Mark David Hall, PhD

Distinguished Scholar of Christianity & Public Life

Teaching & Research Interests

  • American Political Theory
  • Religion and Politics
  • Constitutional Law
  • Great Books
Mark David Hall

Mark David Hall arrived at George Fox 2001 after receiving a BA in political science from Wheaton College and a PhD in political science from the University of Virginia. In addition to teaching politics and honors, he is director of the John Dickinson Forum for the Study of America's Founding Principles.

Author page

Research and Writing Interests

Hall’s primary research and writing interests are American political theory and the relationship between religion and politics. He has written or coedited 12 books, including:

  • Did America Have a Christian Founding? Separating Modern Myth from Historical Truth (Nelson Books, October 28, 2019)
  • Great Christian Jurists in American History  (Cambridge University Press, 2019)
  • America's Wars: A Just War Perspective  (University of Notre Dame Press, 2019)
  • Faith and the Founders of the American Republic  (Oxford University Press, 2014)
  • Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic  (Oxford University Press, 2013)
  • America’s Forgotten Founders  (ISI Books, 2011)
  • The Forgotten Founders on Religion and Public Life  (University of Notre Dame Press, 2009)
  • The Sacred Rights of Conscience: Selected Readings on Religious Liberty and Church-State Relations in the American Founding  (Liberty Fund Press, 2009)
  • The Founders on God and Government  (Rowman & Littlefield, 2004)
  • The Political and Legal Philosophy of James Wilson, 1742-1798  (University of Missouri Press, 1997)

He has also written more than 100 journal articles, book chapters, reviews and sundry pieces. His essay, Did America have a Christian Founding?, has been downloaded more than 260,000 times, and his expert’s report for the Alliance Defending Freedom in the Barronelle Stutzman case was published by the Heritage Foundation as Religious Accommodations and the Common Good .

Hall occasionally contributes to The Intercollegiate ReviewLaw and Liberty, and Learn Liberty. He can be followed on Twitter at MDH_GFU.

Affiliations

In addition to teaching at George Fox University, Hall is associated faculty at the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at Emory University, a senior fellow at Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion, and an affiliate scholar at the John Jay Institute.

He is listed in Wikipedia and is recognized as an expert on church-state relations by Christians in Political Science and ReligionLink.

Public Presentation Topics 

Professor Hall is available for public speaking on the following topics:

  • "Did America Have a Christian Founding?"
  • "Jeffersonian Walls and Madisonian Lines: The Supreme Court's Use of History and the First Amendment's Religion Clauses"
  • "Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic"
  • "Faith and the Founders of the American Republic"
  • "Religious Liberty and Same-Sex Wedding Ceremonies: Historic Precedents, Future Possibilities"
  • "Why Tolerate Religion? The Rise and Fall of Religious Liberty in America"