Kevin Schmiesing

Kevin Schmiesing, Ph.D., is a research fellow for the research department at the Acton Institute. He is a frequent writer on Catholic social thought and economics, is the author of American Catholic Intellectuals, 1895-1955 (Edwin Mellen Press, 2002) and is most recently the author of Within the Market Strife: American Catholic Economic Thought from Rerum Novarum to Vatican II (Lexington Books, 2004). Dr. Schmiesing holds a Ph.D. in American history from the University of Pennsylvania, and a B.A. in history from Franciscan University ofSteubenville. Author of Within the Market Strife and American Catholic Intellectuals, 1895—1955 (2002), he serves as Book Review Editor for the Journal of Markets & Morality. He is also executive director of CatholicHistory.net.

Posts by Kevin Schmiesing

July 18, 2006

Government and the Decline of Urban Catholicism

Notre Dame law professor Richard Garnett wrote an outstanding piece for USA Today. He argues convincingly that the large-scale and widespread withdrawal of Catholic institutions from many of the nation’s cities has ramifications that extend beyond the interests of Catholics alone. Continue Reading...
July 13, 2006

Cyber Communication

Ever since the popularization of the Internet, a debate has raged—within and without Christian circles—about the effect of the medium on human development and relationships. A serious and plausible charge against the Web came from those who thought its mode of disembodied communication would alter the form of human interaction for the worse. Continue Reading...
July 05, 2006

Balmer’s Partisan Polemics

Noted evangelical scholar Randall Balmer castigates the religious right in a recent piece in the Chronicle of Higher Education. The critique, in my view, amounts to little more than a slightly more sophisticated version of Jim Wallis. Continue Reading...
June 30, 2006

Christians on Superman

Christian reviewers take the new take on the Man of Steel many different ways: Steven Greydanus likes it. Thomas Hibbs doesn’t. Keith Howland likes it. Peter Chattaway doesn’t (very much). None of these has anything on Acton’s own Jordan Ballor, however, who analyzes the film with penetrating insight (or X-ray vision, as one is tempted to say…). Continue Reading...
June 30, 2006

Vatican and Stem Cells

The clash between scientists and moralists that Jordan highlights below is displayed also in reaction to the recent comments by Cardinal Alfonso Trujillo of the Pontifical Council for the Family concerning excommunication of those involved in embryonic stem cell research. Continue Reading...
June 28, 2006

Supreme Court update

The Supreme Court is in the midst of its busy season. Important decisions recently handed down include the death-penalty case, Kansas v. Marsh, and the campaign finance case, Randall v. Continue Reading...
June 20, 2006

Remembering Kelo

It’s hard to believe that it’s been nearly a year since the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Kelo v. City of New London, which seriously damaged the institution of property rights. Continue Reading...
June 16, 2006

Pulled pork

I’ve noted before the ballooning and bipartisan feeding at the public trough conducted by this Congress, for projects of dubious value. Brian Riedl reports on NRO today that there is at last some good news. Continue Reading...
June 09, 2006

A different view of immigration

I haven’t been uncritical of American bishops’ statements concerning immigration. But I wouldn’t go *quite* as far as Pastor Ralph Ovadal of Pilgrims Covenant Church, for whom the terms ‘antichrist,’ ‘Romanist,’ and ‘Reconquista’ fairly roll off the tongue. Continue Reading...