servant Leadership School of Church of the Savior, was a founding board member and then President of the Southeast DC Partners, and is currently a US Trustee of the Anglican Relief and Development Fund and on the Advisory Council for The Telos Group. Because of such diverse experiences in life and around the world, and so many questions to ask, and so many things that matter, Bill’s life has been fired by the phrase “in Christ all things hold together.” He wants to be able to live and say with the same passion of St. Paul, “It is no longer I who live, it is Christ who lives in me.”Bill's publications include articles in The Washington Post,  re:generation quarterly, Prism and Sojourners magazines, Inward/Outward of The Servant Leadership School, The Cry of Word Made Flesh, and with The Washington Institute.   He has compiled several original editions of poetry and prayers. His interests include outdoor sports, especially fly-fishing, the visual arts and music, reading, writing, and long conversations over a good cup of coffee (or wine).Support the show

Congressman Joe Pitts served in the United States House of Representatives for 20 years and before that served for 24 years in the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives.  He retired in 2017 as a respected statesman known for his strong Christian faith and his commitment to advancing Judeo-Christian values in government and society.  Joe Pitts now offers his wisdom and experience to the next generation through Asbury University's Joe Pitts Center for Public Affairs.  The Pitts Center is designed to educate, motivate, and launch young, conservative Christians into the field of public service.  It will emphasize three core causes, which are the longstanding passions of Congressman Pitts:  humanitarian relief, human trafficking and religious liberties.Having served on the frontline of the culture and legislative wars of the last 40 years, Joe has a unique insight into the proper role of Christians in public life and government and how to effectively advocate for our religious freedoms and values.  His views on biblical Christian citizenship and how we, as believers, should engage with our government to protect our rights are desperately needed in this current cultural and political climate.Support the show

With massive displacements of Christians in Iraq and Syria, and recent violence against the Copts in Egypt, will Christianity survive in the Middle East? Kent Hill will provide a brief survey of Christianity in the Middle East. Then, with a special focus on what it will take to undermine violent Islamic extremism, he will address how Christians in the west can help. A particular area he will consider is whether the core problem is extremism or Islam itself. Without addressing this issue, Dr. Hill believes a way forward will not be found.  Kent Hill joined the Religious Freedom Insitute after six years as Senior Vice President at World Vision, one of the largest faith-based relief and development organizations in the world. He also served for eight years as Assistant Administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), responsible for U.S. foreign assistance to Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, and, subsequently, all USAID health programs worldwide. Earlier in his career, Dr. Hill was President of Eastern Nazarene College, and President of D.C.'s Institute on Religion and Democracy. In 2010, as a Vice President at the John Templeton Foundation, Hill, along with Tom Farr, conceived Georgetown's Religious Freedom Project and secured funding to launch the project. Dr. Hill has published a book on Christianity and the Soviet Union. His Ph.D. is from the University of Washington.Support the show

Congressman Frank Wolf is Distinguished Senior Fellow of the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative.  He was elected to Congress in 1981 and served Virginia’s 10th District for 17 terms.  Wolf authored the International Religious Freedom Act and legislation to create a U.S. State Department special envoy to advocate for religious minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia.  The founder and co-chair of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, Wolf’s honors include the 2015 Wilson Chair in Religious Freedom at Baylor University, the Presidential Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights, and the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview’s William Wilberforce Award.Support the show

Caring for Creation, Caring for the Poor: A Biblical, Scientific, and Economic Perspective on Climate and Energy Policy.E. Calvin Beisner, Ph.D., is spokesman for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation and an author and speaker on the application of the biblical world view, theology, and ethics to economics, government, and environmental policy. He has testified as an expert witness on the ethics and economics of climate and energy policy before congressional committees, delivered a paper on the subject for the Pontifical Institute for Justice and Peace, and lectured on it for five of the International Conferences on Climate Change. He has published over ten books and hundreds of articles, contributed to or edited dozens of others, and been a guest on television and radio programs. A former seminary and Christian college professor and church planter, he has spoken to churches, universities, conferences, and other groups around the country for nearly thirty years.Support the show

As the editor of World magazine and writer for the publication since 1986, Mindy has covered war in the Balkans, Sudan, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan and has given on-the-ground news coverage from Nigeria, Egypt, Turkey, and elsewhere. Her reporting has been published in the United States and overseas and been featured in publications such as The Weekly Standard. Mindy has appeared on national television and radio talk shows and speaks frequently about persecution and survival in the Middle East. Belz and her husband have four children and live in Asheville, NC.Support the show

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