Professors Driessen and Bailey Publish on Religion and Politics

Professor Michael Driessen

Professor Michael Driessen

John Cabot University Professors Michael Driessen and Tom Bailey recently published two works they co-authored. Both stem from a conference Professors Driessen and Bailey organized at John Cabot in June 2014, “Rethinking Political Catholicism.”

The first publication is a special edited volume with the Journal of Modern Italian Studies which collects four papers that were originally presented at the conference and developed across subsequent workshops. Professors Driessen and Bailey edited the volume and wrote its introduction.

The second publication is an article they co-wrote for the journal Constellations. Professors Bailey and Driessen originally presented the article together at the European University Institute on a workshop on religion and foreign policy-making and in subsequent conferences in both the US and Europe.

The professors have kept up a working group around these themes, hosting a small conference at the University of Rome “Roma Tre” in Fall 2016, and plan to organize another conference at JCU for the upcoming semester.

Professor Tom Bailey

Professor Tom Bailey

The work of Professors Bailey and Driessen has received important recognition from scholars working on religion and politics in Europe and the United States and led to several interviews on the contemporary nature and future of Catholic politics in Italy and elsewhere.

Read the article “Oltre l’Opzione Benedetto” in Italian and the English translation “Beyond the Benedict Option.”

Tom Bailey is Associate Professor of Philosophy. He studied Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at Oxford and received his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Warwick. At John Cabot, Professor Bailey teaches courses in political philosophy, ethics and business ethics, modern and contemporary philosophy, the philosophy of art, and humanities research methods.

Michael Driessen is Associate Professor and chair of the department of Political Science and International Affairs at John Cabot University, Rome, where he also co-directs the University’s Interfaith Initiative. Professor Driessen’s research focuses on the role of public religions in Catholic and Muslim societies, and he teaches courses on Religion and Politics, Middle East Politics, and War, Peace and Conflict Resolution.