Our Scholars

The Faith and Liberty Discovery Center has assembled a distinguished scholarly team – top historians, religious experts and legal scholars from across the nation and around the world – who are helping shape and review the narrative experience of the Discovery Center’s exhibit galleries while ensuring full historical accuracy. These scholars also help plan ongoing development as well as participate in educational programs.

The scholars include a Pulitzer-prize winning author, an Ivy League university chaplain, a legal historian whose scholarship has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, a member of the federal commission that is planning the 2026 celebration that will mark the nation’s 250th birthday, the former chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and many others whose commentary has appeared in the nation’s top media outlets.

Dr. Chris Beneke
Dr. Chris Beneke

Professor of history and director of academic integrity, Bentley University

Joshua Charles, Esq.
Joshua Charles, Esq.

Author, independent researcher

Dr. Carli N. Conklin
Dr. Carli N. Conklin

Associate Professor at the University of Missouri’s School of Law and its Kinder Institute on Constitutional Democracy

Dr. Jesse Covington
Dr. Jesse Covington

Associate Professor of Political Science at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, California

Dr. Mark David Hall
Dr. Mark David Hall

Professor of Politics and Faculty Fellow in the William Penn Honors Program at George Fox University

Dr. David Hein
Dr. David Hein

Senior fellow, George Marshall Foundation

Dr. Thomas Kidd
Dr. Thomas Kidd

The James Vardaman Professor of History at Baylor University and Associate Dir. of their Institute for Studies of Religion.

Rev. Dr. Nancy Koester
Rev. Dr. Nancy Koester

Independent researcher and writer

Dr. Elise Leal
Dr. Elise Leal

Assistant professor of early American history, Whitworth University

Dr. Michael Lee
Dr. Michael Lee

Grace F. Kea Associate Professor of American history, chair of the history department, Eastern University

Dr. Wilfred McClay
Dr. Wilfred McClay

G.T. and Libby Blankenship Chair in the History of Liberty, University of Oklahoma

Dr. Glenn A. Moots
Dr. Glenn A. Moots

Professor and chairman, philosophy and political science director, Forum for Citizenship and Enterprise, Northwood University

Dr. Jeffry A. Morrison
Dr. Jeffry A. Morrison

Professor of American studies at Christopher Newport University, and director of academics at the James Madison Foundation

Dr. Andrew Murphy
Dr. Andrew Murphy

Professor of Political Science at Virginia Commonwealth University

Rev. Dr. John R. Norwood
Rev. Dr. John R. Norwood

Pastor, Missiologist, Tribal Leader

Dr. Carl J. Richard
Dr. Carl J. Richard

Professor of history, University of Louisiana at Lafayette

Dr. Eran Shalev
Dr. Eran Shalev

Professor and chair of the department of general history at the University of Haifa, Israel

Dr. Sarah Morgan Smith
Dr. Sarah Morgan Smith

Ashbrook Center Fellow and co-director of the center's Religion in American History and Politics project

Walter Stahr, Esq.
Walter Stahr, Esq.

Author, Attorney

Dr. Karen Taliaferro
Dr. Karen Taliaferro

Assistant professor of political theory, School of Civic and Economic Thought, Arizona State University

Dr. Abraham Lee
Dr. Abraham Lee

Assistant Professor of Global Entrepreneurship and Information Communications Technology, Handong Global University

Dr. Steele Brand
Dr. Steele Brand

Assistant Professor of History at The King’s College

Dr. Daniel Mark
Dr. Daniel Mark

Assistant professor of political science at Villanova University