Christian Just War Thinking for Today

Dr. Eric Patterson will discuss just war thinking within the context of a Christian worldview and our current political climate.

Eric Patterson, Ph.D., is a scholar-at-large in the Robertson School of Government, where he once served as dean and tenured professor. Dr. Patterson also serves as president and CEO of the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation after holding positions as Executive Vice President and later President of the Religious Freedom Institute. In previous years, Patterson taught at Georgetown University and Vanguard University and has extensive government experience, including service as a White House Fellow and special assistant to the director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, two stints in the State Department’s Bureau of Political and Military Affairs with time on the Inter-Agency MANPADS Taskforce, and over 20 years of service as an officer and commander in the Air National Guard.

Patterson has addressed many government audiences, such as the U.S. Air Force Academy’s National Character and Leadership Symposium, the French Department of Defense, the U.S. Military Academy (West Point), the U.S. Naval Academy (Annapolis), the Armed Forces Chaplains Center, National Defense University, the Pentagon, the Naval Postgraduate School, the Foreign Service Institute, and various combatant commands.

In addition to dozens of peer-reviewed academic articles and over a hundred op-eds and short essays, he has authored or served as editor of 22 books, including A Basic Guide to the Just War Tradition (2023); Just War and Christian Traditions (with J. Daryl Charles, 2022); Just American Wars: Ethical Dilemmas in U.S. Military History (2019); and Politics in a Religious World: Toward a Religiously Literate U.S. Foreign Policy (2012).