Skip to Main Content

Christopher Wolfe, Ph.D.

From 1989 to 2021, Dr. Wolfe was President of the American Public Philosophy Institute, an interdisciplinary group of scholars from various universities, supported by local business and professional leaders, that promotes a natural law public philosophy rooted in the principles of the American Founding – one that pursues freedom and prosperity, grounded on the moral integrity of the culture and of our social and political institutions. The APPI is now the Dallas Forum for Law, Politics, and Culture, and Dr. Wolfe is President Emeritus. For more information on its activities at UD, in the Dallas area, and nationally, go to www.dallasforum.org.

Education

Ph.D. Boston College
B.A. University of Notre Dame

Academic Appointments

University of Dallas, Distinguished Research Scholar, 2021-
University of Dallas, Affiliate Professor of Politics, 2014-2021     
Co-Director of the Thomas International Center, 2005-2013
Marquette University, Emeritus Professor, 2008-          

Research Interests

Constitutional Law, American Political Thought, Natural Law and Liberal Political Theory

Selected Publications

Articles

“McCulloch v. Md. and Marshall's Constitutional Interpretation” in McCulloch v. Maryland at 200 (forthcoming, AEI)

“Natural Law and Politics” in The Cambridge Companion to Natural Law Ethics ed. Tom Angier (Cambridge University Press, 2019) 235-254.

 “Originalist Reflections on Constitutional Freedom of Speech” SMU Law Review, Vol. 72, No. 3 (Summer 2019)

 “Natural Law and Contemporary Liberalism: John Rawls and Ronald Dworkin” in A Second Look at First Things: A Case for Conservative Politics ed. F. Beckwith (St. Augustine Press, 2013).

“Free Exercise, Religious Conscience, and the Common Good” in Challenges to Religious Liberty in the Twenty-First Century ed. Gerard V. Bradley (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2012), pp. 93-110.

“Natural Law Liberalism” in the Josephinum Journal of Theology Volume 16, Number 2 (Summer/Fall, 2009), pp. 339-56.

“A University for All” in The Idea of a Catholic University: Proceedings From the 30th Annual Convention of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, ed. K. Whitehead (Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and University of Scranton Press, 2009), pp. 101-16.

“The Supreme Court and Changing Social Mores” in Ourselves and Our Posterity: Essays in Constitutional Originalism ed. B. Watson (Lanham, Md.: Rowman and Littlefield, 2009), pp. 153-74.

Books

“Are Some Men Angels? Modern Catholic Social Thought and Trust in Government”, Catholic Social Teaching: A Volume of Scholarly Essays eds. G. Bradley and E. C. Brugger (Cambridge University Press, July 2019) 345-364.

The Concept of Social Justice ed. C. Wolfe (St. Augustines Press, 2019)

Natural Law Today: The Present State of the Perennial Philosophy eds. C. Wolfe and S. Brust (Lexington Books, 2018)