Contact Information
Biography
Luke C. Sheahan is assistant professor of political science at Duquesne University and a non-resident scholar at the Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society at the University of Pennsylvania. He teaches courses in public law and American politics. Sheahan's research focuses on First Amendment rights, with special focus on the freedom of association. In addition to his work on freedom of association, Sheahan has also published on academic freedom and various figures in twentieth century political and social thought, especially the American sociologist Robert Nisbet. He has lectured extensively on religious liberty, freedom of speech, and freedom of association at colleges and universities across the country.
Sheahan received his bachelor's degree from the Honors College at Oregon State University and his MA and PhD from the Catholic University of America. Before coming to Duquesne, he spent two years at Duke University as a postdoctoral research associate and one year at Wellesley College as a postdoctoral research fellow and associate director of the Freedom Project.
Education
Ph.D., The Catholic University of America, 2016M.A., The Catholic University of America, 2012
B.A., University Honors College at Oregon State University, 2006
Profile Information
Book: Why Associations Matter: The Individual, the State, and the Freedom of Associations. Forthcoming from the University Press of Kansas.
"Plato, Democratic Man, and the Condition of the American University," (co-authored with Clyde Ray) (forthcoming in edited volume, 2019).
"Conservative, Pluralist, Sociologist: Robert Nisbet's Burke," Studies in Burke and His Time (forthcoming, 2019).
"The State as Historical Necessity: Robert Nisbet's Critique of Developmentalism," Political Science Reviewer, Vol. XLII, No. 2 (2018).
"The First Amendment Dyad and Christian Legal Society v. Martinez: Getting Past ‘State' and ‘Individual' to Help the Court ‘See' Associations," Kansas Journal of Law and Public Policy, Vol. XXVII, No. 2 (Spring 2018).
"The Shared Humanism of Irving Babbitt and C.S. Lewis: Will and Imagination in That Hideous Strength," Humanitas, XXIX, Nos. 1 and 2 (2016), Pgs. 6-42.
"Guardians of the Word: Kirk, Buckley, and the Conservative Struggle with Academic Freedom," Humanitas: Volume XXV, Nos. 1 and 2 (2012), Pgs. 44-65.
II. Publications Under Review
"The Chartered Rights of Americans: First Amendment Rights in Historical Perspective." Under review at Humanitas.
"The Voluntary Association as an Antidote to Alienation." Under review at Perspectives on Political Science.
"CS Lewis and the Abolition of Man," book chapter for edited volume
III. Working Papers and Books
"Freedom of Economic Association: A First Amendment Reading of Lochner"
"The Ecumenical First Amendment: How the First Amendment Accommodates Liberals, Radicals, and Conservatives"
"Democracy? Liberalism? Truth?: The Non-Ideal Defense of Freedom of Speech"
Book: Pluralism and Toleration
IV. Book Reviews and Other Scholarly Articles
"Robert Nisbet: Reappraisal of a Political Sociologist," Introduction to Symposium on Robert Nisbet. Political Science Reviewer, Vol. XLII, No. 2 (2018).
Liberal Arts Track Summary, PS: Political Science and Politics, (July 2018).
Review of The Soul of the First Amendment by Floyd Abrams, The Independent Review, Vol. 22, No. 4 (Spring 2018).
Review of The Power of Glamour by Virginia Postrel, Anamnesis: No. 6 (2017), Pgs. 150-161.
Review of Rethinking the Teaching of American History ed. by Michael Federici, Anamnesis: No. 4 (2015), Pgs. 138-144.
Review of Unlearning Liberty: Campus Censorship and the End of American Debate by Greg Lukianoff, The Journal of Value Inquiry: Volume 47, Issue 1 (2013), Pgs. 167-173.