Religion & Law

In response to this brief post yesterday--which, appropriately enough, was May Day--I received a message from a MOJ-reader (who happens to be the son of an MOJ-blogger), Christopher Scaperlanda.  With Chris's permission, I am posting his message:

"[Y]our most recent post, on MacIntyre and capitalism, picqued my interest in a particular way, both because I am a former student of MacIntyre's and because I've been reading pretty vociferously trying to better understand what a truly Christian economics would look like and what I can do, in the absence of starting a revolution, to bring justice to my life as an economic participant.

"I also thought that you would be interested to know that among conservatives there is a growing trend away from worship of the free market. Rod Dreher has a fantastic book called Crunchy Cons in which he details that many liberal ideas about organic food, about transit, about the environment and about many other issues are actually far more conservative than the free market, growth and efficiency, regardless of the costs to community, environment, or humanity mantra embraced by the Republican party. (One of his foundational principles: big business is as bad as big government). He also has his own blog, and writes for Front Porch Republic, which is a kind of meeting of the minds among people who would consider themselves conservative in those same ways (I find that I agree with that lot as a whole less than with Dreher, but I thought you might be interested).

"William Cavanaugh also has an outstanding book out called Being Consumed, which is an extremely short book detailing what a truly Christian economics would look like. Among his many insights are the fact that instead of asking whether we should support a free market, we should really ask the question "When is a market truly free." He really does a great job shifting the debate, talking about practical things that we can do in the context of daily life, and describing why an orthodox Catholic should not also bow at the altar of the free market, as currently understood.

"I guess, more than anything, I wanted to let you know that the literature is out there (and that it is well worth reading). There are some great people who are doing their best to explain how unbridled capitalism is inconsistent with genuine conservatism (in Dreher's case) or with orthodox Catholicism (in Cavanaugh's case). But its also important to note that neither of these guys is a "government is the answer" liberal, either (nor, of course, is MacIntyre). All three of them are trying to think outside the current paradigm to find a way to bring about a genuinely just economics that makes space for human freedom. If you are interested, they are all well worth the time it takes to read them."