Dr. Stephen M. Krason, Esq., Franciscan University of Steubenville

Krason is Professor of Political Science and Legal Studies and Director of the Political Science Program at Franciscan University of Steubenville. He is also the co-founder and President (since 1992) of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, Publisher (since 1996) of the Society’s scholarly journal The Catholic Social Science Review (he also edits the “Public and Church Affairs” section of the Review), and Director of its M.Th. Program in Catholic Social Thought. He earned his B.A. at LaSalle College (now LaSalle University) (1976), M.A. (in political science), J.D. (1980), and Ph.D. (in political science, 1983) at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He also earned an M.A. in theology-religious education from Gannon University (1986). He joined the Franciscan University faculty in 1986 after serving for three years as Eastern Director of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

Krason is admitted to the bars of Massachusetts, Nebraska, the District of Columbia, and certain federal courts including the U.S. Supreme Court. In 1999, he co-authored an amicus curiae brief in Troxel v. Granville, the last major parental rights case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. He also is a member of the Boards of Directors of ParentalRights.org and the International Solidarity and Human Rights Institute.

Krason has authored these books: Abortion: Politics, Morality, and the Constitution (1984), which was an alternate selection of the Conservative Book Club; Liberalism, Conservatism, and Catholicism: An Evaluation of Contemporary American Political Ideologies in Light of Catholic Social Teaching (1991; rev. edn. 1994); Preserving a Good Political Order and a Democratic Republic: Reflections from Philosophy, Great Thinkers, Popes, and America's Founding Era (1998); and The Public Order and the Sacred Order: Contemporary Problems, Catholic Social Teaching, and the Western and American Traditions (2 vols., 2009, revised from the 2003 1-vol. edn.), which Library Journal called “an important contribution to Catholic social thought.” He recently completed the writing of another book, The Transformation of the American Democratic Republic, which traces how the American political order has been transformed from the democratic republic established by the Founding Fathers. It is currently under consideration for publication. He has also edited or co-edited the following books: Parental Rights: The Contemporary Assault on Traditional Liberties (1988); The Recovery of American Education: Reclaiming a Vision (1993); Catholic Makers of America: Biographical Sketches of Catholic Statesmen and Political Thinkers in America's First Century, 1776-1876 (1993, reprint 2006); We Hold These Truths and More: Further Catholic Reflections on the American Proposition (1993); and Defending the Family: A Sourcebook (1998). He is also one of four co-editors of the two-volume Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy (2007). In 2006, he also published a monograph in the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute’s “White Paper Series” entitled, The International Pro-Abortion Rights Litigation Strategy: An Anti-Democratic Secret Plan to Force Legalized Abortion on the World’s Governments. He is also a contributor to both American Conservatism: An Encyclopedia (2006) and the online version of The New Catholic Encyclopedia (2nd edn.) He has authored numerous articles, book chapters, and book reviews. His articles and reviews have appeared in such journals as The Catholic Social Science Review, Social Justice Review, Ethics and Medics, Faith and Reason, Journal of Catholic Legal Studies, Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy, and The Washington Times.

Krason has been listed in Who’s Who in the Midwest. For several years, he served as a consultant to the Pope John XXIII Medical-Moral Research and Education Center (now the National Catholic Bioethics Center) and has served as Coordinator of the Franciscan University’s Human Life Studies Academic Minor Program. He helped draw up both the University’s Human Life Studies and Humanities and Catholic Culture Programs. He previously served on the Board of Directors of the Fellowship of Catholic Scholars and on the Editorial Board of Markets and Morality. He also serves on the Board of Advisors of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights and the Catholic Education Resource Center. In 1997, he received Franciscan University’s “Campus Leadership and Teaching Award.” He has received research grants from the Wilbur Foundation, the Earhart Foundation, the Russell Kirk Center for Cultural Renewal/Educational Reviewer, Franciscan University of Steubenville, and the Witherspoon Institute. He was a visiting fellow in residence at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, N.J. during the 2008-09 academic year. He is also a member of the James Madison Society, an organization of distinguished scholars affiliated with the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions at Princeton University. In its entry on Franciscan University of Steubenville, Choosing the Right College (the college guide put out by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute) says he is “renowned as a conservative scholar of the Founding Fathers and the Constitution.”

Krason teaches courses in a number of fields in political science. His specialty areas are political philosophy, Catholic social teaching, American national government, American political thought, and American constitutional law. In the legal studies area, he also teaches jurisprudence. His publications have been in the above areas and on such topics as abortion and human life issues, education, false child abuse allegations, free speech and censorship, liberalism and conservatism, church-state questions, the thinking of the Founding Fathers, and American Catholic political history. He lives in the Steubenville, Ohio area with his wife Therese and their four children.