Michael Breidenbach
Associate Professor of History, Ave Maria University
Prof. Michael Breidenbach is an historian of American religion and politics, an Associate Professor of History at Ave Maria University, and a Senior Affiliate for Legal Humanities at the Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of Our Dear-Bought Liberty: Catholics and Religious Toleration in Early America (Harvard University Press, 2021), which was runner-up for the Journal of the American Revolution Book of the Year Award. He is co-editor of The Cambridge Companion to the First Amendment and Religious Liberty (Cambridge University Press, 2020), which has been cited in U.S. Supreme Court amicus briefs. His writing has appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, and First Things. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge, is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and has appeared on national television and radio.
Talks and Topics
Catholics and the American Founding
The remarkable story of how a maligned religious minority overcame suspicions of disloyalty and became founders and framers of America
Catholic Influences on Religious Liberty in the American Founding
The surprising story of how early American Catholics transformed ideas of religious liberty at the American Founding, helping to form the First Amendment.
Religious Innovations in Early America
How religious diversity fostered political innovations in early America, including greater religious toleration, self-government, and liberties that would be later codified in the U.S. Constitution.
