Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Neither Worshipping Nor Demonizing Capitalism
Neither Worshipping Nor Demonizing Capitalism
Mar 16, 2025 10:34 PM

Questions about poverty and social teaching are on the forefront of Pope Francis’ mind, as he’s made convincingly clear in his young papacy. This calls for cogent thinking on the topic, according to Fr. John Flynn, LC in “Francis and Catholic Social Teaching: Debates About Economy, Equality and Poverty Sure to Continue.”

Flynn cites Jerry Z. Muller, professor of History at the Catholic University of America, who gives credit to the astonishing “leap in human progress” that capitalism has brought about, but cautions that some find the disparity between rich and poor, the powerful and the dispossessed, to be grounds for anti-capitalist sentiment. Muller points out that this type of inequality seems to be growing internationally.

Flynn looks for answers to how Christians should address such economic inequality in several articles of the Acton Institute’s Journal of Markets & Morality, (Vol. 15, No. 2). First, he looks at Antonio Pancorbo’s “Illustrating the Need for Dialogue between Political Economy and Catholic Social Teaching.”

Pancorbo expressed a number of criticisms of the welfare state, but he also acknowledged that it monly accepted that society should provide for people’s essential needs. He admitted that Caritas in Veritate referred to inequality as a social evil, but then also argued that maybe it is more productive to reduce poverty, rather than trying to eliminate all inequality.

“Sound economic thinking should collaborate with the Church in establishing guidelines for action that are morally acceptable, that do not ignore economic laws, and that propose technically feasible solutions to economic and political matters,” he concluded.

“The Moral Meaning of Markets,” written by Ryan Langrill and Virgil Henry Storr, of George Mason University, appeals to a broader view of virtue in the market place. They acknowledge that greed exists, but is not inevitable.

Finally, Flynn turns to “Biblical Warnings to ‘the Rich’ and the Challenge of Contemporary Affluence,” by Clive Beed, retired from the Department of Economics at the University of Melbourne, and Cara Beed, retired from the Department of Social Science at the Australian Catholic University.

There was no middle class in Biblical times and the levels of wealth have drastically changed since then, they observed. They also admitted, “The existence of wide gaps between rich and poor is anathema to God’s designs.”

The Bible’s warnings to the rich do not apply to modern middle class people, they affirmed. Nevertheless, Christians do have a responsibility to help those who are poor and this applies much more so to those who are rich.

Surely, Pope Francis will continue to publicly weigh these issues as his papacy continues, giving Christians more to ponder as they seek a way to alleviate dire poverty and live out the Christian ideal in their economic lives.

Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
The Realism of S. L. Frank
S. L. Frank Today at The Imaginative Conservative, I offer a brief look into the social though of the Russian philosopher S. L. Frank: In his 1930 book, The Spiritual Foundations of Society, Frank offers a refreshing vision of a conservatism that cannot survive apart from creativity. The book is a remarkable tour de force of intelligent, nuanced, and in some ways even prescient Christian social thought. One can find references—some explicit, some in Frank’s own words—to personalism, natural law,...
‘Creation and the Heart of Man’ on Logos
Creation and the Heart of Man, the first volume of Acton’s Orthodox Christian Social Thought monograph series, is now available for pre-order on Logos Bible Software. Those who pre-order can get the book at a discounted price. In addition, the Logos edition is able to offer some unique features: In the Logos edition, this volume is enhanced by amazing functionality. Important terms link to dictionaries, encyclopedias, and a wealth of other resources in your digital library. Perform powerful searches to...
DOJ: Banning the Homeless from Sleeping Outside Violates the Eighth Amendment’s ‘Cruel and Unusual Punishments’ Clause
While being homeless is not a crime, cities across America are increasingly making activities associated with a lack of shelter against the law. A survey of 187 cities found that 34 percent impose city-wide bans on camping in public and 18 percent impose city-wide bans on sleeping in public. In 2009, a group of homeless plaintiffs challenged the city of Boise, Idaho over its ordinance banning sleeping and camping in public places. This week the Department of Justice issued a...
Politics and Prophetic Distance: Russell Moore on the Power of a Gospel Community
Last week, I was pleased to attend the ERLC’s 2015 National Conference on Gospel and Politics, of whichthe Acton Institute was a proud co-sponsor. The speaker line-up was strikingly rich and diverse, ranging from pastors to writers to politicos to professors, but among them all, Russell Moore’s morning address was the clear stand-out. Moore beganby asking, “How do we as Christians engage in issues that sometimes are political without ing co-opted by politics and losing the gospel and the mission...
5 Facts About Islamic State’s Theology of Rape
A year ago this month, Islamic State (also known as IS, ISIS, or ISIL) began a systematic program of capturing women and girls for the purposes of rape, forced marriage, and sexual slavery. Yesterday, the New York Times brought renewed attention to the war crimes in an article examining how IS enshrines a theology of rape. Here are five facts you should know about how IS views and justifies the practice of sexual slavery: 1.IS considers rape of sex slaves...
Now Available: ‘Psalms II’ by Frans van Deursen
Christian’s Library Press has now released Psalms II, the fifth primer in its Opening the Scriptures series, and the second in a two-part release on the book of Psalms. The book is currently available for orderon Amazon. Written by Dutch Reformed minister Frans van Deursen, and newly translated by Nelson D. Kloosterman, the volume provides an introduction to Psalms, a book which serves as “the oldest songbook that God’s people possess,” as well as the “oldest breviary or prayer book,”...
The Inherent Hypocrisy of Fossil-Fuel Divestment
Fr. Michael Crosby You can’t really take fossil fuel divestment seriously unless you ignore a lot of inconvenient truths. These would include such things as Al Gore’s carbon footprint or the fuel bill for the dozens of private jets flown to any UN climate summit. On a more mundane level, we might point to benefits of abundant and affordable resources of coal, natural gas and crude oil that power modern industrialized economies and will continue to dominate as future energy...
Why Do Intellectuals Hate Capitalism?
In an interview with Reason TV,Whole Foods co-founderJohn Mackey answers a rangeof questions about why so many intellectuals areopposed to the freemarket, whetherthroughouthistory and to this today. “Is it a misunderstanding of what business does?” asks Nick Gillespie. “Is it envy? Is it a lack of capacity to understand that what entrepreneurs do or what innovators do?” Here’s a sample: Intellectuals have always merce. That is something that tradesmen did; people that were in a lower class. And so you...
Seattle’s Minimum Wage Experiment is Already Failing
Last year when Seattle announced it was raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour, I made four predictions about how the policy would affect the city over the next three years. One of the predictions was that, Unemployment will increase for low-wage workers— It’s true that economists disagree about the effects of the minimum wage on employment and the living standards of minimum wage earners. But almost all of the disagreement is about relatively small increases—less than 20 percent....
Samuel Gregg on the ‘Seamless’ Ethic of Life
Cardinal Joseph Bernardin (1928-1996)At The Catholic World Report, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg examines the use of the expression “a consistent ethic of life” — a phrase which has been used by Roman Catholic bishops as far back as a 1971 speech delivered by then-Archbishop Humberto Medeiros of Boston. More recently, Chicago Archbishop Blaise Cupich used the phrase in a Chicago Tribune article about the scandal of Planned Parenthood selling body-parts from aborted children. Elaborating, Cupich said “we should be...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved