Christians and many conservatives have a deep ambivalence about Ayn Rand that probably draws as deeply from the facts of her biography as from her famous novels. When the refugee from the old Soviet Union met the Catholic William F. Buckley, she said, "You are too intelligent to believe in God." Her atheism was militant. Rand's holy symbol was the dollar sign. Ultimately, Buckley gave Whittaker Chambers the job of writing the National Review essay on Rand's famous novel that effectively read her and the Objectivists out of the conservative movement. The review characterized Rand’s message as, "To a gas chamber, go!" Chambers thought Rand's philosophy led to the extinction of the less fit.
In truth, the great Chambers (his Witness is one of the five finest books I've ever read) probably treated Rand's work unfairly.
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Hunter Baker, J.D., Ph.D. is the winner of the 2011 Michael Novak Award conferred by the Acton Institute which has been rated as one of the top global think tanks. He is the author of The End of Secularism (Crossway Academic, 2009). The book has been widely reviewed and commented upon in print by Books & Culture, Touchstone, Christianity Today, and The Washington Times and online at First Things and National Review. It was endorsed by David Dockery, Robert Sirico, Francis Beckwith, Herbert London, Russell Moore, Jennifer Roback-Morse, and Glenn Stanton prior to publication and has subsequently been cited favorably by the New York Times bestselling novelist Andrew Klavan and D.A. Carson.
Dr. Baker serves as associate dean of arts and sciences and associate professor of political science at Union University. He was selected to deliver the endowed Gheens Lectures titled "The System Has a Soul" at Southern Seminary in 2010.
Baker is the co-founder of The City, a journal of Christian thought and is a contributing editor to Salvo. His work either has appeared or is scheduled to appear in the Journal of Law and Religion, the Journal of Markets & Morality, Touchstone, Themelios, Religion & Liberty, The Regent University Law Review, The American Spectator, and a wide variety of other publications. He is also the author of book chapters in edited volumes from David Dockery, John Mark Reynolds, and Donald Schmeltekopf.
Hunter Baker holds the bachelor of science in economics and political science from Florida State University, the master of public administration from the University of Georgia, the doctor of jurisprudence from the University of Houston, and the doctor of philosophy in religion, politics, and society from Baylor University. He served as president of the Florida State University chapter of Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship as an undergraduate.
