Joseph Loconte

Joseph Loconte, PhD, is a Presidential Scholar in Residence at New College of Florida and the C.S. Lewis Scholar for Public Life at Grove City College. He also serves as a Senior Fellow at the Trinity Forum. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War: How J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Rediscovered Faith, Friendship, and Heroism in the Cataclysm of 1914-1918 (Harper Collins, 2015)

Mr. Loconte previously served as a an Associate Professor of History at the King’s College in New York City and as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University.

Mr. Loconte’s commentary on religion and public life appears in the nation’s leading journals and newspapers, including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, National Affairs, the New Criterion, National Geographic, Law and Liberty, the National Interest, and National Review. For 10 years he served as a commentator for National Public Radio’s All Things Considered. He was the winner of the 2017 Best Article award from the Tolkien Society for his article How J.R.R. Tolkien Found Mordor on the Western Front.

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"Many have written about Erasmus and religion. God, Locke, and Liberty is as good a statement as we are likely to get for Erasmus as the great inspiration of Locke’s thinking about religious liberty."

— Ian C. Harris, University of Leicester

"John Locke considered toleration ‘to be the chief characteristic mark of the true church.’ This book helps us to see Locke as he saw himself—a religious reformer in the tradition of Erasmus, calling his fellow believers to stop persecuting and start imitating ‘the perfect example of the Prince of Peace.’ There is much more to be said about Locke and toleration, but Loconte shows how the ethos of Christian humanism was used to tame post-Reformation religion, paving the way for the ameliorated Christianity of the Enlightenment."

— John Coffey, University of Leicester

"Loconte reconstructs the meaning of Locke’s ideas on religious toleration with exceptional clarity, erudition, and a dynamic, engaging style. He has the rare ability to make seventeenth century writings seem urgently relevant, without ever wrenching them out of their specific historical contexts."

— Ian McBride, King’s College London

"This is one of those rare books that scholars and ordinary lovers of history alike will profit from. And it comes not a moment too soon. In a world where the foundations of freedom are buckling under the weight of both religious and secular fanaticisms, this book cannot find too wide a readership."

— Greg Forster, Kern Family Foundation