Program News
Ron Mock is again running his presidential prognostication game! Friends of our program are invited to play . . .
- Former U.S. Senator Mark O. Hatfield died Sunday, Aug. 7, 2011, at the age of 89, leaving behind a vast legacy of service to his country, state and at George Fox University. After an illustrious career in state and national politics, Hatfield joined the faculty of the university as Herbert Hoover Distinguished Professor. During his tenure with the History and Political Science Department, he taught or co-taught The Vietnam Experience, Herbert Hoover and His Times, Recent America: 1945 to the Present, Christianity & Politics in U.S., Public Policy, International Relations, Campaigns and Elections, and President/Congressional Relationship. For ten years, he made a substantial contribution to the academic and scholarly life of the university. More on Senator Hatfield’s life, legacy, and contributions to the university can be found at (http://blogs.georgefox.edu/newsreleases/?p=5670) and here (http://www.georgefox.edu/featured_stories/hatfield/index.html)
- Mark David Hall presented “Did America Have a Christian Founding?” at The Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., in December which was taped and broadcast by C-SPAN. He also recently learned that Oxford University Press will publish his next edited volume, Faith and the Founders of the American Republic.
- "The Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion has begun a new podcast program aimed at making "scholarly research on religion interesting, relevant and accessible to a broad audience." Mark David Hall was one of the first scholars interviewed for the program.
Books, Articles, and other publications
Mark David Hall has recently had two books accepted by Oxford University Press. The first will be called Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic. The second is Faith and the Founders of the American Republic, co-edited with Daniel Dreisbach. In spite of his many accomplishments, Sherman is regularly overlooked by students of the American founding. Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic is the first systematic study of Sherman's political theory and theological commitments. Mark argues that he was heavily influenced by Calvinist political thought and a genuine Christian perspective. Moreover, he uses Sherman as a lens to show that this Christian tradition had a significant impact in the founding era. The book also helps correct the misconception that America's founders were deists who desired the strict separation of church and state. Both books help us understand the important role of Christian faith in the founders of our republic.
Mark also has a second edition of America's Forgotten Founders which will soon be available from ISI Books.
Mark David Hall’s co-edited book, The Forgotten Founders on Religion and Public Life is available from Notre Dame Press.
Mark David Hall’s co-edited book, The Sacred Rights of Conscience
, from Liberty Fund Press, provides students and scholars a rich collection of primary sources that illuminate the discussions and debates about religious liberty in the American founding era. Lon Fendall’s book, Stand Alone or Come Home: Mark Hatfield as an Evangelical and a Progressive (Barclay Press 2008), was released in September, 2008. A number of faculty members in the History and Political Science department co-taught GFU classes with former U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield over a ten-year period following his retirement from the Senate.
Ron Mock is nearing completion of his book, Pacifism Under Pressure, exploring some of the toughest practical challenges Christian pacifists face.
Collected Works of James Wilson (Liberty Fund Press), edited by Mark David Hall, Herbert Hoover Distinguished Professor of Political Science, and Kermit L. Hall. This two-volume set brings together the most important writings and speeches of James Wilson, one of only six signers of both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, and one of the most influential members of the federal Constitutional Convention in 1787.
Ron Mock's publication, Loving Without Giving In: Christian Responses to Terrorism and Tyranny (Cascadia Publishing House) draws from Scripture as well as the best thinking of peace scholars to analyze the global situation post 9/11. How can Christians love their neighbors and their enemies at the same time? What if the enemies are terrorists and tyrants, and the neighbors include the people they terrorize or tyrannize? Can governments be terrorists? Or only individuals? Is there a Golden Rule for nations?
Professor News
Michael MacLeod gave two paper presentations – “How Corporations Get Religion: Faith-Based Activism in the Global Political Economy” and “Financial Activism and Environmental Governance” – and chaired a panel at the International Studies Association Annual Convention, held in San Diego, April 1-4, 2012.
Mark David Hall was recently appointed Senior Fellow at Baylor University's Institute for the Studies of Religion.
Hall also was elected to serve as president of Christians in Political Science from 2010-2012.
Mark was one of the keynote speakers at the Maryville Symposium on Faith and the Liberal Arts, September 24-25, 2010.
Mark Hall weighed in on the controversial new “draft” constitution discovered at the Philadelphia Historical Society. http://processandpreserve.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/what-constitutes-a-physical-copy-of-the-u-s-constitution/
Hall was awarded an Academic Fellowship on Terrorism through the Foundation for Defense of Democrats entitled "Defending Democracy, Defeating Terrorism." This took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, June 9-20, 2008. After the program he traveled to Jerusalem, where presented a lecture entitled, "The United States Supreme Court's Use of History in First Amendment Religion Clause Cases" at the Hebrew University.
Ron Mock was one of the featured speakers at the Pierson International Conference held at Pyongtaek University in Pyongtaek, Korea on September 4, 2006. He spoke on the topic "Pacifism Under Pressure: Responding to Anarchy, Terrorism and Tyranny in a Nuclear Age." He also attended a symposium on September 7, 2006, on innovations in higher education hosted in Seoul by Pyongtaek University.
Awards, Grants, and other Honors
Ron Mock was appointed to the Newberg School Board January, 2012, to fill a vacant position. He will serve until June, 2013, when a special election will take place.
In July, 2008, Ron Mock began a new three-year term as recording clerk of Northwest Yearly Meeting of Friends, the evangelical Quaker group that founded George Fox University. Ron has served as recording clerk since 2004.
Mark David Hall was elected Vice President of Christians in Political Science, a national organization of Christial political scientists. Mark also received a Summer (2008) Stipend from the National Endowment for the Humanities to support research on Roger Sherman.
The Dundee Planning Commission elected Ron Mock to be its chair in January, 2008, for a one-year term.