Have you ever noticed the prominence of Catholics among American public intellectuals? George Weigel, Peggy Noonan, Robert P. George, Richard John Neuhaus, Ramesh Ponnuru, William F. Buckley, Jr., Russell Kirk, Hadley Arkes, Michael Novak, and others make up a growing body of conservative American Catholic thought on social, cultural, and political affairs in the 20th and 21st centuries. A majority of Justices on the Supreme Court—the high priests of public philosophy—are Catholic, a remarkable situation considering the position of Catholics in American society just a few generations ago. Catholics seem to be leading the effort to formulate ideas about the implications of Christian faith for American life.

And where are the evangelical public intellectuals? Don’t...