Jordan J. Ballor's Blog, page 5
March 26, 2019
The Russian Five: ‘You want to be free’
Twenty-two years ago the Detroit Red Wings played the Colorado Avalanche in their final regular season matchup. The Avalanche had defeated the Red Wings in the previous season’s conference finals on their way to a Stanley Cup Championship, and the series included a dirty hit on Wings center Kris Draper, which ended his season. Continue Reading...
The post The Russian Five: ‘You want to be free’ appeared first on Acton Institute PowerBlog.
Related posts: Why do Russian oligarchs hide their m...
March 20, 2019
Captain Marvel’s grit
The latest Marvel film has done well at the box office, and for good reason. It is a solid entry in the MCU, and an introduction to a new character that promises to be central to the ongoing narrative arc following Avengers: Infinity War (some spoilers follow). Continue Reading...
The post Captain Marvel’s grit appeared first on Acton Institute PowerBlog.
Related posts: ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ and the danger of idolatrous ideologyMarch 13, 2019
Class struggle and the end of identity politics
As the Democratic party in the United States gears up for the 2020 presidential campaign, and a host of candidates announce their entry into the fray, some have observed a (class?) struggle between what might be called the Old Left (the sort of democratic socialism associated with Bernie Sanders) and the New Left (the identity politics of a new generation of progressives). Continue Reading... Related posts: We need a more Spock-like politics What Kind of Socialist is Bernie Sanders? Alexis...
March 6, 2019
Christian action in God’s world
This week’s Acton Commentary is adapted from a foreword to a new volume by Acton research fellow Anthony B. Bradley, Faith in Society: 13 Profiles of Christians Adding Value to the Modern World. Continue Reading... Related posts: Wanted: A Duke Lacrosse Team Hero Two New PowerBlog Contributors Leo XIII, Kuyper, and the foundations of modern Christian social thought
February 27, 2019
Means of common grace
In this week’s Acton Commentary, we take a short excerpt from the latest volume in the Abraham Kuyper Collected Works in Public Theology, the second volume of the trilogy on common grace. Continue Reading... Related posts: Evangelicals, Common Grace, and Abraham Kuyper Acton Institute and Kuyper College launch ‘Common Grace,’ a major Abraham Kuyper translation project Colson on Common Grace
February 20, 2019
The price of being middle class
I was glad to be able to engage P. J. O’Rourke in a wide-ranging discussion for the Acton podcast this week. In this episode of Acton Line, P. J. and I talk about “mutant” capitalism, cryptocurrency (neither of us really understand it), the state of the middle class, the Trump phenomenon, and much more, based on his latest book, None of My Business: P.J. Continue Reading... Related posts: What difference does reaching the middle class make? Radio Free Acton: Victor Claar on price gouging and...
February 11, 2019
A rule of thumb for the Green New Deal
I have a couple rules of thumb that I hope help me cut through some of the noise around various policy proposals and political debates. One has to do with budgetary reform (a topic I covered at some length last week): If the plan doesn’t engage with entitlements, then it isn’t really a serious proposal. Continue Reading... Related posts: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Green New Deal is the same old socialist hooey Explainer: Obama’s New Overtime Rule Green Atomic Power
February 6, 2019
Further thoughts on debt and growth
There’s been some chatter about the partisanship of concerns about the federal debt recently. Debt is fine if the party you prefer is in control, but otherwise is bad it seems. Continue Reading... Related posts: Evaluating Our Values: A Christian Response to the Debt Crisis National debt is a real threat to America ‘A Call for Intergenerational Justice’ and the Question of Economic Growth
December 5, 2018
The Christian life and the common good
In this week’s Acton Commentary I show that the idea that “physical needs must be met before people experience spiritual needs” is older than Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs. The key to understanding how this might be lies in a distinction between the order of time and the order of being. Continue Reading... Related posts: Maslow, material needs, and the gospel Christian Giving Begins with the Local Church Europe, Immigration, and Merkel’s Christian Values
October 29, 2018
Event: A Kuyperian Response to the Crisis in the Public Square
Every lightning-fast news cycle highlights the turmoil and tension of our current age. Cultures are clashing both in Europe and in the United States as refugees from the Middle East and Central America seek asylum. Continue Reading... Related posts: The Public Square: “Civic friendship” Jacoby, D’Souza debate Religion in the Public Square The Gospel and Public Life: Upcoming Event with Oliver O’Donovan
