Commemorating the 100th anniversary of Rerum Novarum, and the 50th anniversary of the Association for Social Economics Papers from the Sixth World Congress of Social Economics, Omaha, Nebraska, August 9-11, 1991. The papers in this volume range from reflections on early Christian to modern Catholic social thought and doctrine; Marxian and Islamic perspectives of an ideological/praxeological nature; contemporary issues of organized labour, poverty and income distribution; social insurance and health care; systemic change in the United States, Western Europe, Southern Africa and the former Soviet Union.
Catholic Social Thought presents detailed commentary and response to the Vatican's 2005 Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, with contributions from outstanding American scholars. Addressing theology, social theory, the family, economy, government, labor, global society, gender, peace, and the environment, the various authors explore the core theology, explain the Compendium's themes and arguments, and apply their own intellectual powers to applications of its teachings. Some of the essays are largely expository, some more critical (in both positive and negative senses). Some operate from a standard of magisterial assent in conformity with Ad Tuendam Fidam, others do not. Together, the essays represent the range of Catholic thinking on social issues in the American Church today.
Including contributions from twenty-two leading moral theologians, this volume is the most thorough assessment of modern Roman Catholic social teaching available. In addition to interrogations of the major documents, it provides insight into the biblical and philosophical foundations of Catholic social teaching, addresses the doctrinal issues that arise in such a context, and explores the social thought leading up to the "modern" era, which is generally accepted as beginning in 1891 with the publication of Pope Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum. The book also includes a review of how Catholic social teaching has been received in the United States and offers an informed look at the shortcomings and questions that future generations must address. This second edition includes revised and updated essays as well as two new commentaries: one on Pope Benedict XVI's encyclical Caritas in Veritate and one on Pope Francis's encyclical Laudato Si'. An outstanding reference work for anyone interested in studying and understanding the key documents that make up the central corpus of modern Catholic social teaching.
In The Subjective Dimension of Human Work: The Conversion of the Acting Person According to Karol Wojtyla/John Paul II and Bernard Lonergan, Deborah Savage explores the proper framework for understanding the human person in the act of self-transcendence and for apprehending the role that human work may play in living a Christian life. Through a comparative analysis of the anthropological theories of Wojtyla and Lonergan, Savage seeks to establish the philosophical and theological foundations of how one becomes more of a human being through the work that he or she does and how to grasp the process of conversion that is made possible through work. This book is suitable for graduate level courses in the neo-Thomist tradition, especially those analyzing the relevance of that tradition to modern-day problems.
Social Economics is a way of thinking about economic affairs that begins with the philosphical foundations. It begins at this level, frequently overlooked by mainstream economists, to illustrate how critical premises are in the construction of an economy and the repair of a dysfunctional economy. Social Economics uses these premises to undertake a rich range of empirical and policy related work. Much of this work is represented in this volume, which brings together leading practioners from the field of social economics. Subjects addressed include: * values and premises in social economics * justice, solidarity and community * repairing the dysfunction of capitalist economies * the transition from command economies
In the Days of Caesar is a constructive political theology formulated in sustained dialogue with the Pentecostal and charismatic renewal one of the most vibrant religious movements at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Amos Yong here argues that the many tongues, practices, and gifts of renewal Christianity offer up new resources for thinking about how Christian community can engage and transform the social, political, and economic structures of the world. Yong has three goals here. First he seeks to correct stereotypes of Pentecostalism, both political and theological. Secondly he aims to provoke Pentecostals to reflect theologically from out of the depths of their own Pentecostalism rather than merely to adopt some framework for theological or political self-understanding. Finally Yong shows that a distinctively Pentecostal form of theological reflection is not a parochial activity but has constructive potential to illuminate Christian belief and practice. This book s engagement with political theology from a Pentecostal perspective is the first of its kind.
This highly original book presents an alternative vision of globalization and explores the epistemology, derived from the Qur'an and the Prophetic guidance Sunnah, that underpins the systemic unity at the heart of the Islamic concept of world-system. Choudhury's investigation reveals the ethical foundations that influence the development of law, markets and social contract in Islamic societies. He then applies his methodology to issues and problems such as property rights, money, political economy, technology diffusion, microenterprise development and asset evaluation.
This volume takes a unique and challenging look at how money has operated in Islamic society and at how Islamic theoretical frameworks have influenced perceptions of money. The author draws upon historical, data and policy analysis to present a comparative study of monetary theories, including recent treatment of money by Islamic economists. Discussion also covers the nature of joint venture, stock markets, banks and financial intermediaries, price stability and international trade. This work sheds pioneering light in this area, and will be of interest to academics, graduates and researchers internationally.
Markets can often be harsh in compelling people to make unpalatable economic choices any reasonable person would not take under normal conditions. Thus, workers laid off in mid-career accept lower-paid jobs that are beneath their professional experience for want of better alternatives. Economic migrants leave their families and cross borders (legally or illegally) in search of a livelihood. These are examples of economic compulsion. These economic ripple effects have been virtually ignored in ethical discourse because they are generally accepted to be the very mechanisms that generate the market's much-touted allocative efficiency. Albino Barrera argues that Christian thought on economic security offers an effective framework within which to address the consequences of economic compulsion.
From the 1960s onward, neoclassical economists have increasingly managed to block the employment of non-neoclassical economists, narrow the economics curriculum offered by universities to students, and made their theory increasingly irrelevant to understanding economic reality. Now, they are even banishing economic history and the history of economic thought from the curriculum. Why has this tragedy happened? At this time of accelerating momentum for radical change in the study of economics, "A Guide to What's Wrong with Economics" comprehensively examines the shortcomings of neoclassical economics and considers a number of alternative formulations. In it, a distinguished list of non-neoclassical economists provide an examination of some of the many worldly and logical gaps in neoclassical economics, its hidden ideological agendas, disregard for the environment, habitual misuse of mathematics and statistics, inability to address the major issues of economic globalization, its ethical cynicism concerning poverty, racism and sexism, and its misrepresentation of economic history. In clear and engaging prose, "A Guide to What's Wrong with Economics" shows how interesting, relevant and exciting economics can be when it is pursued, not as the defense of an antiquated and close-minded system of belief, but as a no-holds barred inquiry looking for real-world truths. This book is a must-read for all economists and their graduate students, as well as for the general reader.
