Jacob Wolf

Jacob Wolf is a founding faculty member of the University of Austin, where he is Assistant Professor of Politics in the Center for Economics, Politics, and History. He was previously Assistant Professor of Government in the Honors College and the College of Arts and Sciences at Regent University, where he also served as the Associate Director of the Lincoln Program in America's Founding Ideals. Before these positions, Jacob was the 2020-2021 John and Daria Barry Postdoctoral Fellow in the James Madison Program at Princeton University.  

He received his Ph.D. in political science from Boston College in 2020, double majoring in political theory and American politics. His current research employs insights from those two disciplines to understand contemporary changes in American religious beliefs and practices. In particular, he studies the social and religious ramifications of individualism—especially expressive individualism.  His overall scholarly objective is to demonstrate how ideas and presuppositions about human nature have profound consequences for both individuals and society.

His academic writing has been published in Perspectives on Political Science, Political Science Reviewer, Interpretation, and The Public Discourse. His book manuscript, tentatively-titled "Harmonizing Heaven and Earth," argues that individualism—and not secularization—is responsible for large scale changes in American religion.  He has been awarded scholarly fellowships from The Philadelphia Society, the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, the Jack Miller Center, the Philos Project, and the Institute for Humane Studies.  He is the 2022 recipient of the Jack Miller Center's Award for Excellence in Civic Education as well as the 2018 Donald J. White Award for Teaching Excellence from Boston College.