Madeleine Armstrong received a Ph.D. in History from Trinity College, Cambridge. She was recently a research project manager and lecturer at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford University. At Princeton, she will prepare the manuscript of her book, Love & Duty in the Political Thought of Edmund Burke. Her research is focused on the family in the history of political thought, especially in the writings of Edmund Burke and in the conservative tradition. She also studies the Enlightenment, the French Revolution, and the origins of the political Left and Right. Armstrong is from Vancouver, Canada, and completed her undergraduate degree in History and English with distinction at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

Amanda Arulanandam received her Ph.D. in Political Science at the University of Toronto, where she completed a dissertation on St. Augustine's examination of humility in political life. Prior to coming to Princeton, Arulanandam was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Notre Dame's Center for Philosophy of Religion.

While at Princeton, Arulanandam will continue to work on her monograph, The City of the Humble: On the Politics of the Lowly. Building on her doctoral work, this book will examine the status of the "lowly" in political life through the lens of several figures in the history of political thought.

Evelyn Boyden’s research studies early modern theories of the origin and limits of political obligation, particularly as these theories bear on the relationship between political and religious authority. Her current project examines these themes in the thought of King James I, especially in the context of his prolonged debate with Jesuit political thinkers. Boyden holds a Ph.D. in Political Theory from Harvard University and a B.A. from Georgetown University, where she studied Political Theory and Theology.

Nathan Davis’s research focuses on early modern theories of the relationship between constitutional design and civic culture. His dissertation, “Educating Anxious Minds: Locke and Montesquieu on Civic Formation,” compares Locke's and Montesquieu’s understandings of the psychological preconditions to responsible citizenship. Outside of his primary research, he is also interested in ancient political thought and contemporary philosophies of technology. 

Davis holds a Ph.D. in political theory from Boston College and a B.A. in political science from Colorado College.

Djair Dias Filho’s research focuses on the intersection of Jewish, Christian and pagan traditions in Antiquity, with special interest in Philo of Alexandria. Dias Filho’s dissertation, titled “Herakles and the Jews: Encounters with a Divine Hero in Antiquity”, offers a comprehensive study on the presence of Herakles (also known as Hercules) in ancient Judaism. By analysing literary and material sources, it addresses issues of religious accommodation, cultural assimilation, and social integration of a major demographic group in Hellenistic and Roman times.

Before completing his Ph.D. in Religions of Mediterranean Antiquity at Princeton University, Dias Filho studied Classics at the University of São Paulo (BA) and completed graduate degrees in theology and religious studies at Oxford (PGDip), Edinburgh (MTh), and Yale (MAR). He also spent one year as an exchange student at the Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg.

Mary M. Keys is Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame (Indiana, United States). Keys works in political theory and the history of political thought with a focus on Christianity, ethics, and politics. She is the author of two books, both published by Cambridge University Press: Aquinas, Aristotle, and the Promise of the Common Good (2006) and Pride, Politics, and Humility in Augustine’s City of God (2022). Her current scholarship includes a study of the impact of Augustine’s thought on humility in medieval and early modern political thought and a Cambridge “Element” on political aspects of Augustine’s scriptural commentaries. Keys has been a visiting scholar at the University of Chicago and Harvard University. Her M.A. and Ph.D. are from the University of Toronto and her B.A. is from Boston College.

Samuel Mead’s research focuses on ancient and early modern political philosophers’ treatments of the significance of our mortality. His dissertation, “The Political Psychology of Mortality in Plato’s Laws,” discusses how the proposed law code in Plato’s longest dialogue shapes its imaginary citizens’ views of death. A lover of the Great Books, Mead has taught for the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Study of Core Texts and Ideas. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Political Theory from the University of Texas at Austin and a B.A. in Liberal Arts from St. John’s College (Santa Fe, NM).

Matthew K. Reising received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Baylor University, where he also served as a Predoctoral Teaching Fellow and was the Assistant Director of the Zavala Program for Constitutional Studies. His research examines constitutional government through ancient Greek and Roman political history, medieval political philosophy, and American political thought.

While at the Madison Program, Reising will work on his first book project, which examines Greek and Persian freedom in the political thought of Herodotus. He will also continue research on Plutarch’s conception of virtue and philanthropy as well as a project on the American abolitionist’s pamphlet refutations of John C. Calhoun and George Fitzhugh.

Reising’s work has appeared in the academic journals American Political Thought, Polis: The Journal for Ancient Greek and Roman Political Thought, The Journal of Ecumenical Studies, Perspectives on Political Science, and as a chapter in the edited volume Constitutionalism and Liberty: Essays in Honor of David K. Nichols (Lexington Books, 2024). His research has won professional awards, including the American Political Science Association’s 2023 Best Article in the Journal of American Political Thought, which was awarded to his paper “James Otis and the Glorious Revolution in America.”

Bridget Safranek Knuffke completed her Ph.D. at The Catholic University of America’s School of Philosophy under the direction of F. Russell Hittinger. Her research focuses on Aquinas’s moral philosophy, particularly his thought on punishment. Her dissertation, “Thomas Aquinas on Medicinal Punishment” examines Aquinas’s comparison of punishment to medicine and its implications for contemporary social theory. She holds a B.A. in philosophy from the University of Dallas and a Ph.L. in philosophy from The Catholic University of America, and has been a graduate fellow with the Lilly Network and the Institute for Human Ecology.