Affiliated Scholar
Louisville, Kentucky

Influenced by the late Harvard University legal historian Harold Berman, Dr. Peter J. Richards’ scholarly interests are in international law, historical and natural law jurisprudence, law and religion, and political theology. Dr. Richards also has specialized expertise in military criminal law and tribunals. He is a Lieutenant Colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserve with active duty experience as a prosecutor, defender and staff judge advocate. Dr. Richards served as Associate Professor in Theology and Law at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky where he directed the Center for Law and Theology. Previously he served a one-year fellowship with Harold Berman at the Emory University School of Law, teaching and conducting research in the areas of legal history and international law. He also taught politics and Constitutional Law at the United States Air Force Academy, where he was Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Legal Studies. Dr. Richards’ scholarly articles and reviews have appeared in journals such as the Naval War College Review, Georgetown Journal of Law and Public Policy, Journal of Legal Studies, Journal of Law and Religion, and the Journal of Church and State, among others. His recent book is Extraordinary Justice: Military Tribunals in Historical and International Context (New York University Press, 2007). He graduated from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, with a bachelor’s degree in Medieval & Renaissance Studies and German (High Distinction Honors). He earned his Juris Doctor degree at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Later Dr. Richards pursued advanced graduate work at Yale Law School where he earned a Master of Laws degree and a Doctor of the Science of Law degree. A native of Michigan, he and his wife, Johanna, have four children.