William Harry Marshner (born August 14, 1943) is an American retired Emeritus Professor of Theology at Christendom College in Front Royal, Virginia. He is a former chairman of the Theology Department and a founding professor, who created that institution's theology and philosophy curricula. He has written extensively on ethics and Thomism, and is most widely read as the co-author of Cultural Conservatism: A New National Agenda.

Early life and education

Marshner was born in Baltimore on August 14, 1943. He attended Gettysburg College and went on to graduate study in Ancient Near Eastern Languages at Yale University with the intention of acquiring the ability to read the Scriptures in their original languages in preparation for a career in the Lutheran ministry. At Yale, Marshner became a prominent leader of campus conservatism, opposing the anti-Vietnam War movement and student radicalism of the late 1960s. He subsequently met L. Brent Bozell Jr., and Frederick D. Wilhelmsen at meetings of the Philadelphia Society. At Yale Graduate School, he was given a bursary job as night watchman in Sterling Memorial Library, where he read Thomas Aquinas. The combined influences of Bozell, Wilhelmsen, and Aquinas provoked a religious crisis, causing Marshner to question Lutheranism and to convert to the Catholic Church. He obtained an indult to change from the Roman to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church in 1975.

Career

Marshner left Yale, fed up with what he saw as the radical left-dominated campus atmosphere in 1971 to become editor of Triumph. He was contributing editor to The Wanderer from 1972 to 1975. He subsequently earned his M.A. in philosophy from the University of Dallas and S.T.L. and S.T.D. degrees from Pontifical Lateran University. With William S. Lind, Marshner wrote the 1987 book Cultural Conservatism: A New National Agenda, which Lew Daly has described as "a new principled framework for policies that would strengthen traditional religious culture". Writing for The Wall Street Journal, Ed Crane noted that the book was significant for its "open break with the Libertarian, individualistic, rights-oriented brand of conservatism" but called it "a deeply, dangerously flawed book". The National Review observed that the book had caused "a considerable stir in conservative circles and in the press" and called the book "intellectually and politically challenging". In her 2002 book Killing for Life: The Apocalyptic Narrative of Pro-life Politics, scholar Carol Mason credited Marshner as one of the "architects of cultural conservatism", which was a distinctive form of conservatism emphasizing morality and "privileging culture over economics". From 1977 until his retirement in 2014, Marshner taught theology at Christendom College.

Personal life

Marshner married Connaught Coyne, with whom he has four children, on October 19, 1973.

Awards

Woodrow Wilson Fellow, 1964–65 Yale University Fellow, 1965–69 Richard Weaver Fellow, 1975–76 The Cardinal Wright Award, 1979 Knighthood, Order of the Holy Sepulchre, 1997

Books

Articles