Francis J. "Frank" Beckwith (born November 3, 1960) is an Americanphilosopher,professor, scholar, speaker, writer, and lecturer.
He is currently professor of philosophy and church-state studies, affiliate professor of political science and associate director of the Graduate Program in Philosophy, atBaylor University, where he first served as associate director of Baylor's J. M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies.[1][2][3][4]
A condensed version of Beckwith's 1984 M.A. thesis on theBaháʼí Faith was published byBethany House, asBaha'i [sic]: A Christian Response in 1985.[8]
In 2001, Beckwith completed his Wash. U. M.J.S dissertation on the inclusion ofintelligent design in public school science curricula. In 2003, Rowman and Littlefield published his dissertation in revised and expanded form asLaw, Darwinism, and Public Education: The Establishment Clause and the Challenge of Intelligent Design.
Prior to arriving at Baylor in July 2003, he was a visiting research fellow (2002–2003) in theJames Madison Program in the Politics Department atPrinceton University.[9] He has also held full-time academic appointments at UNLV (Lecturer in Philosophy, 1989–96),Whittier College (assistant professor of philosophy, 1996–97),[10] andTrinity International University (Associate Professor Philosophy, Culture, and Law, 1997-2002).[11] Beckwith has also held two visiting endowed appointments: (2008–2009) Mary Anne Remick Senior Visiting Fellow in the de Nicola Center for Ethics & Culture at theUniversity of Notre Dame,[12] and (2016–2017) Visiting Scholar in Conservative Thought and Policy in the Benson Center for Western Civilization, Thought, and Policy at theUniversity of Colorado, Boulder.[13]
In November 2006, Beckwith became the 58th president of theEvangelical Theological Society (ETS),[14] only to resign both his presidency and membership in May 2007, a week after he returned to the Catholic Church.[15] Over a decade later, he became the 90th president of the American Catholic Philosophical Association (ACPA).[16] From 1995 to 2007, he was a fellow at The Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity[17]
In 2003, after his appointment as associate director of the J. M. Dawson Institute of Church-State Studies at Baylor, 29 members of the Dawson family called on Baylor University to remove Beckwith as associate director. The Dawson family members questioned the appointment, accusing Beckwith of holding church-state positions contrary to Dawson's beliefs on the separation of church and state,[18] largely because of Beckwith's affiliation with the Discovery Institute (DI) and his work on intelligent design and public education.[19] Beckwith argued that their concerns were not well founded and that they represented a fundamental misunderstanding of his positions.[20] In summer 2007 Beckwith dropped his affiliation with Discovery. He has subsequently published works highly critical of intelligent design, including chapters in his award-winning 2015 bookTaking Rites Seriously'[21] and his 2019 bookNever Doubt Thomas: The Catholic Aquinas as Evangelical and Protestant.[22]
In May 2007, Beckwith returned to theCatholicism of his youth, after decades as anEvangelical Protestant.[23] This inspired him to write a book describing his faith journey, titledReturn to Rome: Confessions of an Evangelical Catholic published by Brazos Press.[24] It is compared withScott Hahn'sRome Sweet Home, as a significant work of Catholic Apologetics.[25] He currently resides with his wife inTexas.
Beckwith is well known for his legal and philosophical work onabortion, arguing in defense of the sanctity of life in several academic publications including his 2007 bookDefending Life, published byCambridge University Press,[27] and his 1993 book,Politically Correct Death, published byBaker Publishing Group.[28] He has also published multiple books examining current philosophical questions regarding religion, law and politics. His 2015 book,Taking Rites Seriously: Law, Politics and the Reasonableness of Faith, (Cambridge University Press),[29] was the winner of the prestigiousAmerican Academy of Religion's 2016 Book Award for Excellence in the Study of Religion in the category of Constructive-Reflective Studies.[30]
Politically Correct Death: Answering the Arguments for Abortion Rights (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993).
Are You Politically Correct?: Debating America's Cultural Standards with Michael E. Bauman, eds. (Buffalo: Prometheus, 1993).
See the gods fall: Four Rivals to Christianity with Stephen E. Parrish, (Joplin: College Press, 1997).
Affirmative Action: Social Justice or Reverse Discrimination? with Todd E. Jones, eds. (Amherst: Prometheus, 1997).
Relativism: Feet Firmly Planted in Mid-Air with Gregory Koukl, (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998).
The Abortion Controversy 25 Years After Roe v. Wade: A Reader 2nd ed. with Louis Pojman, eds. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 1998).
The New Mormon Challenge with Carl Mosser and Paul Owen, eds. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002).
Do the Right Thing: Readings in Applied Ethics and Social Philosophy editor, 2nd ed. (Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, 2002).
Law, Darwinism, and Public Education: The Establishment Clause and the Challenge of Intelligent Design (Lanham: Rowman and Littlefield, 2003).
To Everyone An Answer: A Case for the Christian Worldview with William Lane Craig and J. P. Moreland, eds. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2004).
Defending Life: A Moral and Legal Case Against Abortion Choice (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007)
Return to Rome: Confessions of an Evangelical Catholic. Grand Rapids, MI: Brazos Press, 2009
Politics for Christians: Statecraft as Soulcraft (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2010)
A Second Look at First Things: A Case for Conservative Politics. The Hadley Arkes Festschrift (w/ R. P. George, S. McWilliams). (South Bend, IN: St. Augustine Press, 2013)
Taking Rites Seriously: Law, Politics, and the Reasonableness of Faith (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2015)
Never Doubt Thomas: The Catholic Aquinas as Evangelical and Protestant (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2019)
review by Peter Ochs and Randi Rashkover, ofTaking Rites Seriously in Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Volume 85, Issue 3, September 2017, Pages 835–838.
review by Dean Stretton ofDefending Life in Journal of Medical Ethics 34.11 (Nov 2008): 793–7.
