Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Christian Social Thought

September 12, 2012

Of Ministers and Muck Farmers

In today’s Acton Commentary, “Mike Rowe and Manual Labor,” I examine the real contribution from a star of the small screen to today’s political conversation. Mike Rowe, featured on shows like The Deadliest Catch and Dirty Jobs, has written letters to both President Obama and Mitt Romney focusing attention on the skills gap and our nation’s dysfunctional attitudes towards work, particularly hard labor, like skilled trades and services. Continue Reading...
September 11, 2012

Review: A Free People’s Suicide

Below is my review of A Free People’s Suicide: Sustainable Freedom and the American Future by Os Guinness. A final version of this book review will appear in the Fall 2012 Journal of Markets & Morality (15.2). Continue Reading...
September 11, 2012

Rand or Röpke?

On his personal blog, author and publishing industry executive Joel J. Miller asks, “What if we dumped Rand for Röpke?” Good question. Miller says that it’s simply unnecessary for Christians to invoke Rand in their defense of the free market. Continue Reading...
September 05, 2012

Human Work as the Center of Catholic Social Teaching

Margarita A. Mooney considers how personalism has influenced the development of Catholic social doctrine: When people think of Catholic social teaching the first thing that comes to their mind may be the call to charity or solidarity with the poor, as exemplified by Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Continue Reading...
September 03, 2012

On Call in Culture Skills Review

Over several weeks we have been talking about the skills we need to develop as we are On Call in Culture; a Kingdom-focused memory, storytelling (which involves observation and reflection), and vulnerability. Continue Reading...
August 30, 2012

Christian Discipleship and the Vocation of Business

The idea that being a monastic is godly while being a businessperson is worldly reflects a widely held belief among Christians, says James R. Rodgers. But the pursuit of a vocation in business doesn’t necessarily means the embrace of a lesser form of the Christian life: While I would be loath to argue that the pursuit of business is superior to the pursuit of monasticism, I nonetheless would insist that business vocations do not necessarily entail a lesser form of Christian life. Continue Reading...