Tag Archives: Conservatism

American Enterprise Institute

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I wanted to make a few more resources available if you are interested in conservatism, and conservative economics and politics, especially from an American Evangelical perspective. These resources come to me from my son Marshall, who is currently employed in Washington DC, and is definitely in the “minority” when it comes to public policy in our nation’s capital. He has attended AEI events there and I have benefitted from the resources he has shared below.

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has a long history of promoting the culture of free enterprise. Last year they embarked on The Project on Values and Capitalism, seeking to engage in a conversation with evangelical college students on the topics of economics, values and faith. Here are links to resources that I found very enlightening.

  • Marvin Olasky – Speaking on: “Social Justice, Free Markets and Evangelicals” – (audio file)
  • Jay W. Richards speaking on: “Can Christians Be Capitalists? – (audio file)
  • P. J. Hill, professor of economics at Wheaton College, discussed the Christian doctrines of Imago Dei and the Fall and their implications for a Christian understanding of social institutions. A transcript of his remarks are available here.

Looking for more? Try: American Enterprise Institute YouTube Channel

Additionally, Arthur Brooks, President of AEI spoke on Thursday, January 7, at Calvin College on: “The New American Culture War.” Read his Wall Street Journal article about The Real Culture War Is Over Capitalism: Tea parties, ‘ethical populism,’ and the moral case against redistribution.

Conservative Economic and Political Resources

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liberty

Ideas on Liberty, Religion and Society

A friend recently asked me to put together some resources on the conservative economic and political worldview (especially from an evangelical Christian perspective), so that he could become better informed on this viewpoint. I decided to turn my research and information gathering into a blog post so that others might benefit from it as well. These are all resources that I have used, still use and/or tap into to stay informed on this general topic. You will notice that I shy away from the shrill, reactionary and negative approach of some “conservatives” in favor of a more thoughtful, engaging and reasoned approach.

This post will be updated as I gather more information. Please leave your comments below on additional recommendations!

Newsletters

Magazines

Books

Essays-Articles

  • “I, Pencil“ by Leonard E. Read - This short essay explains how the coordination needed to make a simple pencil is its own kind of miracle. Example of what society can do without a central planner.
  • “Imago Dei and the Fall: The Implications of Two Christian Doctrines for Economics” - Lecture by Dr. PJ Hill, Professor of Economics at Wheaton College - My son Marshall saw Dr. Hill give this lecture in November 2009 at the American Enterprise Institute in DC. After reading this myself, it is a tremendously coherent argument for why free-markets are the best economic system, based on the foundational Christian beliefs about how God originally created humans and the reality of how we’ve fallen.
  • “The Problem with Conservatism” - J. Budziszewski
  • “The Problem with Liberalism” - J. Budziszewski
    • “I, Pencil” by Leonard E. Read
    This short essay explains how the coordination needed to make a simple pencil is its own kind of miracle. Example of what society can do without a central plannerby Leonard E. ReThis short essay explains how the coordination needed to make a simple pencil is its own kind of miracle. Example of what society can do without a central planner.

Authors-Thinkers-Speakers-Economists

  • Dinesh D’Souza – Thinker, author, columnist – heard him speak at a Ravi Zacharias event
  • Marvin Olasky – the personal series describing his path from Communism to a conservative-Christian it a must read
  • Michael Novak – Theologian and Author
  • Thomas Sowell – African-American Economist, Professor, Author, Thinker
  • Chuck Colson – Breakpoint, Prison Fellowship, author of many great books on Christian faith and culture
  • Mark Steyn – Author and columnist, who also happens to be Canadian
  • Walter Williams – Professor of Economics at George Mason University
  • Milton Friedman – Nobel Prize-winner in Economics
  • Friedrich Hayek - advocate of Austrian Economics

Websites-Blogs

Organizations

Media

  • “John Adams” – HBO Mini-series
  • “Liberty, Rights and the American Founding“ – FEE Seminar on YouTube
  • WIND Radio 560 AM –  Chicago Talk Radio
  • “The Call of the Entrepreneur” – This video by the Acton Institute tells the story of 3 different entrepreneurs and demonstrates the true value that entrepreneurs create for society, weaving in aspects of Christianity. It gives the conservative view of businessmen and wealth, not as evil but as a beneficial part of society.

The Screwtape Letters

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The Screwtape Letters

Uncle Screwtape and Toadwood his Scribe

Uncle Screwtape and Toadwood his Scribe

I had an opportunity to go and see FPA Theatre Company’s production of C.S. Lewis‘ “The Screwtape Letters” a week ago. It is playing at the old Mercury Theater at 3745 N. Southport in Chicago. It stars Max McLean (who also co-adapted the script) as “His Abysmal Sublimity Screwtape,” and Karen Eleanor Wight as “Toadpipe,” his demonic personal secretary and scribe.

C. S. LEWIS (Author) (1898-1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably the most influential Christian writer and apologist of his day. He published The Screwtape Letters in 1942 wherein he presented a humorous and perceptive exchange between two devils named Screwtape and Wormwood. He used the book to deal with moral questions about good vs. evil, temptation, repentance, and grace.

Here is C.S. Lewis’ own INTRODUCTION:

I have no intention of explaining how the correspondence, which I now offer to the public, fell into my hands.

There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.

Readers are advised to remember that the devil is a liar. Not everything that Screwtape says should be assumed to be true, even from his own angle.

There is wishful thinking in Hell as well as on Earth.

C.S. Lewis
July 5, 1941
The Screwtape Letters