Author Matthew Stewart will discuss his book, “Nature’s God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic,” at the Constitution Day lecture Thursday, Sept. 24, at 11:45 a.m. in 201 Riley Hall at Linfield College.
In addition to “Nature’s God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic,” Stewart is also the author of “The Courtier and the Heretic: Leibniz, Spinoza, and the Fate of God in the Modern World” and “The Management Myth: Debunking Modern Business Philosophy.”
In “Nature’s God,” Stewart draws on the study of European philosophy in pursuit of a genealogy of the philosophical ideas that inspired the American revolutionaries. Along the way, he uncovers the true meanings of “Nature’s God,” “self-evident” and many other phrases crucial to our understanding of the American experiment but now widely misunderstood.
Stewart, who lives in Boston, Mass., graduated from Princeton University with a concentration in political philosophy and was awarded the Sachs Scholarship from Princeton for study at Oxford University, where he earned a D.Phil. in philosophy
Lunch will be available at 11:45 a.m. on a first-come, first-served basis. Stewart’s talk will begin at noon, followed by a question and answer session. Stewart will also meet with Linfield students to discuss his intellectual journey and provide advice on research and writing.
The lecture is free and open to the public and sponsored by the Frederick Douglass Forum on Law, Rights, and Justice at Linfield College and the Office of Academic Affairs. For more information, contact Nick Buccola, associate professor of political science, 503-883-2246, nbuccol@linfield.edu.
