Faculty Profile for Dr. Kenneth L Grasso

Biography Section

Biography and Education

Dr. Kenneth L. Grasso is professor and department chair of Political Science at Texas State University. He earned his PhD in Political Science at Fordham University where he studied with Francis Canavan, S.J. His research interests include democratic theory, religion and politics, and Catholic social thought. He has edited a numerous books including The Future of the Catholic Church in the American Public Order (Steubenville, OH: Franciscan University Press, 2023), Rethinking Rights: Historical, Political, and Philosophical Perspectives (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2009), Defending the Republic: Constitutional Morality in a Time of Crisis (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 2022), and Catholicism and Religious Freedom: Contemporary Reflections on Vatican II’s Declaration on Religious Liberty (Lanham, MD: Sheed and Ward, 2006). His articles and commentaries have appeared in a variety of journals including First Things, Modern Age, The Catholic Social Science Review, The Review of Politics, Interpretation, and The Political Science Reviewer. He serves as First Vice-President of the Society of Catholic Social Scientists and on the editorial boards of The Catholic Social Science Review and The Political Science Reviewer.

Teaching Interests

American political culture, religion and American public life, liberalism & its critics, Alexis de Tocqueville on American democracy, modern totalitarian ideologies.

Research Interests

The intellectual and cultural foundations of democracy, the politics of religious pluralism, Catholicism and democracy.