public facing essays
The following is a list of some of Professor Beckwith’s popular writing and features. Access any one of them by clicking the title.
“Moral Relativism and the Natural Law.” Sed Contra: A Publication of the Thomistic Institute 1.2 (December 2024).
“Disenchantment and Truth.” World Magazine (November 2024): 44-45. Review of Rod Dreher’s Living in Wonder: Finding Mystery and Meaning in a Secular Age.
“Disintegrating Conscience in a Fragmented Age.” Public Discourse (17 March 2024). Review of Steven D. Smith’s The Disintegrating Conscience and Decline of Modernity.
“Is Bias Actually Bad?,” Public Discourse (7 August 2023). Review of Thomas Kelly’s Bias: A Philosophical Study.
“Justice Alito’s Warning on Religious Liberty,” World Magazine (8 August 2022)
“The Heart Has Its Reasons.” Church Life Journal: A Journal of the McGrath Institute for Church Life (University of Notre Dame) (7 July 2022)
“Putting Progressive Jurisprudence on Notice: Why Justice Thomas’ concurrence in Dobbs raises more eyebrows than the majority opinion.” World Magazine (5 July 2022)
“Book Review: After Humanity: A Guide to C.S. Lewis’ The Abolition of Man.” The Catholic Telegraph (14 May 2022)
“Beware Modern Enthusiasms.” America Magazine (April 2022): 32-33, 38. 40. A differently titled online version can be found here.
“An Embarrassing Attempt to Book Scott Hahn on False Charges.” Angelus News (5 January 2022)
“What Conservative Scholars Can Bring to CU Boulder.” The Daily Camera (4 December 2021)
“Is it Time to Rethink the Prayer Cases?” Anchoring Truths (12 November 2021)
“A Sour Legacy.” Law & Liberty (30 June 2021). A response to essays by Andrew Koppleman, Mark David Hall, Ilya Shapiro, and Mark Rienzi and Nick Reaves.
“Lemon v. Kurtzman at 50.” Law & Liberty (1 June 2021). See responses by Andrew Koppleman, Mark David Hall, Ilya Shapiro, and Mark Rienzi and Nick Reaves.
“The Censorship of Lawrence Ferlinghetti and the Unbooking of Ryan T. Anderson.” Public Discourse (17 March 2021)
“Was the American Founding a philosophical fait accompli?” The Catholic World Report (3 July 2020)
“Bad (Though Not Entirely Bad) Pro-Life Arguments.” Public Discourse (14 January 2019)
“Why Bob Dylan’s Genius is Biblical.” National Catholic Register (28 September 2017)
“Why Are We Worried About Bob Dylan’s Religion?” Crux (31 July 2017)
“Stranger In a Strange Land.” Inside Higher Ed (5 July 2017). Also published as “Let Your Light Shine: My Year As the Visiting Scholar of Conservative Thought at the University of Colorado.” Colorado Arts & Sciences Magazine (5 July 2017)
“Political Liberalism, Religious Liberty, and Christian Higher Education.” Symposium on Religious Liberty and Christian Higher Education. Two Kingdoms Network (Concordia University, Nebraska) (1 February 2017)
“Religious Liberty After Locke.” Law & Liberty (7 November 2016). A response to piece by Michael Zuckert.
“The Purpose of Politics.” Baylor Magazine (Fall 2016)
“Learning, Dialogue, and the Responsibility of the Listener.” The Catholic Thing (16 August 2016)
“Conservatism at the Crossroads.” The Catholic Thing (9 June 2016)
“Religious Belief, Religious Liberty, and the Art of Taking Rites Seriously.” Law & Liberty (27 May 2016)
“The Man of a Measure.” (Review of The Most Good You Can Do: Effective Altruism is Changing Ideas about Living Ethically by Peter Singer). Christian Research Journal 39.3 (2016)
“Remembering My Father.” The Catholic Thing (18 February 2016)
“Why Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God.” The Catholic Thing (7 January 2016)
“Do Muslims and Christians Worship the Same God?,” The Catholic Thing (17 December 2015)
“Baylor at the Crossroads.” First Things (10 November 2015)
“J.R.R. Thomas Chesterton of Hippo?” The Catholic World Report (7 December 2012)
“The God-Haunted Atheism of Christopher Hitchens.” The Catholic Thing (23 December 2011)
“Interracial Marriage and Same-Sex Marriage: Why the Analogy Fails.” Public Discourse (21 May 2010)
“Why Can’t You Just ‘Love Your Neighbor’: Pope Benedict’s Encyclical Charity in Truth.” Christianity Today (10 July 2009)