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Dr. J. Daryl Charles

Professor of Bible, Theology and Christian Thought
Director and Senior Fellow of the Bryan Institute
     for Critical Thought & Practice

E-mail: daryl.charles@bryan.edu
Office Phone: 423.775.7265
Box: 7655

Having previously taught at Taylor University and Union University, Dr. Charles served as visiting fellow, Institute for Faith and Learning, Baylor University, 2003-2004; William E. Simon Visiting Fellow in Religion and Public Life, James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, Department of Politics, Princeton University, 2007-2008; and senior fellow, Center for Politics and Religion, Union University, 2008-2009.

Dr. Charles's work focuses on a wide range of themes that concern the intersection of faith and culture, including criminal justice ethics, religion in the public sphere, bioethics, war and peace and humanitarian intervention, and natural law. He is author or co-editor of 12 books, including most recently with David D. Corey The Just War Tradition: An Introduction (ISI Books, 2012), with David B. Capes Thriving in Babylon (Wipf and Stock, 2011), Retrieving the Natural Law: A Return to Moral First Things (Eerdmans, 2008), Faithful to the End (Broadman and Holman, 2007), and Between Pacifism and Jihad (InterVarsity Press, 2005).

Charles is also translator, German to English, of Claus Westermann's The Roots of Wisdom (Westminster/John Knox Press, 1994). His work has been published in a wide array of both scholarly and popular journals, including First Things, Pro Ecclesia, Touchstone, Journal of Church and State, National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly, Journal of Religious Ethics, Books and Culture, Cultural Encounters, Philosophia Christi, The Weekly Standard, and Christian Scholar's Review.

2009 Convocation Address »

Academic Degrees

  • Ph.D. Studies, Catholic University of America
  • Ph.D., Westminster Theological Seminary
  • Certificate, University of Siegen (Germany)

Professional Associations

  • Christians in Political Science
  • Evangelical Philosophical Society
  • National Association of Scholars
  • Society of Church History

Selected Publications

  • “Between Pacifism and Realpolitik: The Abiding Relevance of the Just-War Tradition.” Citizens and Statesmen 6 (2012)
  • “Burying the Wrong Corpse: Second Thoughts on the Protestant Prejudice toward Natural-Law Thinking.” In Brian McGraw, Jesse Covington and Micah Watson, eds., Natural Law and Evangelical Political Thought. Lexington Books, 2012
  • Review of Charles E. Gutenson, Christians and the Common Good: How Faith Intersects with Public Life (Brazos, 2011), in Cultural Encounters 8, no. 1 (2012)
  • Review of Alister McGrath, The Passionate Intellect (InterVarsity Press, 2010), in Pro Ecclesia (Summer 2012)
  • “For the Common Good.”  Touchstone (January-February 2012)
  • “Public Theology and the Public Square.”  Cultural Encounters 7, no. 2 (2011)
  • "Christ and Culture, Again." Touchstone (July/August 2011)
  • "Bad Ideas and Their Consequences."  Touchstone (January/February 2011)
  • Foreword, Natural Law: A Lutheran Appraisal, ed. R.C. Baker. Concordia Publishing House, 2011
  • "The Ethics of Humanitarian Intervention." In Jonathan Chaplin, ed., God and Global Order: Religion and American Foreign Policy. Baylor University Press, 2010
  • Co-author (with David D. Corey), The Just War Tradition: An Introduction. ISI Books, 2012
  • Review of Gilbert Meilaender, Neither Beast Nor God (Encounter, 2009). In Touchstone, (September 2010)
  • Co-editor (with David B. Capes), Thriving in Babylon: Essays in Honor of A.J. Conyers. Princeton Theological Monograph Series. Wipf & Stock, 2011
  • Co-author (with Timothy J. Demy), War, Peace, and Christianity: Questions and Answers from a Just-War Perspective (Crossway, 2010)
  • "My Criminal Brain Made Me Do It: Biogenetics and the Loss of Moral Responsibility." National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly (Fall 2009)
  • "Regensburg Left Behind: Christians Responding to Muslim Invitations." Touchstone (September/October 2009)
  • Review of Greg Forster, The Contested Public Square (IVP, 2008). In Journal of Church and State 51, no. 4 (2009)
  • Author, Retrieving Natural Law: A Return to Moral First Things. Eerdmans, 2008
  • Review of Stephen J. Grabill, Rediscovering the Natural Law in Reformed Theological Ethics (Eerdmans, 2006). In First Things (January 2007)
  • "Truth, Tolerance, and Christian Conviction: Reflections on a Perennial Question -- A Review Essay." In Christian Scholar's Review 36, no 2 (2007)
  • "Protestants and Natural Law." First Things (December 2006)
  • "Between Pacifism and Jihad: The Just-War Tradition Reconsidered." Books & Culture (March/April 2005)
  • "Paul before the Areopagus: Reflections on the Apostle's Encounter with Cultured Paganism." Philosophia Christi 7, no. 1 (2005)
  • "Presumption against War or Presumption against Injustice?" Journal of Church and State 47, no. 2 (2005)
  • "Justice, Neighbor-Love, and the Just-War Tradition: Christian Reflections on Just Use of Force." Cultural Encounters (Winter 2004)
  • "'Do Not Suppose That I Have Come . . .': The Ethic of the 'Sermon on the Mount' Reconsidered." Southwestern Journal of Theology 46, no. 3 (Summer 2004)
  • "Capital Punishment and Justice: Reflections on Violating Human Sanctity." Touchstone (September 2002)
  • "Protestant Reflections on Salvifici Doloris." National Catholic Bioethics Quarterly (Summer 2002)
  • "Passionately Seeking the Truth: Unpunctual Protestant Reflections on Fides et Ratio." Pro Ecclesia 11, no. 2 (2002)
  • Author, The Unformed Conscience of Evangelicalism: Recovering the Church's Moral Vision. InterVarsity, 2002
  • Author, Virtue amidst Vice. Sheffield Academic Press, 1997
  • Translator (German-English), Claus Westermann, Roots of Wisdom: The Oldest Proverbs of Israel and Other Peoples. Westminster/John Knox, 1994 (= Wurzeln der Weisheit. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1990

Topics of Expertise

  • Bioethics
  • Criminal justice ethics
  • Faith and culture
  • Humanitarian intervention
  • Religion in the public sphere
  • The natural law
  • War and peace