Christian Social Thought Series Books and eBooks

As of 2012, Acton is creating new web entities for our Christian Social Thought Series eBooks. The following eBooks are available:

The following eBooks are available that are not in the CST series:

This series brings Christian moral reflection to bear on contemporary issues in social and economic life. Its volumes approach each subject by engaging seriously both the insights of the social sciences and the truths about persons and society available in the natural law and Christian theology.

Hard Copy CST Books Listed Below

Financial Crisis, Populism, and the Path to Prosperity in Latin America

$6.00 [ purchase ]

Latin American economies enjoyed substantial growth in the early years of the twenty-first century, but the financial crisis beginning in 2008 called into question the sustainability of that progress. What are the keys to lasting prosperity in Central and South America? How can the benefits of wealth creation be widely distributed so as to ameliorate the poverty that has been endemic to the region? Do populist calls for vigorous government action represent the cure for what has ailed Latin America? Drawing on the findings of development economics and the wisdom of Catholic social teaching, Carroll Ríos de Rodríguez answers these questions by focusing attention on the institutions—rule of law, property, family—by which the people of Latin America can secure for themselves a bright future.

International Aid and Integral Human Development

$6.00 [ purchase ]

Christians in wealthy nations have an obligation to assist those who struggle to subsist in developing economies. The critical question remains: How is this duty best discharged? Conventionally, church leaders have often recommended government-to-government aid transfers as a major strategy to promote development in poor nations. Philip Booth, relying on the principles of Catholic social teaching and the evidence of development economics, argues that this strategy has been in large measure a failure. Booth draws attention to the indispensable conditions for economic development, urges us to reconsider our approach to international aid in light of this evidence, and reminds us that material welfare is only one dimension of integral human development.

Fair Trade? Its Prospects as a Poverty Solution

$6.00 [ purchase ]

To learn more, visit http://www.FairTradeAndFreeTrade.com Fair Trade is an enormously popular idea in Christian and secular circles alike. Who, after all, could be against fairness? Victor V. Claar, however, raises significant economic and moral questions about both the logic and economic reasoning underlying the fair trade movement. In this monograph, Claar suggests that, for all its good intentions, fair trade may not be of particular service to the poor, especially in the developing world.

Catholic Education and the Promise of School Choice

$6.00 [ purchase ]

American education is in crisis. Many public schools, especially those serving students of challenging socio-economic backgrounds, fail to provide the training necessary to succeed in a modern, global economy. Meanwhile, Catholic schools, traditionally the bastions of excellent academic and moral formation, suffer from funding shortages and lack of mission clarity. While these problems have many dimensions and require reform on many fronts, historian and education policy analyst Kevin Schmiesing identifies the overarching challenge as reinvigorating parental initiative and responsibility in schooling. For policymakers, this means promoting measures that provide maximum financial and legal freedom to parents to choose the method and place of education most appropriate for their children. School choice, he argues, possesses the potential to transform and renew Catholic and public education alike.

A Prescription for Health Care Reform

$6.00 [ purchase ]

Rising costs and demographic realities render the current American health care system unsustainable. The situation presents a particular challenge for Christians who recognize that access to health care is a basic requirement of a just social order. Physician Donald Condit, drawing on an impressive array of empirical research, skillfully applies the principles of Catholic social teaching to this vital area of concern. Neither current reliance on employer-provided insurance nor the increased socialization of medicine will lead to progress, Condit argues. Instead, he identifies the pitfalls of third-party payer systems and points the way to reform that preserves individual dignity, protects the vulnerable, and promotes the common good.

Beyond Distributism

$6.00 [ purchase ]

Troubled by rampant injustice and inequality, many conscientious Christians advocate radical economic reforms. Distributism, a program that traces its popularity to Catholic writers Hilaire Belloc and G.K. Chesterton, promotes the widespread ownership of property by tempering the market with guilds or similar associations. Thomas Woods, drawing on a wealth of historical evidence and informed by Catholic social teaching and economic insight, argues that the distributist case is severely flawed. By its nature, distributism must invoke the power of the state, a dangerous move that ultimately undermines its own objectives. Economic freedom in a market system, Woods advises, is a context more conducive to justice and human flourishing.

Slitting the Sycamore

$6.00 [ purchase ]

The effectiveness of Christian participation in political, economic, and social life depends upon understanding the proper relationship between the Church and the world, Christ and culture. In this monograph, Eduardo Echeverria illuminates the recent history of thought on this subject, and articulates a way of thinking about the relationship that can appeal broadly to serious Christians in today's world. Using H. Richard Niebuhr's schema as a starting point rather than as the definitive statement on the matter, the author adapts the categories, suggests their strengths and weaknesses, and evaluates them in light of the vision of Pope John Paul II's "new evangelization." Christian engagement of contemporary culture - "slitting the sycamore" - is an essential task if that culture is to be a source of vitality and sustenance. Echeverria points the way.

The Social Mortgage of Intellectual Property

$6.00 [ purchase ]

The AIDs crisis in Africa has given the once-esoteric question of intellectual property rights critical and immediate significance. The issue of pharmaceutical patents is but one dimension of a broad and complicated area at the intersection of law, economics, and ethics. In this monograph, philosopher David Carey supplies an overview of the philosophical and legal foundation of intellectual property rights and argues that a Christian view of those rights is at once appreciative and critical. More specifically, while the Church¹s social teaching upholds the importance of property rights‹including intellectual property rights‹it also places all such rights within the context of obligations toward the common good. In this thought-provoking assessment of the field, Carey pays due attention at once to both economic reality and the demands of justice and charity.

Pensions, Population, and Prosperity

$6.00 [ purchase ]

In both developed and developing nations, old age security is a concern of the utmost importance. Wealthy nations face ailing government pension systems, while less developed nations struggle to construct viable mechanisms for assisting the needy elderly. In this unique and provocative monograph, Oskari Juurikkala, fully cognizant of these differences and drawing on the wisdom of the Christian social tradition, argues that the solution for both groups of nations lies in the same direction - away from reliance on the state and toward strong familial and other private networks. The author's unusual blend of informed policy analysis and incisive cultural commentary makes this essay a vital contribution to the ongoing discussion over pension and social security reform.

The Good That Business Does

$6.00 [ purchase ]

One of the major political challenges of the modern era has been to manage the integration of business into the life of the civil community. Similarly, Christian social thinkers have struggled to integrate business activity into their account of morality, justice, and the common good. While the disciplines of economics and law teach us much about the character of contemporary business, their descriptions are limited. Drawing on the natural-law tradition's concept of goods, this monograph offers a fuller treatment of the role of business in society and of its moral obligations. It upholds the importance of business's fulfillment of private goods, and also outlines the ways in which it contributes to the common good.

A Biblical Case for Natural Law

$3.00 [ purchase ]

This monograph is for Christians who are perplexed about the biblical standing of natural law. It offers an explicitly biblical defense for the existence and practical importance of natural law. If natural law is taught in Scripture, it should certainly be affirmed in Christian theology. The Studies In Christian Social Ethics and Economics series compiles topical studies of issues in Christian social ethics and economics integrating biblical studies, theology, economics, political theory, history, and various Christian traditions as centered in the Scriptures. The primary objective is to bring practitioners in these fields together to focus on the implications and applications of Christian social ethics in the church and society. Reg. price $6 Sale price $3

Trial by Fury: Restoring the Common Good in Tort Litigation

$6.00 [ purchase ]

American tort law has become the subject of public scrutiny in the last decades. The criticism cast against it is that its current state bears economic incentives for abuse. But the tort law system engenders an even greater evil: the perversion of the human person. Acts of injustice tolerated by a permissive tort system have facilitated the near obliteration of forgiveness and reconciliation, of kindness and goodwill, and they have thus cleaved a chasm in human fellowship. The tort system has thus forsaken its proper role as arbiter of justice in service of the common good. Instead, it is distorting responsibility into blame, and human dignity into parasitic opportunism. This monograph not only points to the gravity of this moral effect of tort law on the human person, but it attempts to lay the ground for restoring the common good in tort litigation.

A Theory of Corruption

$6.00 [ purchase ]

There is no greater scourge that affects the proper functioning of any economic system than corruption. Tragically, corruption is pervasive in developing nations. It is found often on the part of public officials who delay the issuance or processing of public documents unless a monetary inducement is offered. It is found in the typical mismanagement and appropriation of national budgets toward the personal gain of political leaders. And it is found in ordinary individual transactions in the form of fraud, price gouging, and organized crime. The effects of corruption also have legal ramifications, often undermining the rule of law. But fundamentally, corruption falls squarely in the moral realm because it is symptomatic of the original sin that marks the heart of every person. This monograph offers a theological and economic examination that puts into question many of the uncritically accepted assumptions held about corruption.

Inhabiting the Land

$6.00 [ purchase ]

John Paul II asserts the right to migrate and this monograph presents a defense for this case. But the meaning of right employed in this defense is wholly distinct from that employed in the contemporary rights language of public policy debates. Rather, the meaning of right in Catholic natural law tradition is analogous to the right to property, and not to the right to life. Accordingly, the burdens of migration on host countries is fundamental to the analysis. Indeed most of the examinations of the right to migrate in Catholic social thought are conducted in the context of the economic motives for immigration public policy, as well as for emigration decisions on the part of individuals. This monograph thus presents an economic analysis of migration that is consistent with the Christian concern for the dignity of persons.

Liberating Labor: A Christian Economist's Case for Voluntary Unionism

$6.00 [ purchase ]

Do labor unions offer the best protection for the worker? Published by the Acton Institute, Liberating Labor questions the assumption that Christian social teaching unequivocally endorses all forms of trade unionism. If we consider the church's defense of freedom of association, for example, compulsory union membership is clearly at odds with Christian teaching. This monograph offers the first rigorous-yet accessible-economic analysis of labor unions and the labor market that takes into account the Christian understanding of labor.

Doing Justice to Justice: Competing Frameworks of Interpretation in Christian Social Ethics

$6.00 [ purchase ]

The first monograph of the 2002 Christian Social Thought Series defines the relationship between economic or social justice and the classical understanding of justice as a virtue. This forward thinking essay discusses the proper role of the state for achieving justice and argues that a truly just society depends on vigorous social institutions and responsible citizens.

Christian Social Thought Series Set

$72.00 [ purchase ]

It is in the spirit and vision of economic personalism that the Christian Social Thought Series is offered. These books attempt a personalist synthesis of significant issues at the nexus of economic activity and the moral life, and provide in-depth analyses of key issues facing the Christian Church as it attempts to preach the Word of God in a culture, and indeed, a marketplace that longs to hear the Good News. Series currently includes: Financial Crisis, Populism, and the Path to Prosperity in Latin America (2011) International Aid and Integral Human Development (2011) Catholic Education and the Promise of School Choice (2010) Fair Trade? Its Prospects as a Poverty Solution (2010) A Prescription for Health Care Reform (2009) Slitting the Sycamore (2008) Beyond Distributism (2008) The Social Mortgage of Intellectual Property (2007) Pensions, Populations and Prosperity ( 2007) The Good that Business Does (2006) A Biblical Case for Natural Law (2006) Trial by Fury: Restoring the Common Good in Tort Litigation (2004) Inhabiting The Land: The Case for the Right to Migrate (2003) A Theory of Corruption: The Theology and Economics of Sin (2003) Inhabiting The Land (2003) Liberating Labor: A Christian Economist's Case for Voluntary Unionism (2002) Doing Justice to Justice: Competing Frameworks of Interpretation in Christian Social Ethics (2002)

  • Printer-friendly version
  • Send to friend

Featured Book Shop Item

Birth of Freedom Curriculum DVD and Study Guide (set)

$28.00 [ purchase ]

This DVD, hosted by Dave Stotts, designed for use with the Birth of Freedom Participant Guide, helps ground your faith through a powerful telling of how individual rights and freedom was born