work – Acton Institute PowerBlog

August 30, 2017

Toward an economics of neighborly love

As a child growing up in rural poverty, Tom Nelson was constantly confronted by material lack and the social shame that sometimes comes with it, instilling an acute sense that economics mattered. Continue Reading...

August 10, 2017

Brains and brawn: Does manual labor belong in the modern economy?

As economic prosperity continues to spread, and as the American economy completes its transition into the age of information, manual labor is increasingly cast down in the popular imagination. When our youth navigate and graduate from high school, they receive a range of pressures to attend four-year colleges and pursue various “white-collar” careers, whether in finance or law or tech or the academy. Continue Reading...

August 08, 2017

What old age teaches us about Christian vocation

We live in a society that is prone to an increasingly utilitarian and consumeristic way of thinking, a mindset that can quickly pollute our imaginations when it comes to work, vocation, and economics. Continue Reading...

July 11, 2017

The ‘end’ of work

In the Q&A part of a session I led at last month’s Acton University on Abraham Kuyper and Leo XIII (based on this recent volume), I was asked about specific areas where the two figures have something concrete to contribute today. Continue Reading...

June 22, 2017

Video games as a counterfeit of meaningful work

Technology has changed the ways we work, but it’s also transformed the ways we play, creating more time for rest and relaxation, and infusing those hours with new diversions and distractions. Continue Reading...

June 20, 2017

Exulting in the monotony of fatherhood

Fatherhood is a wild ride, yet in my own personal reflections on and around Father’s Day, I’m routinely reminded that amid and alongside all the adventure, the challenges of fatherhood mostly play out in the small and intimate moments of daily life. Continue Reading...

April 26, 2017

When work as ‘calling’ becomes an idol unto self

Propelled by an expansion in economic opportunity and the resounding cultural calls to “follow your passions,” today’s workers are more easily latching on to the notion of work as “calling,” or a pursuit of “deeper meaning.” Of course, in many ways, it’s a positive development. Continue Reading...

April 20, 2017

Back to the garden: How the Gospel redeems our work

From the very beginning, God set humans to work. That original design was soon to be tainted by the destruction of sin, but that by no means marked the story’s end. Continue Reading...

April 19, 2017

Start-ups for the kingdom: How a Cincinnati church is empowering entrepreneurs

The faith-work movement has had great success in helping Christians connect daily work with spiritual calling, leading many to shift their approach to economic stewardship. For some, that will translate into a more basic shift in attitude, with continued service at an existing company or a long-standing industry. Continue Reading...

March 28, 2017

The future of work: Arthur Brooks on human dignity and ‘neededness’

Although unemployment continues to hover somewhere around 4.7 percent, the labor-force participation rate offers a grimmer outlook, falling from 67% in 2000 to 63% today. With the continued acceleration of globalization and automation, the future of work looks increasingly uncertain. Continue Reading...

1 2 3 … 19 Next >