Jordan J. Ballor (Dr. theol., University of Zurich; Ph.D., Calvin Theological Seminary) is a senior research fellow and director of publishing at the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion & Liberty. He is also a postdoctoral researcher in theology and economics at the VU University Amsterdam as part of the "What Good Markets Are Good For" project. He is author of Get Your Hands Dirty: Essays on Christian Social Thought (and Action) (Wipf & Stock, 2013), Covenant, Causality, and Law: A Study in the Theology of Wolfgang Musculus (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012) and Ecumenical Babel: Confusing Economic Ideology and the Church's Social Witness (Christian's Library Press, 2010), as well as editor of numerous works, including Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology. Jordan is also associate director of the Junius Institute for Digital Reformation Research at Calvin Theological Seminary.
Posts by Jordan J. Ballor
August 05, 2019
Milton Friedman is one half of the duo so often identified with “neoliberalism” (the other being Friedrich Hayek), the hegemonic power that is typically seen as constitutive of our contemporary age.
Continue Reading...
July 08, 2019
The latest addition the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is Spider-Man: Far from Home, which brings an end to Phase 3.
In this installment, we have an intriguing spin on the standard superhero motif of vocation and responsibility.
Continue Reading...
June 26, 2019
Earlier this year I had the honor of moderating a panel discussion, “Common Grace, Community, and Culture,” at the Kuyper Conference at Calvin College and Seminary.
The discussion featured J. Daryl Charles, with whom I have the pleasure of coediting the Common Grace volumes in the Kuyper series, Vincent Bacote of Wheaton College, and Jessica Joustra of Redeemer University College and TU Kampen.
Continue Reading...
June 14, 2019
I was happy to be interviewed recently for The Laymen’s Lounge, a new site focused on providing everyday theology to encourage and edify Christians in everyday life.
My interview is titled, “Work and the Mundane,” and I get some plugs in for resources by figures including Lester DeKoster, Abraham Kuyper, Herman Bavinck, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
Continue Reading...
June 06, 2019
As part of reflecting on the seventy-fifth anniversary of D-Day, I write about “The D-Day price and the Prince of Peace” over at Acton’s Transatlantic channel.
The Dutch theologian and statesman Abraham Kuyper invoked Psalm 88:15 in his essay on the outbreak of World War I, “Your terrors,” (translated by Harry Van Dyke).
Continue Reading...
June 03, 2019
More than decade after the conclusion of the critically-acclaimed HBO series Deadwood, a finale has been released that brings the gold-rush era drama to a close. The Deadwood film premiered on HBO last week, and fans of the show will find much to remember and appreciate in this conclusion.
Continue Reading...
May 24, 2019
I am working on a project now that has to do with the various attempts to reform, redeem, redirect, or otherwise update capitalism. And in so doing, I’m reminded of one of the most incisive, insightful, and relevant passages in all of Catholic Social Teaching.
Continue Reading...
May 22, 2019
This week’s episode of Acton Line features a conversation about Game of Thrones with Tyler Groenendal and me. I won’t try to make the case that the show is salutary viewing.
Continue Reading...
May 06, 2019
After the second weekend of release, the directors of Avengers: Endgame have declared that spoilers are fair game, and so it is time to pick up where some previous reflections left off and explore the villain Thanos’ development from Infinity War to Endgame.
Continue Reading...
April 29, 2019
On the heels of a record-smashing opening weekend for Avengers: Endgame, it seems appropriate to broach the subject of superheroes and subsidiarity, and specifically an intriguing lesson about subsidiarity in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Continue Reading...
