Mark Lilla is Professor of Humanities at Columbia University. He holds a PhD in Government from Harvard University and an AB in Political Science and Economics from the University of Michigan. A renowned political theorist and intellectual historian, he specializes in the history of political thought, contemporary liberalism, and religion and politics.

He was awarded many prizes and fellowships, including a Guggenheim Fellowship; he is a frequent contributor to The New York Review of Books and has authored many influential books, including G.B. Vico: The Making of an Anti-Modern, The Once and Future Liberal: After Identity Politics, and Ignorance and Bliss.