He appears regularly on the BBC’s “World Have Your Say” and since 1996 has served as a commentator on religion and politics for National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.”

Joseph Loconte, the prolific writer, speaker, and scholar, will become a full time professor this fall at The King’s College—New York City. He will teach a freshman course on Western Civilization as well as an advanced course on American Foreign Policy.

Loconte has been a Visiting Professor at The King’s College during the 2009-2010 academic year and has also taught at Pepperdine University. He appears regularly on the BBC’s “World Have Your Say” and since 1996 has served as a commentator on religion and politics for National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.”

Loconte is an expert on the role of religion in American democracy, faith and U.S. foreign policy, and international human rights. He writes about the importance of religious freedom in strengthening democracy, human rights, and civil society. He also serves as a senior fellow at the Trinity Forum in Washington, D.C.

He previously served as a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington, D.C. From 1999 to 2006, Joe held the first chair in religion as the William E. Simon Fellow at the Heritage Foundation, where he wrote extensively about religion and politics.

Joe has testified before Congress on international human rights and served as a human rights expert for the 2005 Congressional Task Force on the United Nations, contributing to its final report, “American Interests and U.N. Reform.” He also has served as an advisor on human rights and U.N. reform to British MP Andrew Mitchell, Shadow Secretary of State for International Development.

From 2001-2003, he was an informal advisor to the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

Dr. Marvin Olasky, provost at The King’s College, said, “Joe Loconte has carved out a unique role for himself as a public intellectual. He speaks authoritatively to the mainstream media about what’s happening at the intersection of politics and religion. It’s great to have him at King’s.”

A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Loconte earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana and has a master’s degree in Christian history and theology from Wheaton College. He is completing his Ph.D. in history at the University of London.

The King’s College is a Christian college located in the Empire State Building in New York City.