Samuel Gregg - Böcker

Perhaps no issue is more divisive among philosophers, jurists and theologians than the nature of human liberty. Liberty is central to the claims of the Christian Gospel, the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the American Revolution. But discussions about the nature of freedom have been characterized by profound disagreement and unsettling questions. What does it mean to be free? Is freedom worth more than mens' lives? Why should man be free? What, if any, legitmate responsibilities accompany freedom? These subjects are that the heart of Samuel Gregg's new book On Ordered Liberty. Beginning with the insights of Alexis de Tocqueville and some natural law theorists, Gregg suggests that something which he terms 'integral law' must be distinguished from most contemporary visions of freedom. He argues that this new arrangement requires a complete repudiation of utilitarian ideas on the grounds that they are incompatable with human nature. He also recommends a new and more rigorous focus on the basic but often neglected-question: what is man? On Ordered Liberty goes beyond the liberal and conservative divide, asking its readers to think about the proper ends of human choice and actions in a free society.

Once relatively confined to parts of Europe and North America, commercial societies are now found in many other cultures and continents. Yet despite the international spread and growth of commercial order, the moral, economic, and legal foundations of commercial society remain poorly understood, especially in those countries where it first took root. Guided by the thoughts of Alexis de Tocqueville, Samuel Gregg's The Commercial Society identifies and explores the key foundational elements that must exist within a society for commercial order to take root and flourish. Gregg studies the challenges that have consistently impeded and occasionally undermined commercial order, including the persistence of "corporatist" values and political movements seeking to equalize social conditions. This book offers a historically-grounded analysis for modern audiences interested in philosophy or the history of economics.

Economic Thinking for the Theologically Minded provides an introduction to what has been called "the economic way of thinking," which explains some of the critical concepts and foundational assumptions employed in economics. To communicate these ideas effectively to those engaged in theological studies, this book avoids using unnecessary technical terminology. These concepts are then subject to analysis from the standpoint of Christian ethics, with emphasis placed upon the often-unsuspected degree of agreement between economics and Christian belief about the nature of the person. The second half of the book consists of a collection of selections from classical economic texts, representing a range of authors from a variety of schools of thought. These selections have been arranged around ten key concepts, each of which attempts to deepen understanding of various ideas presented in the book's first half.

Economic Thinking for the Theologically Minded provides an introduction to what has been called "the economic way of thinking," which explains some of the critical concepts and foundational assumptions employed in economics. To communicate these ideas effectively to those engaged in theological studies, this book avoids using unnecessary technical terminology. These concepts are then subject to analysis from the standpoint of Christian ethics, with emphasis placed upon the often-unsuspected degree of agreement between economics and Christian belief about the nature of the person. The second half of the book consists of a collection of selections from classical economic texts, representing a range of authors from a variety of schools of thought. These selections have been arranged around ten key concepts, each of which attempts to deepen understanding of various ideas presented in the book's first half.

This is the fifth volume in the "Major Conservative and Libertarian Thinkers Series". Since the dawn of the Enlightenment, modernity and the Papacy have experienced a difficult though never severed relationship. "Modern Papacy" goes beyond the caricatures to demonstrate how the popes - specifically John Paul II and Benedict XVI - have articulated a sophisticated critique of the post-Enlightenment world, one that acknowledges the real progress made in modernity while simultaneously highlighting its political and philosophical shortcomings. Far from falling on deaf ears, the nature of their engagement with the modern world has sparked criticism and praise from Catholics and non-Catholics alike - sometimes in surprising ways. Whether the subject is faith and reason, religion and the modern sciences, the roots and future of Europe, or the origin and ends of human freedom, John Paul II and Benedict XVI pose questions that simply cannot be ignored, regardless of whether one likes their answers."Major Conservative and Libertarian Thinkers" provides comprehensive accounts of the works of seminal conservative thinkers from a variety of periods, disciplines and traditions - the first series of its kind. Even the selection of thinkers adds another aspect to conservative thinking, including not only theorists but also thinkers in literary forms and those who are also practitioners. The series comprises twenty volumes, each including an intellectual biography, historical context, critical exposition of the thinker's work, reception and influence, contemporary relevance, bibliography including references to electronic resources and an index.

Historically, the Christian tradition has played an influential role in Western economic thought concerning the regulation of markets, but, with the fracturing of the Christian tradition following the Reformation, the decline of Christian influence in academia, and the increasing specialization of economic analysis, that influence has become increasingly opaque. This volume brings together an interdisciplinary team of prominent academic experts on market regulation from four different continents and various faith traditions to reconsider the impact of Christianity on market regulation. Drawing on law, economics, history, theology, philosophy, and political theory, the authors consider both general questions of market regulation and particular regulatory fields such as bankruptcy, corporate law, and antitrust from a Christian perspective.

Since the dawn of the Enlightenment, modernity and the Papacy have experienced a difficult though never severed relationship. The Modern Papacy goes beyond the caricatures to demonstrate how the popes - specifically John Paul II and Benedict XVI - have articulated a sophisticated critique of the post-Enlightenment world, one that acknowledges the real progress made in modernity while simultaneously highlighting its political and philosophical shortcomings. Far from falling on deaf ears, the nature of their engagement with the modern world has sparked criticism and praise from Catholics and non-Catholics alike - sometimes in surprising ways. Whether the subject is faith and reason, religion and the modern sciences, the roots and future of Europe, or the origin and ends of human freedom, John Paul II and Benedict XVI pose questions that simply cannot be ignored, regardless of whether one likes their answers.

"We're becoming like Europe." This expression captures many Americans' sense that something has changed in American economic life since the Great Recession's onset in 2008: that an economy once characterized by commitments to economic liberty, rule of law, limited government, and personal responsibility has drifted in a distinctly "European" direction. Americans see, across the Atlantic, European economies faltering under enormous debt; overburdened welfare states; governments controlling close to fifty percent of the economy; high taxation; heavily regulated labor markets; aging populations; and large numbers of public-sector workers. They also see a European political class seemingly unable--and, in some cases, unwilling--to implement economic reform, and seemingly more concerned with preserving its own privileges. Looking at their own society, Americans are increasingly asking themselves: "Is this our future?"In Becoming Europe, Samuel Gregg examines economic culture--the values and institutions that inform our economic priorities--to explain how European economic life has drifted in the direction of what Alexis de Tocqueville called "soft despotism," and the ways in which similar trends are manifesting themselves in the United States. America, Gregg argues, is not yet Europe; the good news is that economic decline need not be its future. The path to recovery lies in the distinctiveness of American economic culture. Yet there are ominous signs that some of the cultural foundations of America's historically unparalleled economic success are being corroded in ways that are not easily reversible--and the European experience should serve as the proverbial canary in the coal mine.

Western civilization’s genius is in its synthesis of reason and faith. These foundations are under assault today from Islamists and radical secularists. Unless Western society recovers its confidence in this synthesis and its capacity to magnify human freedom and achievement, our future is limited. This sharp commentary on the rise and current decline of Western Civilization touches on historical moments—including the building of early universities in the Middle Ages and the American Revolution—and figures—including Augustine, Acquinas, Edmund Burke, and Adam Smith—that exemplify the faith-reason synthesis at the heart of Western Civilization, as well as the modern villains that threaten to destroy it.

Americans across the political spectrum have turned away from free market capitalism, calling for more government intervention into the economy. This optimistic book explains how a dynamic, Commercial Republic that benefits all Americans is still possible."Will someone intent on changing the direction of America’s economy seize on this text and send it far and wide?”—Hugh Hewitt, author, attorney, and national host of The Hugh Hewitt Show“Markets grounded in a commercial republic are what America needs. Gregg shows why.” —Vernon L. Smith, 2002 Nobel Laureate in Economics, Professor of Business Economics and Law at Chapman UniversityOne of America’s greatest success stories is its economy. For over a century, it has been the envy of the world. The opportunity it generates has inspired millions of people to want to become American.Today, however, America’s economy is at a crossroads. Many have lost confidence in the country’s commitment to economic liberty. Across the political spectrum, many want the government to play an even greater role in the economy via protectionism, industrial policy, stakeholder capitalism, or even quasi-socialist policies. Numerous American political and business leaders are embracing these ideas, and traditional defenders of markets have struggled to respond to these challenges in fresh ways. Then there is a resurgent China bent on eclipsing the United States’s place in the world. At stake is not only the future of the world’s biggest economy, but the economic liberty that remains central to America’s identity as a nation.But managed decline and creeping statism do not have to be America’s only choices, let alone its destiny. For this book insists that there is an alternative. And that is a vibrant market economy grounded on entrepreneurship, competition, and trade openness, but embedded in what America’s founding generation envisaged as the United States’s future: a dynamic Commercial Republic that takes freedom, commerce, and the common good of all Americans seriously, and allows America as a sovereign-nation to pursue and defend its interests in a dangerous world without compromising its belief in the power of economic freedom.

Over the past ten years, we have witnessed a sever weakening of the commitment to market economies in the United States and other Western nations that prevailed between the mid-1970s and the late-2000s. While few are advocating socialism, economic planning and interventionism are back in vogue. One reason for free markets falling out of favor is to be found among free market thinkers themselves. For decades, their emphasis and strength lay in tough-minded policy-criticism and advocacy. An overwhelming focus on such matters, however, has left the case for markets vulnerable to those criticizing dynamic market economies on economic and normative grounds. Prominent advocates of interventionism insist that free markets absolutize liberty and efficiency at the expense of other values like community and solidarity. This has produced, market skeptics contend, social atomization, materialism, and the commodification of everything. For the most part, the response of free market thinkers has been to double down on policy responses. Such advocacy is essential but insufficient, shown by the cultural and economic dysfunctionalities (not to mention the colossal public debt) generated by these policies. The Civilization of Commerce moves beyond policy to develop a powerful civilizational argument which paves the way for a more substantial remaking of the case for markets capable of countering today’s resurgent interventionism.

There was a time when theologians and economists knew much more about each other's work than they do today. This book is dedicated to reconnecting two disciplines that study different dimensions of the human condition. The well respected contributors - economists, theologians, some both - explore the interaction of Christian theology and market economics, from the earliest times to the modern day. There is much to surprise, puzzle and edify serious students of theology and economics as well as the merely curious.This unique work has a historical time-span reaching from Aristotle to the modern day, thus appealing to those interested in the history of ideas and economic thought as well as the links between theological and economic thought. Economists studying the intellectual roots of their discipline, as well as Christians researching the links between Christian beliefs and the worldly philosophy governing everyday commercial lives will also welcome it.

There was a time when theologians and economists knew much more about each other's work than they do today. This book is dedicated to reconnecting two disciplines that study different dimensions of the human condition. The well respected contributors - economists, theologians, some both - explore the interaction of Christian theology and market economics, from the earliest times to the modern day. There is much to surprise, puzzle and edify serious students of theology and economics as well as the merely curious.This unique work has a historical time-span reaching from Aristotle to the modern day, thus appealing to those interested in the history of ideas and economic thought as well as the links between theological and economic thought. Economists studying the intellectual roots of their discipline, as well as Christians researching the links between Christian beliefs and the worldly philosophy governing everyday commercial lives will also welcome it.