Christian Social Thought

March 11, 2019

Socialists cannot divorce good intentions from sound economics

Corey Robin has contributed an interesting essay to the Boston Review’s forum ‘Economics After Neoliberalism’. I am reluctant to enter into debates on, “Neoliberalism”, a term so nebulous and variegated in its usage as to render it useless as anything other than an all-purpose cudgel with which to browbeat others in middlebrow magazines (See Phil Magness on its pejorative origins). Continue Reading...

February 26, 2019

Warren’s child care plan needs competition

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) unveiled a plan last week for universal child care. Despite her good intentions, her plan would restrict competition, raise prices, and reduce options for parents in need. Continue Reading...

February 26, 2019

Lessons from Thoreau’s ‘Walden’ in economics and life

When I first read Walden I was in the woods. In the Kitchel Lindquist Dunes Preserve to be precise which is also where I first read The Idiot and, amusingly, Dune. Continue Reading...

February 22, 2019

Nicaraguan Jesuit, ex-Sadinista gets last chance at exercising priestly ministry

In a recent move that garnered little public attention amidst the tense media coverage enveloping this week’s Vatican summit on clerical sexual abuse and the protection of minors, Pope Francis restored priestly faculties to a Nicaraguan Jesuit and poet, Ernesto Cardenal, a liberation theologian and former militant Marxist. Continue Reading...

February 21, 2019

The ‘evil’ unleashed by Abp. Justin Welby

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, has denounced an increasingly prevalent working relationship as “evil.” However, a new report shows the condition he abjured as immoral has been exacerbated by another economic practice that he favors and advocates – that is, by the archbishop’s standards, his fiscal advice inadvertently increases “evil.” Continue Reading...

February 21, 2019

Pope Francis pardons Marxist priest in Nicaragua: Has the Sandinista priest changed his stripes?

Having visited Nicaragua just prior to and immediately following the elections which initially ousted the Sandinistas from power in 1990, I was struck by the news this week from Rome. Evidently sometime in the last few weeks, when exactly remains unclear, Pope Francis lifted the canonical penalties imposed by Pope St. Continue Reading...

February 18, 2019

Who are ‘our poor’ in the immigration debate?

At First Things last week, in his essay “Our Poor,” economist Andrew M. Yuengert reflected upon his 2004 Acton monograph Inhabiting the Land, questioning whether his economic analysis (that immigration is a net gain for both immigrants and natives) needs more nuance in the light of our current political climate: Continue Reading...

February 13, 2019

The Reverend Edmund A. Opitz, a precursor in the defense of religion and liberty

Today marks 13 years since the passing of the Reverend Edmund A. Opitz, pastor, author, and great supporter of the Acton Institute’s mission. On February 1, 1999, Rev. Opitz sent a letter to Leonard P. Continue Reading...

February 12, 2019

Democrats support Green New Deal while Thomas Piketty finds it problematic

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey’s proposed Green New Deal is getting a lot of attention these days. Democratic Presidential hopefuls Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren are all supporters, as is Senator Bernie Sanders. Continue Reading...

< Previous 1 … 15 16 17 18 19 … 104 Next >