About
Steve Millies’s scholarship explores the Catholic church’s relationship to politics in a perspective that embraces history, theology, law, ethics, sociology, philosophy, and political theory. As Pope Francis has called for a “politics which is farsighted and capable of a new, integral, and interdisciplinary approach,” Millies’s work resists seeing politics only as a conflict over individual interests. Instead, in Pope Francis’s words, politics expresses our “conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for each other and the world.”
Millies studied political theory at The Catholic University of America, completing his degree with a study of religion in British statesman Edmund Burke’s political ideas. Before coming to CTU, he was associate professor of political science at the University of South Carolina Aiken where he held the J. Strom Thurmond Endowed Chair in Political Science.
Millies is a member of several learned societies, including the Association for Political Theory, the Catholic Theological Society of America, and the Society of Christian Ethics. As well, he participates in the International Thomas Merton Society, the Eric Voegelin Society, and he is the secretary for the Edmund Burke Society of America. His book,
Joseph Bernardin: Seeking Common Ground (Liturgical Press, 2016), won first place in the biography category for the Catholic Press Association’s 2017 Book Awards, and he has contributed to several periodicals and journals that include
America,
Commonweal, and the
National Catholic Reporter, and he writes a
monthly online column for
U.S. Catholic magazine. His most recent book,
Good Intentions: A History of Catholic Voters’ Road from Roe to Trump, was published by Liturgical Press in 2018.
Education
Ph.D., political theory (2003), The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC
M.A., political theory (1997), The Catholic University of America, Washington, DC
B.A., cum laude, history (1994), Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL Publications
Books
Millies, Steven P. Good Intentions: A History of Catholic Voters’ Road from Roe to Trump. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press Academic, 2018. 296pp.
_____. Joseph Bernardin: Seeking Common Ground. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2016. 152pp.
Peer-Reviewed Article
Millies, Steven P. “The Inner Light of Edmund Burke.” Studies in Burke and His Time 22 (2011). 109-139.
Peer-Reviewed Proceedings and Chapters
Millies, Steven P. “Persons and the Common Good: The Catholic Political Tradition.” In The Problem of Political Theory as a Social Science. Edited by Aaron D. Hoffman. Acton, MA: XanEdu, 2013. 198-224.
_____. “’New Things’: Seeing a Way Forward for Catholic Social Thought on the One Hundred Twentieth Anniversary of Rerum Novarum.” In Catholic Social Teaching and Economics: Proceedings from the 34th Annual Convention of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars. Edited by Elizabeth Shaw. Washington, DC: The Fellowship of Catholic Scholars, 2012. 119-128.
_____. “Bonhoeffer and Delp: ‘The View from Below.’” In History (1933-1948): What We Choose to Remember. Edited by Margaret Monahan Hogan and James M. Lies, C.S.C. Portland, OR: University of Portland, 2011. 113-134.
_____. “Religious Mystery and Edmund Burke’s Untraveled Modernity.” In Fideles: The Proceedings of the Fideles Symposium 4 (2009). 25-36.
_____. “Beyond ‘Basket Weaving’: Christian Humanism and the Foundation of Freedom.” In The Foundation of Freedom: Teaching, Faith, and Service. Edited by Rev. William Hund, C.S.C. and Margaret Monahan Hogan. Portland, OR: University of Portland, 2006. 117-132.
