Joseph Sunde

Joseph Sunde's work has appeared in venues such as the Foundation for Economic Education, First Things, The Christian Post, The Stream, Intellectual Takeout, Patheos, LifeSiteNews, The City, Charisma News, The Green Room, Juicy Ecumenism, Ethika Politika, Made to Flourish, and the Center for Faith and Work, as well as on PowerBlog. He resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with his wife and four children.

Posts by Joseph Sunde

William Barr on how to resist ‘soft despotism’

Throughout the recent battle for the Democratic presidential nomination, the party’s drift from liberalism to progressivism has become abundantly clear, aptly representing our growing cultural divide between ordered liberty and what Alexis de Tocqueville famously called “soft despotism.” Continue Reading...

Reviving civil society: Formative vs. performative institutions

In the wake of modernity, we’ve seen plenty of disruption across American life—political, social, economic, and otherwise. Alongside the glorious expansion of freedom and prosperity, we’ve also seen new waves of fragmentation, isolation, and materialism—a “liberal paradox,” as Gaylen Byker once described it, “a hunger for meaning and values in an age of freedom and plenty.” Continue Reading...

Boris Johnson: ‘Free trade needs a global champion’

In the immediate aftermath of the historic vote for Brexit, many cheered Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, hailing it as a win for freedom, democracy, and subsidiarity. Yet others were quick to claim the move was driven only by populist fear and an inward-looking protectionism. Continue Reading...

Generosity through trade: The power of giving and receiving

In cultivating a Christian ethic of economic generosity, we tend to focus heavily on traditional acts of charity—donating our dollars, volunteering our time, and so on. Likewise, in heeding Jesus’ call in Matthew 25 to serve the “least of these,” we often think through the lens of one-way material transfers. Continue Reading...

Lunch lady equality: The fruits of Sweden’s ‘good socialism’

Sweden is often hailed for its sweeping cultural and political emphasis on the equality of all things. But while the popular discourse tends to center on its progressive economic policies and far-reaching public services, the country’s focus on fairness stretches across the spheres of Swedish society—including, more recently, its school cafeterias. Continue Reading...

Sir Roger Scruton on Wilhelm Röpke’s ‘Humane Economy’

This week, we received news of the unfortunate loss of Sir Roger Scruton, who passed away from cancer at age 75. As Rev. Ben Johnson wrote, Scruton was a “noted philosopher, expert on aesthetics, and intellectual architect of modern conservatism,” recently described by Prime Minister Boris Johnson as “the greatest modern conservative thinker.” Continue Reading...