Kevin Vallier: From Physicalism To Christianity

An interview with Dr. Kevin Vallier on his philosophical journey to theistic belief and, ultimately, to Eastern Orthodoxy

In the following interview, Dr. Kevin Vallier offers an intellectual biography, an overview of his work the intersection of political philosophy and philosophy of religion, and explains how philosophy helped lead him back to belief in God, then to back Christianity — and, ultimately, to Eastern Orthodoxy. This is a prelude to a future discussion in which we'll focus more squarely on his contributions to political philosophy.

Kevin is currently Professor of Philosophy at the Institute of American Constitutional Thought and Leadership at the University of Toledo. In 2004, he earned his B.A. in philosophy (with a minor in economics) from Washington University in St. Louis in 2004, followed by a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Arizona in 2011. After a postdoctoral fellowship at Brown University's Political Theory Project, he served as an Assistant and then Associate Professor of Philosophy at Bowling Green State University from 2012 to 2024, when he moved into his current position at Toledo.

Kevin also maintains a Substack, “The Liberal Tortoise” (https://liberaltortoise.kevinvallier.com/), and has received accolades such as the 2023 Sanders Prize in the Philosophy of Religion.

For more on his work, visit his personal website: https://www.kevinvallier.com/. I’ve listed links to each of his books below the video.

Enjoy!

Liberal Politics and Public Faith: Beyond Separation (Routledge, 2014): https://www.routledge.com/Liberal-Politics-and-Public-Faith-Beyond-Separation/Vallier/p/book/9780415789738

Must Politics Be War? Restoring Our Trust in the Open Society (Oxford University Press, 2019): https://global.oup.com/academic/product/must-politics-be-war-9780190632830

Trust in a Polarized Age (Oxford University Press, 2020): https://global.oup.com/academic/product/trust-in-a-polarized-age-9780190887223

All the Kingdoms of the World: On Radical Religious Alternatives to Liberalism (Oxford University Press, 2023): https://global.oup.com/academic/product/all-the-kingdoms-of-the-world-9780197611371

Arguments for Liberty (co-edited with Aaron Ross Powell; Cato Institute, 2017): https://www.cato.org/books/arguments-liberty

Political Utopias: Contemporary Debates (co-edited with Michael Weber; Oxford University Press, 2017): https://global.oup.com/academic/product/political-utopias-9780190280598

Religious Exemptions (co-edited with Michael Weber; Oxford University Press, 2018): https://global.oup.com/academic/product/religious-exemptions-9780190666187

A New Theist Response to the New Atheists (co-edited with Joshua Rasmussen; Routledge, 2020): https://www.routledge.com/A-New-Theist-Response-to-the-New-Atheists/Vallier-Rasmussen/p/book/9781032085661

Social Trust (co-edited with Michael Weber; Routledge, 2021): https://www.routledge.com/Social-Trust/Vallier-Weber/p/book/9780367768089

Public Reason and Diversity: Reinterpretations of Liberalism (Cambridge University Press, 2022): https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/public-reason-and-diversity/5C78A30B6ACD6C8C67BF262B85819ED4