
Dr. David Ryden
David Ryden joined the Hope College political science faculty in 1994. In that time, he has published numerous books and articles on such topics as the Supreme Court and the electoral process, religious liberty, faith-based sector/governmental partnerships and other questions at the intersection of religion and politics. He is the author of The U.S. Supreme Court and the Electoral Process (Georgetown University Press) and, most recently, Is the Good Book Good Enough?: Evangelical Perspectives on Public Policy. His expertise in the realm of electoral politics garnered him significant media attention this presidential cycle, with his insights appearing on CNN, in The Christian Science Monitor, U.S. News and World Report, and The New York Times.
Dr. Ryden has a B.A. from Concordia College (Moorhead, Minnesota), a law degree from the University of Minnesota law school, and a Ph.D. from The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C.
He is married to Jennifer Merriman Ryden, a local Reformed Church in America pastor, and they have four children. His leisure activities consist mostly of vicarious enjoyment of his kids’ exploits, but he also enjoys coaching softball, teaching his kids piano (for now!) and on occasion standing in as a church musician.
Read Dr.David Ryden’s Essays

It has been said that Marbury v. Madison is the most significant case ever decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. The accolade may be overstated because the legal dispute between Marbury and Madison was left unresolved.
Political thinking in the modern democratic era easily lends itself to the reliance on simplifying labels – in other words, ideologies.
Last year I decided to fix our deck. It’s big, about 600 square feet, nine feet off the ground, and it was falling apart. Joists were rotting, and the whole thing was resting on one beam, when there should’ve been three. My foot went through the floor a couple of times.
In this essay, one of our student authors examines how Roman ideals of civic duty and freedom influenced the Federalist and Anti-Federalist debates, revealing their lasting impact on America's founding and modern democracy.
Biographer Ron Chernow explains, “Mark Twain has long been venerated as an emblem of Americana.” In this fascinating biography, Chernow explains why. Though the book runs to 1200 pp, it never becomes tedious; on the contrary, it is an enthralling read.
Until recently, anyone who believed there was anything fishy about the U.S. organ donation system was labeled a conspiracy theorist. Yet now the old adage: “What’s the difference between conspiracy and truth? About six months,” rings true again, as so-called conspiracy theorists have been proven right by none other than the federal Health and Resources Services Administration (HRSA) itself.
“War made the state,” said the political scientist Charles Tilly, “and the state made war.” Tilly was talking about actual states, but the same could be said about metaphorical states: states of mind, or perhaps of the soul.