Steele Brand

Steele Brand is Assistant Professor of History at The King’s College in New York City, where he teaches courses on the ancient Mediterranean world and medieval Europe. He received his PhD from Baylor University, his MA from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and his BA from Texas A&M University. He previously served as the Director of Undergraduate Fellows for the Clements Center for National Security and as a tactical intelligence officer. Brand's research focuses on the relationship between farming, citizenship, and soldiering. Constitutional polities—especially premodern, agrarian republics—cultivated a unique set of virtues and a deadly form of civic militarism that created tough citizens who were as involved in politics as they were proficient at defending their political system. Brand has written on these themes in Killing for the Republic: Citizen-Soldiers and the Roman Way of War. He has also published articles in journals such as Religions and Humanitas about how this premodern ideal of citizen-soldiers has informed and inspired modern republics, particularly the United States. His teaching explores how the public life of the spirit binds people together within a polity. His classes also emphasize how these polities or collections of polities (civilizations) intersect in the great diplomatic and military events of history. And because the lives of specific individuals so often reflect and define this broader narrative, he uses anecdotes, primary source readings, and film to illuminate how certain men and women—often unexpectedly—directed the course of their people’s story. For more information about Steele and his research, see steelebrand.com.