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Eric Patterson

Department of Government

Eric Patterson, Ph.D. is Assistant Director of the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and has a visiting appointment in the Department of Government. He is also the Project Consultant for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs’ Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy Task Force. His research and teaching focuses on religion and politics, ethics and international affairs, and just war theory in the context of contemporary conflict. He is the author or editor of five books, including Just War Thinking: Morality and Pragmatism in the Struggle Against Contemporary Threats (Lexington Books, 2007) and the edited volume Christianity and Power Politics Today (Palgrave Macmillan, 2008).

 Prior to coming to the Berkley Center, Patterson spent three years working for the Federal government. He served as a White House Fellow and Special Assistant to the Director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (2007-2008) and before that was on university leave of absence as William C. Foster Fellow in the State Department’s Bureau of Political and Military Affairs, where he worked on international small arms and light weapons security issues (2005-2007). Previously he was on the faculty at Vanguard University in California.

Patterson earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of California at Santa Barbara, an MSc in International Politics from the University of Wales at Aberystwyth, and B.A. degrees in Biblical Studies and Music Education from Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri.

Patterson’s first sole authored book, Latin America’s Neo-Reformation (Routledge, 2005), considers the influence that religious affiliation, devoutness, and religiosity have on political engagement, participation, and attitudes in Latin America. He has also edited two volumes on Christian realism: one on Cold Warrior Christian realists like Reinhold Niebuhr and John Foster Dulles (The Christian Realists (University Press of America, 2004)), and a later volume applying Christian realism to contemporary political debates on globalization, conflict, and international institutions (Christianity and Power Politics Today (2008)). He has published in numerous journals such as Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, International Politics, International Relations, Security Studies, Journal of Diplomacy and International Affairs, International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, Ethnos Brasil: Cultura e Sociedade, Latin American Politics and Society, and Journal of Political Science.

Patterson is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a member of various scholarly associations, and has been awarded Calihan and Rotary Ambassadorial Fellowships.