Henry Carter Hull

Three Christians who - on different levels and in distinct ways - model faithful engagement in contemporary American politics.

Lt. General Michael Flynn: from elite soldier overseas to waging “spiritual war” in America. With the Associated Press, examine how Flynn emerged as a leading conspiracy theorist, from QAnon to “Stop the Steal” and his ties to Christian nationalism.

Between the extremes of left and right, Benjamin Constant, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, and Alexis de Tocqueville made major contributions to political theory by examining the idea of what a free republic can and should be. Examine their writing, which demonstrated that two kinds of republicanism exist: liberal and civic.

Explore the growing variants of socialism, including a milder, "evolutionary" socialism in western Europe, an intermediate version of "Western Marxist" political theory, and a more radical, authoritarian communism in Russia. Look closely at the ideas of Vladimir Lenin and get a clear explanation of capitalism vs. communism.

Immanuel Kant is attributed with creating one of the two most influential theories of ethics, deontological ethics - the other being utilitarianism - each of which became the background for an enduring view of modern republicanism. In this lecture, examine Kant's fundamental arguments, which are key to understanding much of modern political theory.

As the greatest political event of the 18th century, the French Revolution inspired political thinkers around the world. In the first of three lectures tracing the uprising's philosophical impact, delve into the liberal, conservative, and proto-progressive arguments made during "the battle of the pamphlets" - the first intellectual feud over the meaning of the Revolution.

Hannah Arendt, one of the 20th century's premier political philosophers, was critical of the modern dominance of economics over politics in both communism and liberal capitalism, and she called for a return to civic republicanism. Here, look closely at the ideas she puts forth in The Human Condition and related works.

In the 1920s, opposition to bourgeois-led parliamentary democracy split between internationalist socialism and a new nationalist socialism, which came to be called fascism. Explore the roots of fascism and its most sophisticated political thinker, Carl Schmitt, who presents a deep philosophical critique of parliamentary democracy and liberal republicanism.

Postmodern critique has changed the discussions of sociology, literature, philosophy, and political theory by pressing feminist and multiculturalist versions of egalitarian liberalism or progressivism in a radical, anti-Eurocentric direction. Explore some ideas - both leftist and conservative - behind postmodernism in politics, as put forth by Cornel West, Michel Foucault, and others.