Francis J. Beckwith, Ph.D., Distinguished Fellow of the Principium Institute, is Professor of Philosophy and Church-State Studies at Baylor University, where he also serves as associate director of the graduate program in philosophy. A graduate of the Washington University School of Law, St. Louis (M.J.S.), as well as Fordham University—where he earned the M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in philosophy–he is the author of over 100 academic articles, book chapters, reference entries, and reviews. Among his over one dozen books are Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice (Cambridge University Press, 2007), Return to Rome: Confessions of An Evangelical Catholic (Brazos Press, 2009), Politics For Christians: Statecraft As Soulcraft (IVP, 2010), (with R. P. George & S. McWilliams) A Second Look at First Things: A Case For Conservative Politics (St. Augustine’s Press, 2013), 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.  He has served as the 2016-2017 Visiting Professor of Conservative Thought & Policy at the University of Colorado, Boulder; the 2008-2009 Mary Ann Remick Senior Visiting Fellow in the Center for Ethics & Culture at the University of Notre Dame; and a 2002-2003 Visiting Research Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University.  As the current vice president of the American Catholic Philosophical Association, he is set to assume its presidency in mid-November 2017.