Fr. Justin Brophy, O.P.

• Born

  1985

• Alma Mater

  University of Notre Dame

• Hometown

  Totowa, New Jersey

Constitutional Studies

cbrophy@nd.edu

I am a PhD student in the Department of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame. My first subfield is Constitutional Studies and the second is Political Theory.

I received my BA in Philosophy from Notre Dame in 2006. After graduation, I entered the Order of Preachers (Dominicans). While preparing for the priesthood, I earned my Bachelor of Sacred Theology degree from the Pontifical Faculty of the Immaculate Conception (Washington DC) as well as my Master of Divinity and Licentiate in Sacred Theology from the same faculty. My licentiate focused on moral theology. My thesis, “Physical Premotion: Thomism, Efficacious Grace, and the New Theology of Jacques Maritain,” considers the problem of divine foreknowledge and human freedom as it pertains to moral action. After ordination to the priesthood in May 2012, I was assigned to Providence College as Associate Chaplain and Special Lecturer in the Department of Theology. There, I taught courses on the foundations of theology and the theology of the human person.

My research interests in political science are varied. I am especially concerned with philosophy of law and constitutional interpretation. These interests include specifically the history of natural law theory, the metaphysical foundations of natural law, natural law in American jurisprudence, and the erotic nature of law. These concerns are connected to my interests in political theory which include the political thought of Plato, Augustine, and Aquinas, the de-eroticization of political philosophy, and the role of community in the formation and maintenance of liberal democracy.