Rate My Professor Christopher Berger

Christopher Berger serves as part-time faculty in the Philosophy Department at Boston College, where he teaches Philosophy of Law. He earned his Ph.D. in Philosophy from Boston College in March 2021 under the supervision of Patrick Byrne. His dissertation, titled 'Method in Legitimation: Exploring Lonergan’s Political Thought,' proposes an expanded interpretation of Bernard Lonergan’s framework for political legitimation. Berger defines legitimation as the legitimate exercise of coercive power by governing entities and links it to authenticity within a matrix of individuals, communities, and institutions. The work traces the historical evolution of legitimacy from Roman times—through the Kingdom, Republic, and Empire periods, including key developments like the 367 BC Licinian reforms establishing the cursus honorum and Augustus’ consolidation of powers in 27 BC and 23 BC—to medieval majesty sustained by papal and Byzantine authority, the modern collapse marked by Valla’s exposure of the Donation of Constantine in 1440, the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Machiavelli’s writings, and the Reformation, and post-World War II instances such as the Nuremberg trials. Berger outlines Lonergan’s cognitional structure (experience, understanding, judgment) and ethical structure (deliberation, decision, action), addressing biases at individual, group, and institutional levels, and conversions (intellectual, moral, affective) as correctives. He introduces an evaluative method using progress from authenticity versus decline from inauthenticity as retrospective proxies and critiques of unauthentic operations for concurrent analysis.

A Lonergan scholar and Treasurer of the Society for Philosophy in the Contemporary World, Berger’s research centers on political philosophy, philosophy of law, and the nature and ethics of the collective subject. He also teaches as adjunct faculty in Philosophy at Assumption University. His publication includes 'The Unaskable Questions' in METHOD: Journal of Lonergan Studies (NS 4.2, Fall 2013, pp. 17-37). In his dissertation acknowledgements, Berger recognizes contributions from committee members David Rasmussen and Thomas McPartland, as well as support from the Boston College Lonergan Institute and Perspectives program.