The future of America depends on the strengthening of its core institutions—its families and communities, its schools, churches, and synagogues. What role do Jews and Christians have to play in this effort of American renewal, both for the sake of the continuity of their own religious communities, but also for the sake of the larger society? Eric Cohen, the co-chair of the Jewish Leadership Conference and executive director of the Tikvah Fund, is joined by the president of the Philos Project, Robert Nicholson, in a conversation moderated by Yuval Levin, editor of National Affairs, to think practically and hopefully about the challenges that traditional religious communities face, and what steps they can take to strengthen the institutions upon which American confidence depends.
Eric Cohen
Eric Cohen is the President and CEO of Tikvah, where he has served in a leadership role since 2007. He is one of the founders and chairman of the board of Emet Classical Academy, and he has been involved in founding many publications, including the New Atlantis (where he continues to serve as editor-at-large), the Jewish Review of Books, and Mosaic magazine (where he serves as publisher). He was also instrumental in building Tikvah’s operations in Israel, and he serves on the board of directors of the Ethics and Public Policy Center and the Hertog Foundation. Mr. Cohen writes regularly in numerous academic and popular journals, magazines, and newspapers, and is the author of In the Shadow of Progress: Being Human in the Age of Technology (2008) and co-editor of The Future Is Now: America Confronts the New Genetics (2002). He was previously managing editor of the Public Interest and served as a senior advisor to the President’s Council on Bioethics.
Robert Nicholson
Robert Nicholson is the Executive Director of The Philos Project, an American nonprofit that seeks to promote positive Christian engagement in the Middle East. Robert is also the co-publisher of Providence: A Journal of Christianity and American Foreign Policy. He holds a BA in Hebrew Studies from Binghamton University, and both a JD and MA in Middle Eastern history from Syracuse University. A former U.S. Marine and a 2012-2013 Tikvah Fellow, Robert has published articles in, among other places, Mosaic, The American Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. His work focuses on spreading the vision of a multi-ethnic and multi-religious Middle East based on freedom and rule of law.