Beyond Distributism
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.

Trial by Fury: Restoring the Common Good in Tort Litigation
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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: Doing Justice to Justice: Competing Frameworks of Interpretation in Christian Social Ethics (published in 2002); Liberating Labor: A Christian Economist's Case for Voluntary Unionism (published in 2002); A Theory of Corruption: The Theology and Economics of Sin (published in 2003); Inhabiting The Land: The Case for the Right to Migrate (published in 2003); Trial by Fury: Restoring the Common Good in Tort Litigation (published in 2004); The Good that Business Does (published in 2006); Pensions, Populations and Prosperity (published in 2007); The Social Mortgage of Intellectual Property (published in 2007)Reg Price $40.00; Sale Price $35.00