Jordan J. Ballor

Jordan J. Ballor (Dr. theol., University of Zurich; PhD, Calvin Theological Seminary) is director of research at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy at First Liberty Institute.

Posts by Jordan J. Ballor

July 10, 2013

Made to Give and to Receive

In this week’s commentary, “Made to Trade,” I explore the natural dispositions that human beings have to produce, exchange, consume, and distribute material goods. If you’ve ever noticed that a sandwich made by someone else tastes better than one you make yourself, you’ll know what I’m getting at: “Recognizing the satisfaction that comes from such a gift of service from another person illustrates an other-directed disposition that is a deep and constitutive part of human nature.” Continue Reading...
July 10, 2013

Secularizing Sam Adams

Jonathan Merritt reports on a decision made by the parent company that produces Samuel Adams beer, Boston Beer Company, to redact “by their Creator” from an Independence Day ad featuring the Declaration of Independence. Continue Reading...
July 08, 2013

Tocqueville on Servile and Licentious Tenancy

I’m catching up on reading after the holiday last week, and the July 4 edition of the Transom has some gems, including this bit from Alexis de Tocqueville on the mindset of tenants: There are some nations in Europe whose inhabitants think of themselves in a sense as colonists, indifferent to the fate of the place they live in. Continue Reading...
June 26, 2013

Bavinck on Marriage and Cultural Reformation

The Dutch Reformed theologian Herman Bavinck has some wise words for reform of cultural institutions, notably marriage and family, in his exploration of The Christian Family: All good, enduring reformation begins with ourselves and takes its starting point in one’s own heart and life. Continue Reading...
June 26, 2013

Man of Steel, Man of Sorrows

Last time the Superman franchise was rebooted, I reacted pretty negatively to the messiah-lite qualities of Clark Kent’s alter ego. In this fine piece over at Big Think, Peter Lawler analyzes the nature of this tension in the context of the new film quite aptly: The film also has all kinds of Christian New-Agey imagery that you can grab onto if you’re not much of a reader. Continue Reading...
June 18, 2013

Take This Job and Shove It, Faulkner-Style

Courtesy today’s edition of Prufrock, a fine daily newsletter edited by Micah Mattix, comes this classic resignation letter from William Faulkner, onetime postmaster at the University of Mississippi: [October, 1924] As long as I live under the capitalistic system, I expect to have my life influenced by the demands of moneyed people. Continue Reading...
June 10, 2013

Digitization of Newman Archive Announced

The University of Manchester has announced plans to digitize the holdings of the Cardinal Newman archive. Among the roughly 200,000 items of handwritten and other unpublished materials are 171 files of letters to (and from) “particular individual correspondents.” Continue Reading...
June 06, 2013

Libertarians in Black

The conservative-libertarian fusionism conversation is gaining new life as discussions and reflections about the state of the Republican party reverberate after last year’s election. Ben Domenech has a particularly worthwhile outline of what he calls a “libertarian populist agenda.” Continue Reading...
May 30, 2013

Augustine, Aquinas, and Fusionism

As I noted previously, I’ve been involved this month in a panel discussion over at Cato Unbound on the issue of “Conservative-Libertarian Fusionism.” My two most recent contributions to the discussion phase focus on possible resources for the question that can be gleaned from Augustine and Aquinas. Continue Reading...
May 15, 2013

Money is a Means

Over at Think Christian today, I lend some broader perspective concerning the link between money and happiness occasioned by a piece on The Atlantic on some research that challenged some of the accepted scholarly wisdom on the subject. Continue Reading...