IRVING, TX (01/30/23) – Ryan T. Anderson, Ph.D., who is the university’s first St. John Paul II Fellow in Social Thought and has held the position since 2019, will give a lecture on natural law on Feb. 16.

Anderson’s lecture, titled, “What’s Really at Stake? Four Creational, Natural Law Truths that Underlie Today's Heated Debates,” will take place at 5 p.m. in the Multipurpose Room of SB Hall.

“Ryan Anderson is a leading voice of reason and exemplifies patience, careful attention to his interlocutors, and eloquence in navigating those current debates too often marked by the absence of civil discourse, ” said President Jonathan J. Sanford, Ph.D. “We are pleased to welcome him once again to campus for this important and timely lecture.”

Anderson currently serves as president of the Ethics & Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C., and was appointed last week to the New College of Florida Board of Trustees by the Florida Board of Governors. He is a member of the James Madison Society at Princeton University, a fellow of the Institute for Human Ecology at the Catholic University of America, and the founding editor of Public Discourse, the online journal of the Witherspoon Institute of Princeton, New Jersey.

In his lecture, Anderson will discuss “four essential truths” regarding the created nature of the human person.

“Underlying today's most contentious debates are four essential truths, knowable by reason but so important that God revealed them on the first pages of the Bible: that man is made in the image and likeness of God, that we are created male and female, that male and female are created for each other in marriage, and that we are created for communion with God,” Anderson stated.

“Each of these truths was utterly unobjectionable just a few decades ago, and now defending them comes with a cost — but a cost worth paying,” Anderson added. “These are truths essential to human dignity and human flourishing, justice and the common good.”

Anderson’s academic career includes teaching positions at Christendom College and a fellowship at Franciscan University’s Veritas Center. A frequent writer on family issues, Anderson’s prominent books include “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment.” His research has been cited by U.S. Supreme Court Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas.