Acton Institute Powerblog Archives

Post Tagged 'labor'

December 11, 2012

The Separation of Union and State

When I moved to west Michigan, one of the things that struck me the most were distinct cultural differences between the different sides of the state. While I was pursuing a master’s degree at Calvin Theological Seminary, I worked for a while in the receiving department at Bissell, Inc. Continue Reading...
November 19, 2012

Why Can’t We Fire Bad Teachers?

Timothy Dalrymple wonders whether education reform should be one of the great objectives for American Christians in the twenty-first century. Taking up that cause will require overcoming the intransigence of the teachers’ unions: Try firing an ineffective teacher.   Continue Reading...
October 25, 2012

Monks, Beer, and the Labor of their Hands

Fr. Z’s Blog has a great post highlighting the Benedictine Monks at Norcia and their new brew. Here is the motto from the Birra Nursia site. Wonderful stuff, really: In complete harmony with the centuries old tradition, the monks of Norcia have sought to share with the world a product which came about in the very heart of the monastic life, one which reminds us of the goodness of creation and the potential that it contains. Continue Reading...
September 27, 2012

Christian Manufacturer Strives Toward Productivity and Grace

I recently wrote about Hobby Lobby’s billionaire CEO, who, in a recent Forbes profile, made it clear how deeply his Christian faith informs his economic decision-making. This week, in Christianity Today, HOPE International’s Chris Horst profiles another Christian business, Blender Products, whose owners Steve Hill and Jim Howey actively work to elevate the practices of the metal fabrication business and, above all, operate their business “unto the Lord.” Continue Reading...
September 10, 2012

Commercializing Chaplaincy

I thought this piece in BusinessWeek last month from Mark Oppenheimer was very well done, “The Rise of the Corporate Chaplain.” I think it profiles an important and under-appreciated phenomenon in the American commercial sphere. Continue Reading...
August 29, 2012

Is Work the Meaning of Your Life?

The subtitle of Lester DeKoster’s little classic, Work: The Meaning of Your Life–A Christian Perspective, can be a bit off-putting. Is work really the meaning of your life? On the one hand, when we understand DeKoster’s definition of work, we might be a bit more amenable to the suggestion. Continue Reading...
June 11, 2012

Samuel Gregg: Unions and the Path to Irrelevancy

On National Review Online, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg demolishes the left’s knee-jerk explanation for labor union decline, which blames “the machinations of conservative intellectuals, free-market-inclined governments, and businesses who, over time, have successfully worked to diminish organized labor, thereby crushing the proverbial ‘little guy.'” Continue Reading...