Dr. Steven Alan Samson has been a professor of government at Liberty University since 1998. His research and writing focus on the European and American intellectual, cultural, and constitutional traditions, giving particular attention to their ideological challengers. Dr. Samson holds the B.A. and M.A. degrees in political science from the University of Colorado and the Ph.D. from the University of Oregon. Along the way he also obtained teacher certification, worked as a freelance writer/editor, and pursued graduate studies in history and library science. Since 1977, he has taught political science, history, geography, and humanities at a dozen colleges in half a dozen states: Oregon, Indiana, Michigan, Florida, Texas, and Virginia. After the Helms School of Government was founded in 2004, Dr. Samson served for three years as the department chairman. A native of Portland, Oregon, Dr. Samson has loved to travel for as long as he can remember. He also enjoys his wide-ranging library of books, periodicals, travel photography, and recordings of symphonic and chamber music. He and his wife Sally, who works as an R.N., own a grass-seed farm in Oregon’s Willamette Valley and live in an antebellum farmhouse in Virginia. They have four grown children and five grandchildren with one more due in December.
Articles
Religious Liberty in the Early American Republic, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2012)
The early nineteenth century in America was a period in which the idea of religious...
The Crisis of Our Age: An Update, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2012)
John Calvin recognized the moral hazard that arises when people are induced to act contrary...
Faustian Bargains: Entanglements between Church and State in America, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2011)
As the state extends its operations into all areas of social life, it breaches the...
The February Revolution of 2011: A Harbinger of Arab Spring, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2011)
Behold Arab Spring! Nature abhors political vacuums. Machiavelli himself recognized the brutal nature of what...
E Pluribus Unum?, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2010)
The following article contains large quotations that were in block indentations in the author’s manuscript...
Obiter Dicta
201103 OBITER DICTA: REAGAN CENTENARY IN FEBRUARY 2011, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2011)
Contributions to Books
Francis Lieber: Transatlantic Cultural Missionary, Francis Lieber: The Culture of the Mind (2005)
Lieber remained consistent in his commitment to institutional liberty. He had no notion of a...
Francis Lieber on the Sources of Civil Liberty (Chinese Translation), Humanitas: Rethinking It All (2003)
Dissertation
Bibliography to Crossed Swords: Entanglements between Church and State in America, Faculty Dissertations (1984)
Chapter 10 to Crossed Swords: Entanglements between Church and State in America, Faculty Dissertations (1984)
Chapter 11 to Crossed Swords: Entanglements between Church and State in America, Faculty Dissertations (1984)
Chapter 12 to Crossed Swords: Entanglements between Church and State in America, Faculty Dissertations (1984)
Popular Press
Assassination and the Death of Politics, The Bells (1995)
The assassination of Israeli's prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, moments after speaking of his hopes for...
Unpublished Papers
Transatlantic Exchange: Francis Lieber and His Contemporaries, Introduction to Librarianship, University of South Florida. (1995)
Lieber’s work covers a wide range of fields. In the field of political science, his...
Dorothy Sayers on “The Lost Tools of Learning”, Faculty Publications and Presentations (1993)
The key to education is “learning how to learn.” We must first stand on the...
Presentations
The Grapes of Parnassos, Liberty University Faculty Chapel (2007)
Western civilization is succumbing to the false fruits of cultural revolutions to which it has...
E Pluribus Unum?, International Forum on Democracy and Reform Through International Development (2006)
The nation-state—as opposed to its rivals—offers an opportunity to reconcile the old dilemma of unity...
Francis Lieber: Émigré Scholar, University Professors for Academic Order (1994)
If Francis Lieber (1798-1872) had been a tinkerer, like Thomas Alva Edison or George Westinghouse,...
Introduction to Political Economy, Juniata College (1991)
Economics is, in the first place, a science of human behavior and motivation. Tom Rose...
Study Guides
Robert D. Kaplan: The Revenge of Geography Study Guide, 2012-2013, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2013)
Roger Scruton: A Political Philosophy Study Guide, 2006-2012, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2012)
Pierre Manent: Democracy without Nations? The Fate of Self-Government in Europe Study Guide, 2012, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2012)
John Fonte: Sovereignty or Submission: Will Americans Rule Themselves or Be Ruled by Others? Study Guide, 2012, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2012)
Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn: Leftism: From De Sade and Marx to Hitler and Marcuse Study Guide, c. 1990-2012, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2012)
Syllabi
GOVT 430 – Comparative Economic and Political Ideas, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2010)
Teaching Aids
Readings on State-Instituted Education Compilation, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2000)
Bibliographies
American Constitutional History: Selected Bibliography, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2010)
Comparative Economic and Political Ideas: Bibliography, Faculty Publications and Presentations (2009)
Miscellany
Proposal for Research in the Francis Lieber Collection, Faculty Publications and Presentations (1994)
University Professors for Academic Order: Background, Faculty Publications and Presentations (1990)
Dr. Samson was elected a member of the board of directors of UPAO in 1990...