James W. Skillen is a Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

 theologian and author

Author

An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...

. He was the executive director

Executive director

Executive director is a term sometimes applied to the chief executive officer or managing director of an organization, company, or corporation. It is widely used in North American non-profit organizations, though in recent decades many U.S. nonprofits have adopted the title "President/CEO"...

 of the Center for Public Justice

Center for Public Justice

The Center for Public Justice is a Christian think tank which undertakes to bring a Christian worldview to bear on policy issues.It is rooted in the European Christian-political tradition of such Dutch figures as Guillaume Groen van Prinsterer, Abraham Kuyper, and Herman Dooyeweerd. James W...

 (a Christian policy thinktank) from 1981 to 2000, at which time he became president

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

. He helped found the organization in 1977.

Education

He pursued undergraduate studies at Wheaton College

Wheaton College (Illinois)

Wheaton College is a private, evangelical Protestant liberal arts college in Wheaton, Illinois, a suburb west of Chicago in the United States...

, Wheaton

Wheaton, Illinois

Wheaton is an affluent community located in DuPage County, Illinois, approximately west of Chicago and Lake Michigan. Wheaton is the county seat of DuPage County...

, Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, majoring in philosophy

Philosophy

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...

. He received a Bachelor of Divinity

Bachelor of Divinity

In Western universities, a Bachelor of Divinity is usually an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course taken in the study of divinity or related disciplines, such as theology or, rarely, religious studies....

 from the Westminster Theological Seminary

Westminster Theological Seminary

Westminster Theological Seminary is a Presbyterian and Reformed Christian graduate educational institution located in Glenside, Pennsylvania, with a satellite location in London.-History:...

, Chestnut Hill

Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Chestnut Hill is a neighborhood in the Northwest Philadelphia section of the United States city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.-Boundaries:Chestnut Hill is bounded as follows:...

, outside Philadelphia. Skillen then studied philosophy at the Free University of Amsterdam where he attended lecture

Lecture

thumb|A lecture on [[linear algebra]] at the [[Helsinki University of Technology]]A lecture is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history,...

s in the courses of Herman Dooyeweerd

Herman Dooyeweerd

Herman Dooyeweerd was a Dutch juridical scholar by training, who by vocation was a philosopher and the founder of the philosophy of the cosmonomic idea. He received early support for his work from his brother-in-law D. H. Th. Vollenhoven...

, Professor of Law and renowned Christian philosopher. Skillen completed a doctorate

Doctorate

A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder to teach in a specific field, A doctorate is an academic degree or professional degree that in most countries refers to a class of degrees which qualify the holder...

 in political science

Political science

Political Science is a social science discipline concerned with the study of the state, government and politics. Aristotle defined it as the study of the state. It deals extensively with the theory and practice of politics, and the analysis of political systems and political behavior...

 at Duke University

Duke University

Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...

 under John Hallowell. Today Skillen is a scholar-practitioner in political science.

Skillen as author

Skillen has written much, both for the Christian public and for academic

Academia

Academia is the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research.-Etymology:The word comes from the akademeia in ancient Greece. Outside the city walls of Athens, the gymnasium was made famous by Plato as a center of learning...

 journals

Academic journal

An academic journal is a peer-reviewed periodical in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research...

. His works include The Scattered Voice: Christians at Odds in the Public Square, which was described as "remarkable" and "meticulously fair" by Mark Noll

Mark Noll

Mark A. Noll is a historian specializing in the history of Christianity in the United States. He holds the position of Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame...

, then professor of Wheaton College. Bruce Wearne has complied an extensive annotated bibliography of Skillen's writings: Public Justice for All:An annotated bibliography of the works of James W Skillen 1967-2008

Interfaith

In 2009, he signed a public statement encouraging all Christians to "read, wrestle with, and respond to Caritas in Veritate

Caritas in Veritate

Caritas in Veritate is the third encyclical of Pope Benedict XVI and his first social encyclical. It was signed on June 29, 2009, and was published on July 7, 2009...

" the social encyclical by Pope Benedict XVI.

External links

Skillen pages on All of Life Redeemed.

• His JASA articles