天涯海角社区

Christian
D..
Finnigan
Associate Professor and Chair, Politics, Philosophy, and History

Teaching at Cairn since 2025

Christian D. Finnigan

Education

  • PhD (cand.), McGill University
  • JD, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University
  • ThM, Erskine Theological Seminary
  • MDiv, Reformed Theological Seminary
  • MLitt, University of St Andrews
  • MA, University College London
  • BA, Randolph-Macon College
  • Additional Studies: University of Cambridge, Yale University, University of Virginia, King鈥檚 College London

Biography

Christian D. Finnigan is an intellectual historian whose work focuses on political thought within the Christian tradition, especially as it developed in early modern Europe. His research explores the theological and philosophical foundations of political authority in Reformation political thought, while also engaging broader currents in Anglo-American and European intellectual history. As a historian, he approaches political theory through historical sources and contexts, with particular attention to the interplay of law, religion, and political philosophy throughout the Western tradition. He is completing his PhD in Ecclesiastical History at McGill University, where his dissertation centers on the political thought of the Protestant Reformer Martin Bucer.

Before joining Cairn, he served as Assistant Professor of History and Politics at Colorado Christian University (CCU), where he was twice named Faculty Member of the Year, honored with the Junior Faculty Award, recognized as Student Organization Advisor of the Year, and chosen Professor of the Year by CCU student-athletes. He has also served as a Lecturer in Christian History at Davenant Hall, an Adjunct Professor of Government at Patrick Henry College, an Instructor in History at Sacred Heart University, and a Teaching Fellow in History at Yale University. He was an Emo F.J. Van Halsema Fellow at the H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies at Calvin University, a Visiting Assistant in Research at Yale University, and a Fellow at the Centennial Institute.

Finnigan also brings to Cairn a background in politics and ministry. His experience in politics includes positions on various political campaigns, most notably serving as Director of Ballot Access and Delegate Selection for the 2008 presidential campaign of Sen. Fred Thompson, serving as a White House Intern, and working for the American Conservative Union. His work in ministry includes serving as a pastoral apprentice at the Independent Presbyterian Church in Savannah, Georgia, working for the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and as a ministerial candidate in the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA), preaching in churches throughout the United States, England, Scotland, and Ireland.

The interdisciplinary Politics, Philosophy, and History program is critical to 天涯海角社区鈥檚 mission to educate students to serve Christ in the church, society, and the world as biblically minded, well-educated, and professionally competent men and women of character. Accordingly, Finnigan is excited to lead this department and help ground students in biblical, historical, and constitutional foundations.

Additional Information

Publications

鈥淭he Emergence of Liberty and History鈥檚 Theo鈥揚olitical Problem,鈥 in Generation to Generation: Writings in Honor of Douglas F. Kelly, eds. Matthew S. Miller and D. Blair Smith (Mentor, 2023).

Conference Presentations

  • 鈥淢artin Bucer and the History of Political Thought,鈥 Protestantism and the Modern Age (Religion and Politics), Southern Political Science Association, New Orleans, LA, January 12鈥14, 2018.
  • 鈥淧ersuasion or Coercion?: Magisterial Reformation in Martin Bucer鈥檚 De Regno Christi,鈥 Early鈥揗odern Political Theologies, Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, Milwaukee, WI, October 26鈥29, 2017.
  • 鈥淢agisterial Reformation and the Emergence of Political Liberalism,鈥 Problematizing Religious Diversity in a Secular Age, Centre for Research on Religion Graduate Conference, Montreal, QC, September 14鈥16, 2017.
  • 鈥淢agisterial Conversion?: Conversion and the Role of the Magistrate in the Political Thought of Martin Bucer,鈥 The Politics of Conversion Workshop III, CIDE & the Early Modern Conversions Project, Mexico City, Mexico, March 8鈥11, 2017.
  • 鈥淭he Marian Exiles and the Right of Resistance: The Grounds of Political Authority in the Thought of John Ponet, Christopher Goodman, and John Knox,鈥 The Reformation after 500 Years (Religion and Politics), Southern Political Science Association, New Orleans, LA, January 12鈥14, 2017.
  • De Regno Christi and the Two Martin Bucers,鈥 Visions of Religious and Political Order in Germany and England, Sixteenth Century Society and Conference, Bruges, Belgium, August 18鈥20, 2016.
  • 鈥淭he Geneva Bible and The Scottish Reformation,鈥 The Bible in the Reformation, Society for Reformation Studies Conference, University of Cambridge, UK, April 5鈥7, 2016.

 

Lectures, Invited Talks, and Public Engagement

  • 鈥淪aving Western Civilization in the Academy,鈥 Plenary Speaker, Western Conservative Summit, Denver, CO. 10 June 2023.
  • Invited Participant, C-SPAN鈥檚 2021 Presidential Historians Survey.
  • 鈥淩epublican, Imperialist, Radical, or Erastian? Evaluating the Contribution of Martin Bucer to Reformed Political Thought,鈥 H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies, Calvin University. Grand Rapids, MI. 18 July 2019.