Alexander Mason, Ph.D.

Biography

Dr. Mason began teaching for Liberty in 2012 and currently serves as the Associate Dean of Residential Programs in the College of Arts & Sciences. Previously, he was the Department Chair for Interdisciplinary Studies. Born and raised in Lynchburg, he attended LU as an Honors Scholar for a degree in Government and then held political jobs in Lynchburg and Richmond. After earning graduate degrees in Ethics and Theology at seminaries in North Carolina and Kentucky, he moved back to Virginia and completed graduate degrees in Public Policy and Church History. Later, he and his family moved to Scotland to pursue a PhD at King’s College, University of Aberdeen. His doctoral work on political ethics explored resistance to tyranny, informed by the doctrine of the lesser magistrate formulated in the Magdeburg Confession of 1550.

His current research interests span political ethics, technological ethics, biomedical ethics, and sixteenth-century history. Experienced in curriculum design and teaching, he has developed and taught courses on the ethics of artificial intelligence, just war theory, and political philosophy. In 2024, he received the President’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. Outside of academia, he enjoys spending time with his family, collecting antique militaria, and working outdoors on his tractor.

Research Expertise & Interests

 Selected Presentations & Publications

• Ethics Panelist, “God, Man, & AI: The Christian Worldview of AI” | Liberty University Law Review Symposium | Lynchburg, Virginia | March 1, 2025
• “Beyond the Algorithm: Preserving Human Worth and Moral Compass in the AI Era” | Liberty Journal, Winter/Spring 2025
• With Christopher Jaus, “Why AI Will Never Be ‘I’: A Split-Brain Cartesian Conversation” | Evangelical Philosophical Society National Conference | San Diego, California | November 20-22, 2024
• “Christ and Caesar in Conflict: Magdeburg’s Bekenntnis and the Survival of Luther’s Reform” | University of Aberdeen Postgraduate Research Symposium | King’s College, Aberdeen, Scotland | 31 May, 2021
• With Sarah Rice, “Pursuing God and the Good: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Cultural Engagement Through Biblical Ethics and Writing” | Faith and the Academy 5, no. 1 (2020)
• “Mutiny at Magdeburg: Lutheran Political Resistance as Framed by Theology” | RefoRC Conference on Early Modern Christianity | Fondazione per le Scienze Religiose Giovanni XXIII, Bologna, Italy | 15-17 May, 2019
• “The Historical Formation of Luther’s Political Ethic” | Society for the Study of Christian Ethics Postgraduate Conference | University of Durham, England | 1 April, 2019
• “The Problem with Discriminating Against Pro-Life Students” |The Gaudie, 17 November, 2018
• “City Celebrations: 31 October 2017, Wittenberg, Germany” | Sixteenth Century Journal XLVIII, no. 4 (Winter 2017): 1011-12

University Service

Courses Taught