Jonathan Chaplin is the first Director of the Kirby Laing Institute for Christian Ethics. He took up the position in September 2006. He is a specialist in Christian political thought, and has edited or co-edited three books and many articles in this field, intended both for academic and for wider audiences. From 1999-2006 he served as Associate Professor of Political Theory at the Institute for Christian Studies (ICS) in Toronto, Canada, holding the Dooyeweerd Chair in Social and Political Philosophy from 2004-6, and acting as Academic Dean from 2005-6. From 1990-1997 he was Tutor in Politics at Plater College in Oxford, and from 1997-8, Fellow in Christian Political Thought at Sarum College, Salisbury.

In 2006 he was appointed Senior Fellow of Cardus, and writes regularly for the Cardus worldview journal Comment. He read PPE at Pembroke College, Oxford, received an MPhil in Political Theory from ICS and a PhD from London School of Economics and Political Science. He has served on the board or advisory councils of several organisations working on the relationship between Christian faith and public life, including the Movement for Christian Democracy, Citizens for Public Justice (Canada), the Social Action Commission of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, the theology committee of the Canadian Ecumenical Jubilee Committee, and the Civitas Program of the Center for Public Justice (USA). In the 1990s has was a regular contributor to Third Way magazine and served a term on the Editorial Advisory Board. He is a member of the UK Evangelical Alliance’s Theology and Public Policy Advisory Council, a Consulting Editor of Evangelical Review of Society and Politics, and a manuscript reviewer for the US journal Review of Politics.

Chaplin has a Ph.D. from the London School of Economics and Political Science, and an M.Phil from the Institute for Christian Studies. He is completing a book on Herman Dooyeweerd's political thought, and is co-editor of Political Theory and Christian Vision: Essays in Memory of Bernard Zylstra. He has published scholarly articles on a range of topics in Christian political theory including pluralism, democracy, state and society, Reformed and Catholic political thought, as well as numerous popular articles.

Jonathon Chaplin has had a foundational impact on many of the ideas and projects that come from Cardus. He is one of the pioneers of integrating neo-Calvinist principles into political and social theory and practice. His active vision for political and social philosophy will bring traction, experience and insight to Cardus.

He is married to Dr. Adrienne Dengerink Chaplin, a specialist in Christian aesthetics, and they have two children, Paul (20), and Lucia (18).