Brad Littlejohn

Fellow

Brad Littlejohn, Ph.D., is a Fellow in EPPC’s Evangelicals in Civic Life Program, where his work focuses on helping public leaders understand the intellectual and historical foundations of our current breakdown of public trust, social cohesion, and sound governance. His research investigates shifting understandings of the nature of freedom and authority, and how a more full-orbed conception of freedom, rooted in the Christian tradition, can inform policy that respects both the dignity of the individual and the urgency of the common good. He also serves as President of the Davenant Institute.

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Brad Littlejohn, Ph.D., is a Fellow in EPPC’s Evangelicals in Civic Life Program, where his work focuses on helping public leaders understand the intellectual and historical foundations of our current breakdown of public trust, social cohesion, and sound governance. His research investigates shifting understandings of the nature of freedom and authority, and how a more full-orbed conception of freedom, rooted in the Christian tradition, can inform policy that respects both the dignity of the individual and the urgency of the common good. He also serves as President of the Davenant Institute.

A scholar and writer in the fields of Christian ethics, historical theology, and conservative political thought, he earned his PhD in Theological Ethics at the University of Edinburgh in 2014, where he studied the relationship of freedom and authority in the English Reformation. He is the author of The Peril and Promise of Christian Liberty and The Two Kingdoms: A Guide for the Perplexed, among other books, as well as numerous peer-reviewed and popular-level articles and book chapters on topics ranging from freedom of conscience to the nature of property rights to the moral architecture of digital technology.

In 2013 he founded the Davenant Institute, an organization dedicated to retrieving and renewing the Protestant theological and ethical tradition, and frequently writes, speaks, and teaches for their publications, conferences, and courses. He has also taught at Moody Bible Institute and Patrick Henry College, and served as Headmaster of Loudoun Classical School.

Most recently, he worked as a Senior Fellow of the Edmund Burke Foundation as lead author on multi-year project entitled “Foundations of Liberty: Rediscovering the Anglo-American Conservative Tradition.” His essays arising out of this research have appeared in journals such as National Affairs, American Affairs, The American Conservative, First Things, and Modern Age.

He is also a weekly Opinion Contributor at WORLD Magazine, and publishes regularly on questions of Christian ethics and political theology for outlets such as The Gospel Coalition, American Reformer, Desiring God, and Mere Orthodoxy.

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Lost in Neverland

Brad Littlejohn

Parents determined to never grow up and live vicariously through their kids.

Articles

WORLD Opinions / August 30, 2024

We’re all postmoderns now

Brad Littlejohn

Our society may embrace a cavalier attitude toward truth, but Christians must refuse to play the game.

Articles

WORLD Opinions / August 22, 2024

Reformed Natural Law?

Brad Littlejohn

Part of the enduring value of natural law is its role for moral deliberation within the Christian community.

Articles

Ad Fontes / August 21, 2024

Phone Bans and Parental Choice: Thinking Twice About Smartphone Freedom

Brad Littlejohn

Education has always depended upon collective action.

Articles

Institute for Family Studies / August 19, 2024

How to be pro-life in a pro-abortion world

Brad Littlejohn

To change the politics, we must change the culture.

Articles

WORLD Opinions / August 16, 2024

Yuval Levin’s Unwelcome Diagnosis

Brad Littlejohn

In his newest book, Levin challenges the fundamental premises behind much of our national hand-wringing or eulogy-rehearsing.

Articles

Fusion / August 13, 2024

The anti-human temptation of AI

Brad Littlejohn

Technology cannot offer a shortcut to the true pleasure of achievement.

Articles

WORLD Opinions / August 8, 2024

Getting Phones Out of Schools

EPPC

Policy Memo by Clare Morell, Senior Policy Analyst with assistance from: Brad Littlejohn, Fellow, Evangelicals in Civic Life, and Matthew…

PDF / August 5, 2024

The Irishman’s Two Stoves: Reclaiming Freedom in a Technological Age

Brad Littlejohn

To think clearly about technology, we must think about the false promise of freedom that it offers.

Articles

Ridley White Papers / August 1, 2024

Is porn the new normal?

Brad Littlejohn

Free speech has become an open-ended justification for sexual self-expression online.

Articles

WORLD Opinions / July 31, 2024

Dispatches from the anxious generation

Brad Littlejohn

Giving children unfettered access to smartphones is disastrous for them and society.

Articles

WORLD Opinions / July 23, 2024

Settle only for the truth

Brad Littlejohn

Christians should avoid the fog of hot takes.

Articles

WORLD Opinions / July 17, 2024

Commonwealth Dispatches from Fellow Brad Littlejohn of the Evangelicals in Civic Life program features regular commentary on the retrieval and renewal of a Protestant vision for securing ordered liberty and promoting the common good in an increasingly post-Protestant America.