Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Christian Social Thought

Samuel Gregg: Pope Francis And The True Meaning Of Poverty

Pope Francis has made interesting comments on poverty, some of which have been misconstrued by the media and in the Church itself. Samuel Gregg, Director of Research for the Acton Institute, discusses both the meaning of poverty within Church teaching and what Pope Francis is truly referring to when he addresses poverty in our world today. Continue Reading...

Interview: Conversations on Orthodoxy

Back in January, I was interviewed for the podcast Conversations On Orthodoxy. After some wonderful editing, the interview has recently been posted. In particular, the focus of the interview is mostly on how I went from an American Evangelical upbringing to becoming a convert to the Orthodox Church. Continue Reading...

Augustine, Aquinas, and Fusionism

As I noted previously, I’ve been involved this month in a panel discussion over at Cato Unbound on the issue of “Conservative-Libertarian Fusionism.” My two most recent contributions to the discussion phase focus on possible resources for the question that can be gleaned from Augustine and Aquinas. Continue Reading...

Abraham Kuyper as a Third-Way Thinker

The Calvinist International recently interviewed Allan Carlson, author of Third Ways: How Bulgarian Greens, Swedish Housewives, and Beer-Swilling Englishmen Created Family-Centered Economies – And Why They Disappeared Could you tell us a bit about your view of how the Dutch polymath Abraham Kuyper influences your project? Continue Reading...

Why Government is Not Just a ‘Necessary Evil’

In the Federalist Papers James Madison claimed that, “If men were angels, no government would be necessary.” But is that true? James R. Rogers, an associate professor of political science at Texas A&M University, explains why some form of government would be necessary even if man were still in a prelapsarian state of nature: [E]ven without the Fall, there would be a role for civil government for the duly recognized person who exercises civil authority. Continue Reading...