Full Description
Increasingly, the religious leaders of the world are addressing problems of political economy, expressing concern about the poor. But will their efforts actually help the poor? Or harm them? Much depends, Michael Novak asserts, upon what kind of institutions are constructed, that is, upon realism and practicality.
His thesis may be simply stated: Although the Catholic Church during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries set itself against liberalism as an ideology, it has slowly come to admire liberal institutions such as democracy and free markets. Between the Catholic vision of social justice and liberal institutions, Novak argues, there is a profound consonance (but not identity). Both celebrate realism, respect for institutions, and prudence or practical wisdom. The Catholic tradition adds to liberal individualism a strong communitarian sense.
This book was first published in 1984 as Freedom with Justice. This new edition adds both a lengthy introduction carrying forward the original argument and a long concluding chapter on Pope John Paul IPs controversial new encyclical of early 1988, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis.
Contents
1: Catholic and Liberal; 1: Theology and Economics: The Next Twenty Years; 2: Perfect Enemy of Good: Against Utopianism; 3: An Awareness of Sin: The US Catholic Bishops and the US Economy; II: The Development of Catholic Social Thought (1848-1982); 4: The Architects of Catholic Social Thought; 5: A Quintessential Liberal: John Stuart Mill; 6: From Politics to Economics: Leo XIII and Pius XI; 7: The Development of Nations: John XXIII and Paul VI; 8: Creation Theology: Pope John Paul II; III: Ethos, Virtues, and Institutions: The Future Development of Catholic Social Thought; 9: Catholic Social Thought in the Future: Toward a Theology of Commerce and Industry; 10: Liberation Theology in Practice; 11: The Communitarian Individualin American Practice; 12: International Economics; 13: Pope of Liberty, Pope of Creativity: John Paul II
