Born in Chieti, Italy, Ferdinando Galiani was raised in Naples. Galiani was the nephew of the famous archbishop Coelestino Galiani. The archbishop made sure his nephew received a top quality education. The intention was for Galiani to serve the church as a member of the clergy someday. However, Galiani showed early promise as an economist who would fit into the academic elite of that time. He was an instrumental figure in the “Neapolitan Enlightenment” and one of the initiators of the Italian utilitarian tradition. Even so, he did not stray from the fundamental principles of truth and justice that his uncle had engrained into his mind as a...

On March 27, 1998, Belmont Abbey College in Belmont, North Carolina, hosted a two-day symposium to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Professor Richard Weaver's seminal book, Ideas Have Consequences. From that small gathering of 100 people nine speakers were asked to submit papers. These submissions make up a rather remarkable book entitled: Steps Toward Restoration, The Consequences of Richard Weaver's Ideas. The book was edited by Professor Ted Smith III, one of the symposium's organizers, and published by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute in 1998. As Professor Smith explains in the introduction, the purpose of the symposium and the essays that followed was to “... focus less on the content of Ideas Have Consequences .... (and) more on its origins and effects ....“

In the opening essay Professor...

In the twenty-fifth chapter of Leviticus, God, speaking of the land he promised to the Israelites, announced a principle, which became the central economic statement of the Old Testament. The “milk and honey” that characterized descriptions of the land's potential flowed from it. It reads:

Land will not be sold absolutely,
For the land belongs to ME,
And you are only strangers and guests of mine.

—Leviticus 25:23

This quote is the basis for a comprehensive set of macroeconomic laws that set up the new nation of Israel. While these laws were being observed—which was for a much longer time than is generally acknowledged—ancient Israel was very successful and enjoyed great prosperity, freedom, and justice. Now God was not directly rewarding the Israelites for...

John Winthrop was born in Suffolk, England, and grew up at Groton Manor, his father's estate in the English countryside. Preparing to take his father's place as the lord of Groton Manor, Winthrop studied law. He wanted to obtain the expertise needed to handle landlord-tenant disputes, collect rents, and deal with government authorities.

Winthrop grew dissatisfied with the Anglican Church and the Monarchy. The level of worldliness and corruption in both institutions generally disturbed him, but most offensive to Winthrop was the Monarchy's appointment of incompetent or ungodly bishops and imposition of a liturgy that...

In 1945 the initial formation of the United Nations promised a renaissance in “natural law.” Stating a “faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person …” the preamble to the UN charter outlined what appeared to be a basic conception of natural law and human dignity reaffirmed by the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. Even as the expansion of historical knowledge revealed an unfathomed diversity in global cultures and customs, the West's faith in a universal moral unity seemed firm.

This faith was fragile and soon to fade. The tides of ethical relativism and legal positivism arose to subsume half-hearted and incoherent conceptions of natural law, and replace them with nihilism and uncertainty. The Catholic Church stood unyielding in its reaffirmations of natural law stating in ...

Numerous political scientists among modern American conservatives and libertarians have lamented the redefinition of the term “liberalism” away from its classical meaning, delimiting it to meaning a political philosophy emphasizing individual freedom and limited government. Many of these scholars who lament this change have correctly traced how neo-liberals have redefined liberalism by redefining liberty itself. Relatively few, however, have explained why many twentieth-century Christians, particularly Roman Catholics, have abandoned the classical-liberal view of freedom in favor of neo-liberal, Rawlsian notions of distributive justice or even more radical liberation theology. This article will explore the reasons for modern Christian hostility toward classical liberalism and will attempt to reconcile Christian and classical-liberal definitions of freedom.

Born on January 22, 1913, to German immigrants in New York City, Carl F. H. Henry was not raised in a religious family environment. In 1933, while Henry was editor of The Smithtown Star and a stringer for The New York Times, Henry met with a man named Gene Bedford. They had a three hour conversation about the Christian faith, after which they prayed The Lord’s Prayer together. Henry converted to the Christian faith on the spot and became convinced that he should go to college to prepare for a life of Christian service. He attended Wheaton College, recognizing that “faith without reason is not worth much, and that reason is not an enemy but an ally of genuine...