Rev. Sirico on why we shouldn’t have a bleak outlook on the future:

Read more on Will Our Future Be Bleak or Blessed?…

From websites promoting help with Monday morning atheism, to an ever present ‘TGIF,’ a place of honor toward work seems to do nothing but diminish within our culture. The mere suggestion that work is not a curse of the fall is unfortunately quite foreign in many circles. Joseph Sunde at Remnant Culture has written a blog based on his reading of Booker T. Washington’s biography entitled Up From Slavery in which he highlights the high ethic and dignity Washington placed on work.

I can only imagine the impact that would be realized in our culture, if the majority of people embraced the principles of Washington’s work ethic and practiced them on a daily basis. If you are looking for further reading on this topic, beyond Washington’s biography I would recommend Work: The Meaning Of Your Life by Lester DeKoster.

Read more on The Lost Dignity of Work…

Beroud, Louis (1852–1930) Central Dome of the World Fair in Paris 1889

The newest edition of the Journal of Markets & Morality is now available online to subscribers.

This issue of the journal (14.2) is actually a theme issue on Modern Christian Social Thought. Accordingly, all ten articles engage the history and substance of various approaches to Modern Christian Social Thought, with special emphasis on the Reformed and Roman Catholic traditions.

There is also another installment of our Controversy section, featuring a three-way debate over the question, “Does Libertarianism Tempt Some Catholics to Stray from Catholic Social Thought?”

As always we have another thorough collection of first-rate book reviews from top scholars and experts in the fields of theology, ethics, and economics.

Lastly, our Status Quaestionis section includes two works from the nineteenth century which have never before been translated into English: “Critical Analysis of the First Concepts of Social Economy” (1857) by Luigi Taparelli, SJ and “Christ and the Needy” (1895) by Dutch theologian and statesman Abraham Kuyper. All in all, it may possibly be our largest issue yet.
Read more on Journal of Markets & Morality 14.2…

How much is a homemaker worth? Financial service company Investopedia recently added up what it would cost to hire someone to do cooking, cleaning, child care, driving, laundry, and lawn service equivalent to a full-time homemaker. The equivalent compensation would total $96,261.

Studies like this one are perennial, as Greg Forster notes, and have been around since at least the 1950s. But while the intentions are well-meaning, such studies have a tendency to reinforce materialistic assumptions about the nature of human relationships in both the family and the economy:

Read more on Productivity Starts at Home…

On Thursday, March 1 at 7pm, Acton Institute president Rev. Robert Sirico will speak about the implications of the recent mandate for religious organizations handed down by the Health and Human Services Department of the federal government under the Affordable Care Act of 2010.

Read more on Event: A Call for Religious Freedom…

Indivisible, a new book co-written by former Acton research fellow Jay Richards, has become a best-seller. From the book’s description:
Read more on Acton Alum Has a New Bestseller on Making a Free and Virtuous Society…

Matthew Schmitz over on First Thoughts posted a great article by Peter Berger sharing Peter’s thoughts on the recent HHS controversy. Peter gets at what is really the heart issue here. Though there is fierce debate ensuing about contraception, religious freedom is at the heart of the matter.

Read more on Religious Freedom and the HHS Mandate…

After 50-plus years of social unraveling, many reformers still see the “therapeutic model” as a cure for what ails American society. Or would a return to the classical virtues, as a means of healing first the person and then the culture, be the way of renewal? Rev. Gregory Jensen offers some thoughts in this week’s Acton Commentary (published Feb. 22), spurred by the reading of Charles Murray’s new book, Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960–2010. The full text of his essay follows. Subscribe to the free, weekly Acton News & Commentary and other publications here.

Read more on Commentary: Human Excellence and the Moral Life…

[Note: This is the second in an occasional series on gleaner technology.]

Read more on Gleaner Tech #2: The Global Village Construction Set…

One of the conclusions from last week’s commentary was that the government shouldn’t be in the business of promoting a particular vision of the good life in America. That’s not to say that the government doesn’t have some role in promoting the common good or making some normative judgments about the good life. But it shouldn’t get anywhere near the level of specificity of promising a family, home, college education, and retirement for all.

Read more on Happiness is Subjective…