# Brian Patrick Mitchell > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Brian_Patrick_Mitchell > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Brian_Patrick_Mitchell.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Patrick_Mitchell > Source revision: 1218700183 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American writer}} '''Brian Patrick Mitchell''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɪ|tʃ|əl}}) is an American writer, political theorist, and blogger, known for his theory of political difference, theology of interpersonal relations, and critical analysis of gender integration of the American armed forces. ==Early works== Mitchell was commissioned in the [US Army](/source/US_Army) through [ROTC](/source/ROTC) at the [University of Cincinnati](/source/University_of_Cincinnati). After seven years in [infantry](/source/infantry) and [counterintelligence](/source/counterintelligence), he left the Army and became an associate editor of ''[Navy Times](/source/Navy_Times)'', an independent weekly newspaper. In 1989, while at ''Navy Times'', Mitchell published ''Weak Link: The Feminization of the American Military'' ({{ISBN|0895265559}}), the first book-length critical analysis of gender integration of the [US military](/source/US_military). The book received national and international attention, including appearances by Mitchell on [ABC](/source/American_Broadcasting_Company)'s ''[Nightline](/source/Nightline)'', [NBC](/source/NBC)'s ''[Today](/source/Today_(NBC_program))'', [CBS](/source/CBS)'s ''[Face the Nation](/source/Face_the_Nation)'', [CNN](/source/CNN)'s ''[Larry King Live](/source/Larry_King_Live)'' and ''[Crossfire](/source/Crossfire_(U.S._TV_program))'', and many other television and radio shows. In 1992, Mitchell testified before the [Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces](/source/Presidential_Commission_on_the_Assignment_of_Women_in_the_Armed_Forces).Testimony before the Presidential Commission on the Assignment of Women in the Armed Forces, in ''Women in the Military'' (Washington: Regnery Publishing, 1998), pp. 345–50. In 1998, Mitchell published ''Women in the Military: Flirting with Disaster'' ({{ISBN|0895263769}}), which added coverage of events since the publication of ''Weak Link'', including the [Invasion of Panama](/source/Invasion_of_Panama), the [Gulf War](/source/Gulf_War), the [Tailhook scandal](/source/Tailhook_scandal), and the [Aberdeen scandal](/source/Aberdeen_scandal). The same year, Mitchell also published ''The Scandal of Gender: Early Christian Teaching on the Man and the Woman'' ({{ISBN|096491414X}}). ==Political theory== thumb|Mitchell's Eight Political Americans In 2006, while working as the Washington bureau chief of ''[Investor's Business Daily](/source/Investor's_Business_Daily)'', Mitchell published ''Eight Ways to Run the Country: A New and Revealing Look at Left and Right'' ({{ISBN|0275993582}}), improving upon a theory of political difference first presented by Mitchell in the short-lived journal ''Theologies & Moral Concerns'' in 1995.''Eight Ways to Run the Country: A New and Revealing Look at Left and Right'' (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2006), ix. ''Eight Ways'' analyzes modern American political perspectives according to their regard for ''kratos'' (defined as the use of force) and ''[archē](/source/arch%C4%93)'' or "archy" (defined as the recognition of rank). Mitchell rooted his distinction of archy and kratos in the West's historical experience of church and state, crediting the collapse of the Christian consensus on church and state with the appearance of four main divergent traditions in Western political thought: # [republican](/source/republicanism) [constitutionalism](/source/constitutionalism): pro archy, anti kratos # [libertarian](/source/Libertarianism) [individualism](/source/individualism): anti archy, anti kratos # [democratic](/source/democracy) [progressivism](/source/progressivism): anti archy, pro kratos # [plutocratic](/source/plutocratic) [nationalism](/source/nationalism): pro archy, pro kratos Mitchell charts these traditions graphically using a vertical axis as a scale of kratos/akrateia and a horizontal axis as a scale of [archy](/source/arch%C4%93)/[anarchy](/source/anarchy). He places democratic progressivism in the lower left, plutocratic nationalism in the lower right, republican constitutionalism in the upper right, and libertarian individualism in the upper left. The political left is therefore distinguished by its rejection of archy, while the political right is distinguished by its acceptance of archy. For Mitchell, anarchy is not the absence of government but the rejection of rank. Thus there can be both anti-government [anarchists](/source/anarchists) (Mitchell's "libertarian individualists") and pro-government anarchists (Mitchell's "democratic progressives," who favor the use of government force against social hierarchies such as [patriarchy](/source/patriarchy)). Mitchell also distinguishes between [left-wing anarchists](/source/Left_anarchism) and [right-wing anarchists](/source/Anarcho-capitalism), whom Mitchell renames "akratists" for their opposition to the government's use of force. thumb|Mitchell's Eight Ways In addition to the four main traditions, Mitchell identifies eight distinct political perspectives represented in contemporary American politics: # [communitarian](/source/communitarian): ambivalent toward archy, pro kratos # [progressive](/source/Progressivism): anti archy, pro kratos (democratic progressivism) # [radical](/source/Political_radicalism): anti archy, ambivalent toward kratos # [individualist](/source/individualist): anti archy, anti kratos (libertarian individualism) # [paleolibertarian](/source/paleolibertarian): ambivalent toward archy, anti kratos # [paleoconservative](/source/paleoconservative): pro archy, anti kratos (republican constitutionalism) # [theoconservative](/source/theoconservative): pro archy, ambivalent toward kratos # [neoconservative](/source/neoconservative): pro archy, pro kratos (plutocratic nationalism) A potential ninth perspective, in the midst of the eight, is [populism](/source/populism), which Mitchell says is vaguely defined and situation dependent, having no fixed character other than opposition to the prevailing power. ''Eight Ways'' was largely ignored by the political mainstream but received favorable reviews from [libertarians](/source/libertarians) and [paleoconservatives](/source/paleoconservatives), who welcomed the attention and the critique.Raimondo, Justin, [http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2007/01/31/chuck-hagel-and-the-return-of-the-old-right/ "Chuck Hagel and the Return of the Old Right"], Antiwar.com, Feb. 1, 2007.Trifkovic, Srdja, [http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/2008/12/31/le-dernier-mot-washingtonian-madness/ "Le Dernier Mot: Washington Madness"] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110214014717/http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/2008/12/31/le-dernier-mot-washingtonian-madness/ |date=February 14, 2011 }}, ''Chronicles'', Dec. 31, 2008. [Anthony Gregory](/source/Anthony_Gregory) of the [Independent Institute](/source/Independent_Institute) named ''Eight Ways'' "the best explanation of the political spectrum," saying it "makes sense of all the major mysteries."Gregory, Anthony, [https://web.archive.org/web/20140313201226/http://archive.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory220.html "What About the 'Real' Left?"], Lewrockwell.com, July 6, 2011. ==Theology== In 2010, Mitchell applied ''archē'' to Christian theology and anthropology, refining the concept to distinguish archy from [hierarchy](/source/hierarchy)."The Problem with Hierarchy: Ordered Relations in God and Man," ''St. Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly'', Vol. 54, No. 2, 2010. Mitchell characterizes hierarchy as involving dissimilarity, inequality, subjection, and mediation between higher and lower ranks, whereas ''archy'' involves similarity, equality, unity, intimacy, and order based on derivative being or "sourceness." Mitchell elaborated on this theme in his doctoral dissertation, published by Pickwick in 2021 as ''Origen's Revenge: The Greek and Hebrew Roots of Christian Thinking on Male and Female''.Carlson, Allan C., [https://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=35-06-047-b&readcode=10862/ "Gnostic Anti-Sexuals"], ''Touchstone Magazine'', November/December 2022. Following Greek [patristic](/source/patristic) theology, which identifies the [Father](/source/God_the_Father) as the ''archē'' of both the [Son](/source/God_the_Son) and the [Holy Spirit](/source/Holy_Spirit), Mitchell terms relations within the [Trinity](/source/Trinity) ''archical'' and not ''hierarchical''. He likewise terms relations within man as naturally archical but "economically" hierarchical on account of the [fall](/source/fall_of_man). He explains male and female as reciprocal modes of relation and one aspect of the image of God in man. One mode is "archic" and consists of self-giving; the one mode is "eucharistic" and consists of thanksgiving. Both are modeled by the Father and the Son and by Christ and the Church. ==Personal== Mitchell has a PhD in theology from the [University of Winchester](/source/University_of_Winchester), is a [protodeacon](/source/protodeacon) of the [Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia](/source/Russian_Orthodox_Church_Outside_Russia), and serves at St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Washington, DC.{{Cite web |url=http://eadiocese.org/News/2014/sept/dc.en.htm |title=Washington: 65th Anniversary of the Parish of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist |access-date=2014-09-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141005020547/http://eadiocese.org/News/2014/sept/dc.en.htm |archive-date=2014-10-05 |url-status=dead }} In September 2012, Mitchell began a personal blog on "church, state, language, and life" at brianpatrickmitchell.com.{{Cite web | url=http://www.brianpatrickmitchell.com |title = Brian Patrick Mitchell}} He is also a member of the [Academy of Philosophy and Letters](/source/Academy_of_Philosophy_and_Letters). ==Bibliography== * ''Origen's Revenge: The Greek and Hebrew Roots of Christian Thinking on Male and Female'' (Pickwick, 2021) * ''The Disappearing Deaconess: Why the Church Once Had Deaconesses and Then Stopped Having Them'', (Eremia, 2021) * ''A Crown of Life: A Novel of the Great Persecution'' (Pontic, 2014) * ''Eight Ways to Run the Country'' (Praeger, 2006) * ''The Scandal of Gender: Early Christian Teaching on the Man and the Woman'' (Regina Orthodox Press, 1998) * ''Women in the Military: Flirting with Disaster'' (Regnery, 1998) * ''Weak Link: Flirting with Disaster'' (Regnery, 1989) ==References== ==External links== * [http://www.brianpatrickmitchell.com/ BrianPatrickMitchell.com] * [https://books.google.com/books?id=Hg0epWuFdRcC&q=%22Eight+Ways+to+Run+the+Country%22 ''Eight Ways to Run the Country''] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20190718002541/http://www.brianpatrickmitchell.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Problem-with-Hierarchy.pdf "The Problem with Hierarchy: Ordered Relations in God and Man"], by Brian Patrick Mitchell, ''St. Vladimir's Theological Quarterly'', Vol. 54, No. 2, 2010. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20140313201226/http://archive.lewrockwell.com/gregory/gregory220.html "What About the 'Real' Left?"], by Anthony Gregory, LewRockwell.com, July 6, 2011. * [http://entelechy.newsvine.com/_news/2007/06/05/757978-political-charts-where-do-you-fit/ "Political Charts: Where do you fit?"] ''Newsvine'', June 5, 2007. * [http://www.amconmag.com/issue/2007/apr/09/ "Beyond Red and Blue"], by Paul Gottfried, ''The American Conservative'', April 9, 2007. * [http://archive.lewrockwell.com/woods/woods60.html "Who's Who Intellectually"], by Thomas E. Woods, Jr., LewRockwell.com, January 11, 2007. * [http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2007/03/16/libertarianism-and-the-great-divide/ "Libertarianism and the Great Divide"], by Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com, March 17, 2007. * [https://web.archive.org/web/20110904051010/http://www.aplnet.org/ Academy of Philosophy and Letters] * {{cite journal|last=Riggenbach|first=Jeff|title=The Libertarian Option |journal=Mises Daily |publisher=[Ludwig von Mises Institute](/source/Ludwig_von_Mises_Institute) |date=July 29, 2011|url=http://mises.org/daily/5474/The-Libertarian-Option}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Brian Patrick}} Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Alumni of the University of Winchester Category:University of Connecticut alumni Category:American male journalists Category:American political philosophers Category:Russian Orthodox Christians from the United States Category:American foreign policy writers Category:American male non-fiction writers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Brian Patrick Mitchell](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Patrick_Mitchell) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Patrick_Mitchell?action=history)). 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