By Joe Carter Every year, the U.S. Census comes out with its report on incomes and poverty. And every year the same finding repeatedly surprises me. As economist David Henderson says, the report “always shows that there is mobility between income categories, even in the short run, and that poverty is temporary for most people in America who experience it. Virtually all reporters ignore it.” First, the bad news. The report reveals that during the 4-year period from 2009 to... Read more
By Joseph Sunde When it comes to basic definitions of work, I’ve found great comfort in Lester DeKoster’s prescient view of work as “service to others and thus to God” — otherwise construed as “creative service” in For the Life of the World: Letters to the Exiles. Our primary focus should be service to our fellow man in obedience to God, whether we’re doing manual labor in the field or factory, designing new technology in an office or laboratory, or delivering a... Read more
By Joe Carter The scene can be found in almost every major U.S. city: a panhandler stands on a street corner holding a sign saying, “Need a job.” But one U.S. mayor decided to try something different — by taking them up on the offer and give the person a job. One year ago Berry started a campaign to curb panhandling, called There’s a Better Way. The goal of the campaign is to give panhandlers a chance at a change... Read more
By Joseph Sunde In an interview with Eater, celebrity chef Alton Brown was asked how his faith and religion play into his professional life. Brown is a “born-again Christian,” though he finds the term overly redundant. His answer is rather edifying, offering a good example of the type of attitude and orientation we as Christians are called to assume: As far as other decisions, my wife runs the company. We try not to make any big decisions about the direction... Read more
By Elise Hilton People of good will wish to end poverty. No one who lives in abject poverty wishes to remain there. We all know that poverty is a problem, but we differ on how to “fix” it. One clear distinction, discussed by Stephanie Summers, is whether we want to end poverty, or whether we want to promote human flourishing. This is a critical delineation. Ending poverty focuses primarily on government policy and programs. It utilizes metrics, numbers, data to... Read more
By Joseph Sunde As Christians in the modern economy, we face a constant temptation to limit our work and stewardship to the temporal and the material, focusing only on “putting in our 40,” working for the next paycheck, and tucking away enough cash for a cozy retirement. Such priorities have led many to absorb the most consumeristic features of the so-called “American Dream,” approaching work only as a means for retirement, and retirement only as a “dead space” for recreation and leisure.... Read more
By Tyler Groenendal Overproduction, simply put, is supply in excess of demand. It is the production of more goods and services than those in the market would like to purchase. In a well functioning market economy, overproduction should be temporary. In a dynamic market driven by entrepreneurs, resources become allocated towards their most highly valued uses. If some clever entrepreneur makes a million shoes but only sells two pairs, he will be unlikely to overproduce in the future. This is good, because... Read more
By Joseph Sunde In Dierdre McCloskey’s latest book, Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World, she builds on her ongoing thesis that our newfound prosperity is not due to systems, tools, or materials, but the ideas, virtues, and rhetoric behind them. Much has been made of her argument as it relates to the (ir)relevance of those material features as causes: “coal or thrift or capital or exports or exploitation or imperialism or good property rights or even good science.”... Read more
By Allison Gilbert New York City has been called one of the least religious cities in America. In recent years though, ministries’ based there have felt a resurgence of the gospel movement and seen potential for cultural change. Because of this Tim Keller and his church, Redeemer Presbyterian, have started the Rise campaign. Rise is looking to dramatically expand the number of New York City residents that attend a “gospel teaching church” from the current 5 percent, to 15 percent... Read more
By Jay Richards In recent years, religious freedom in the United States has been treated by its defenders as a special form of freedom distinct from, say, political or economic freedom. This is not a viable long-term strategy for protecting religious freedom. Both economic and religious freedom tend to exist together in the same societies; they are both based on the same principles; they tend to reinforce each other; and over the long haul, they arguably stand or fall together.... Read more
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