Jerome C. Foss, PhD

About

Jerome C. Foss is Professor of Politics and Endowed Professor of Catholic Thought and Culture and the Director of the Saint Vincent Center for Catholic Thought and Culture. Foss grew up in Colorado and Montana before going to Texas for college and graduate school. He earned his bachelor’s degree at the University of Dallas in Politics and his master’s and doctorate at Baylor University in Political Science. He has been at Saint Vincent since 2011.

As the Director of the Center for Catholic Thought and Culture, Foss edits the in-house journal Conversatio, leads the Summer Institute in Rome, works with Dr. Michael Krom in leading the Benedictine Leadership Studies Program, organizes conferences, reading groups, panels, and speakers. In partnership with Fides et Ratio Seminars, Foss helps lead a week-long summer seminar. He also directs the interdisciplinary minor in Sanctity of Life.

Foss was also elected by the faculty to serve as the Director of the SVC Core Curriculum, a rule that he has held since 2023. In this capacity, he has worked with his colleagues to ensure that Saint Vincent students are receiving a robust Catholic education that includes courses in the primary disciplines of the liberal arts tradition.

Foss received the SGA Faculty award in 2021, the college’s prestigious Thoburn Award for excellence in teaching in 2021, and the college’s Projektenmacher Award for his work directing the Center for Catholic Thought and Culture in 2022. He serves on the Board of the Society for Catholic Social Scientists.

 

 

Education

PhD, MA, Baylor University
BA, University of Dallas

Courses

Introduction to American Government
Congress and Public Policy
Constitutional Law
Classical Political Thought
Modern Political Thought
Catholic Political Thought
Shakespeare as a Political Thinker
What is Political Science

Selected Publications

Foss has authored two books. Most recently his Flannery O’Connor and the Perils of Governing by Tenderness was published by Lexington Press as part of its Literature and Politics Series. His earlier book is Constitutional Democracy and Judicial Supremacy: John Rawls and the Transformation of American Politics.

“Introduction to The Life and Miracles of St. Benedict,” in Saints of the First Monasteries (Ascension Press, 2025).

 “Macbeth and Christian Rule,” in Constitutionalism and Liberty: Essays in Honor of David K. Nichols (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2025).

 “The Incredibles and Tocqueville: Preserving Human Excellence in Democratic Times” in Hollywood’s Western Union: The Politics of Blockbuster Films (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2025).

 “Dobbs and Civilization,” The Catholic Social Science Review 28 (2023).

Republic Friendship and the Common Good,” Readings in American Government, Mary Nichols, David Nichols, and Kevin Burns, eds. (2022)

“It is Right and Just is Wrong on Justice and the American Founding,” The Catholic Social Science Review 27(2022).

“The Moral Imagination in Flannery O’Connor and Russell Kirk,” The Political Science Reviewer 45. 2 (2021): 427-452.

“On Reading James Madison: Constitutional Republican or Democratic Theorist?” in Democracy and the History of Political Thought (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2021).

“Orestes Brownson and the Liberal Tradition in America,” The Catholic Social Science Review 26 (2021): 77-87.

“The Intellectual Affinity of Flannery O’Connor and Alexis de Tocqueville,” American Political Thought 9.2 (Spring 2020): 317-334.

“Revisiting Shakespeare’s Timon of Athens with Leo Paul S. de Alvarez” Ramify (2019), 67-77. “The Contemplative Mentality in Flannery O’Connor’s ‘Good Country People,’” The Catholic Social Science Review 22 (2017): 237–247.

“Madison, Lincoln, and Civic Education,” Expositions 10.1 (2016), 80–98.

“Is Justice Possible Without God?” in John Rawls and Christian Social Engagement: Justice as Unfairness, Anthony B. Bradley and Greg Forster, eds. (Lanham: Lexington Books, 2015).

“Economics and Political Thought,” in CQ Press Encyclopedia of Modern Political Thought, Gregory Claeys, ed. (2013).

“Friendship and Politics in No Country for Old Men, Gran Torino, and Up,” Anamnesis 2.2 (2013), 72-99.

“Francisco Suárez, John Locke, and the Case for Toleration,” Perspectives in Political Science 42.2, (2013), 94-102 “Macbeth and Christian Rule,” in Constitutionalism and Liberty: Essays in Honor of David K. Nichols (Lanham: Lexington Books, Forthcoming).

“The Incredibles and Tocqueville: Preserving Human Excellence in Democratic Times” in Hollywood’s Western Union: The Politics of Blockbuster Films (Lanham: Lexington Books, Forthcoming).

“Introduction,” The Life and Miracles of St. Benedict (Ascension Press, 2024).

“Dobbs and Civilization,” The Catholic Social Science Review 28 (2023).

Expertise/Interests

American Political Thought
Catholic Political Thought
Literature and Politics
Political Philosophy