What role should religious citizens take in a liberal democracy? What is the proper separation of church and state? What place should be made for natural rights and the moral law within a secular state? Francis J. Beckwith's cogent introduction to political thought surveys political science, politics and government while making the case for how statecraft may genuinely contribute to soulcraft.

Francis J. Beckwith (PhD, Fordham University) is professor of philosophy and church-state studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he is also a fellow and faculty associate in the Institute for Studies of Religion. He was the 2008-2009 Mary Ann Remick Senior Visiting Fellow in the Notre Dame Center for Ethics Culture and was a 2002-2003 Madison Research Fellow in Politics at Princeton University, where he has served since 2003 as a member of the James Madison Society.Beckwith is the author of numerous books such as Return to Rome: Confessions of an Evangelical Catholic; Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice; Law, Darwinism Public Education: The Establishment Clause and the Challenge of Intelligent Design and Do the Right Thing: Readings in Applied Ethics and Social Philosophy. His articles have been published in a number of academic journals across a variety of disciplines, including Harvard Journal of Law Public Policy, International Philosophical Quarterly, Public Affairs Quarterly, Social Theory Practice, American Journal of Jurisprudence, Journal of Medical Ethics, San Diego Law Review, Nevada Law Journal, Journal of Social Philosophy, Philosophia Christi and Notre Dame Journal of Law, Ethics Public Policy. Beckwith has been a speaker for numerous Christian ministries (both Protestant and Catholic) throughout his career, including Summit Ministries and the Catholic Apologetics Academy, where he has served on their faculties since 1996 and 2013 respectively. He and his wife, Frankie, live in Woodway, Texas.