Distributivism and Catholic Social Teaching
John C. Médaille
I am the father of five, a graduate student of theology at the University of Dallas, and a real estate agent in Irving, Texas. (If you need a home in North Texas, visit my real estate site -- hey!, everybody's gotta make a living!)
Please feel free to e-mail me with any questions or comments. I will be glad to add your link to my page, but I first review all the sites, so send me the URL and I will take a look at it. And thanks for visiting my site. Links of Interest
Distributivism and Catholic Social Teaching This article, which appeared in the January, 2000 issue of The New Oxford Review, outlines the main thrust of Catholic Social Teaching as it is presented in Rerum Novarum, Quadragesimo Anno, Centesimus Annus, Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, and Laborem Exercens, and discusses the Distributivist response to the Teaching.
Practical Distributivism: The Just Wage vs. the Just Income This article examines one of the most difficult of the Social Teachings, the Just Wage, in light of the thought of Mortimer J. Adler and Louis Kelso and is intended to show that justice is not contrary to a free market, but an absolute requirement. Without justice -- as measured by the just wage -- markets are unstable and depressions are inevitable.
The Forgotten Agrarian: Re-Reading Adam Smith We all know what Adam Smith has to say about economics, right? Well, maybe not. Does Smith really support the "capitalist" system (a term he never uses), or does he have something else in mind?
Capitalist Pigs: The Wealth of Nations and the Wealth of Farmers This article examines the manipulation of pork prices by "hog factories" that drive real farmers out of business without any benefit to the public and with much subsidy from the public purse.
Sabbath Land and Royal Land: Competing Social Views in the Old Testament The debate over the meaning and ownership of land is not an exclusively modern one. Indeed, this debate is played out in the drama of the Old Testament as a struggle between the rights of the people and the rights of the King and the Landlords.
Legitimacy and Law in the First Things Debate This article examine the premise of the "The End of Democracy" debate in First Things magazine. The debate was occasioned by a comment of Judge Robert Bork to the effect that, due to the usurpation of the legislative function by the judiciary, America is no longer a democracy. It is the author's contention that, while the Supremes have indeed badly served the public trust on such issues as abortion, states' rights, the commerce clause, and a host of others, it is nevertheless untrue that courts should not make law. Indeed, common law (law made by judges rather than legislatures) is the norm of the English and American legal systems, rather than the exception. In fact, the supremacy of the legislature is a rather new, and rather dangerous, idea.
The Person as the Metaphysics of the Future
Heaven as the Home of the Free: The Primacy of the Will In Duns Scotus
Ideas Clearly Indistinct: Spinoza, Augustine, and the Search for Biblical Certainty
Enlightenment: Zen, Christian, and Modern -- "A religion of Nirvana cannot understand what kenosis means in a Christian sense; but it is a hair's breadth away from it."-- Hans Urs von Balthasar. An examination of Eastern and Western "Enlightenment."
Gender and Intra- Trinitarian Love in the Theo-drama of Hans Urs Von Balthasar -- Examines the ontological (i.e., Trinitarian) roots of gender.
The Trinity as the Pattern of the World in the Theo-Drama -- Divine and human freedom as rooted in the Trinity.
The Daring Hope of Hans Urs Von Balthasar -- Dare we hope that all men may be saved?
The Testimony of the Devil: The Temptation and Mission of Jesus -- Was Jesus really one of us? The devil seemed to think so.
Absurd Wisdom: An Apology for Euthyphro -- Christian philosophers have always sided with Socrates in this debate; maybe they've been backing the wrong horse.
Thoroughly Modern Thomas: Faith and Science in Aquinas -- How much of the modern world can be credited to (or blamed on) St. Thomas?
The Happy Passion: Faith in the Philosophical Fragments -- Kierkegaard restored the notion of faith as faith in a person rather than mere belief in propositions.
Charity in the De Doctrina Christiana: The Bible as Roman á Clef -- St. Augustine provides a simply hermaneutic key for understanding the Bible. Does it really work?
The Center for Economic and Social Justice -- This organization seeks a practical way to implement the wider ownership of industrial wealth by distributing the growth in the economy to the workers in the form of stocks. Current owners would be deprived of none of their current property, but new growth would accrue to the workers and other constituent groups. This is a "must see" site.
Justpeace -- One of the most comprehensive sites on Catholic Social Teaching, this site is run by Robert Waldrop of the Oscar Romero Catholic Worker House in Oklahoma City.
The Third Way -- There is a Distributivist Political Party -- in England. Check out their site for some refreshing political commentary.
Adbusters -- If advertising is the ultimate in American Culture (and I greatly fear that it is), then Adbusters is the ultimate counter-cultural site.
Gilbert! Magazine -- A magazine devoted to the great G. K. Chesterton.
The Catholic Worker Movement -- Distributivism as practiced on the street and in the slums of America.
Copyright © 1999-2003 John C. Médaille. john@medaille.com Design by Granat Editorial Services