john.colman@avemaria.edu
Professor of Politics specializing in political philosophy.
Director, Ave Maria Honors Program.
Current research is in the origins of classical liberalism in the thought of Michel de Montaigne.
Religious liberty is one of the hallmarks of American democracy, but the principal architects of this liberty believed that it was only compatible with a certain form of Christianity—namely, a liberal, rational, Christianity. Conservative and postliberal champions of the freedom of religion often ignore this point, sometimes even arguing that orthodox Christianity was, or should be, at the root of democratic liberty.
This work uncovers how Lucretius' conception of the philosophic life, and the reaction to the human, religious, and political implications of the discovery of nature, distinguish his intention from the anti-theological animus that drives the politically and scientifically ambitious project of his modern appropriators.
Current research is in the origins of classical liberalism in the thought of Michel de Montaigne.
