About

I am Distinguished Professor of Ethics at the Stockdale Center for Ethical Leadership at the United States Naval Academy. My scholarship examines how religious conviction bears on democratic citizenship, how war can be morally justified and constrained, and how Christian moral judgment informs military service.

I received my B.A. in Philosophy from Gettysburg College in 1987, my M.A. in Philosophy from Calvin College in 1989, and my Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1997. Before joining the Naval Academy, I taught philosophy at Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois.

I have taught ethics and political philosophy to midshipmen at the Naval Academy since 2001. My teaching includes NE203: Moral Reasoning for Naval Leaders, the Naval Academy's required ethics course, as well as a course on C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien focused on moral imagination and the ethics of war.

My publications include Religious Conviction in Liberal Politics and Justice and the Just War Tradition: Human Worth, Moral Formation, and Armed Conflict. My more recent work includes "Love on the Ground: Reflections on Christian Faith and the Profession of Arms," forthcoming essays on C. S. Lewis and divine command theory, and the manuscript Love and Faith at War: Reflections on a Platoon Commander in Fallujah.