Rerum Novarum<\/em><\/a>, and seeing what they do and don\u2019t say, and how that matches up with what people think they say.<\/p>\n2. The people we\u2019re talking about are not your neighbor Bubba the yellow-dog Republican. We\u2019re talking about the Novaks and the Keynes and all those guys, who give your yellow-doggers of every stripe their one line of rhetoric to abuse you with at coffee and donuts every Sunday.<\/p>\n
3. The thing about papal encyclicals is that if you know what they\u2019re talking about, they\u2019re really quite straightforward. Long sentences, big words, and complex paragraphs not withstanding, they\u2019re just these documents where these Catholic guys (the Popes \u2013 generally a pretty Catholic bunch) give the smackdown to a whole lotta nonsense, and remind people to keep their Catholic on.<\/p>\n
4. But people really like to dissect encyclicals like last week\u2019s traffic accident, looking for a Deeper Meaning that happens to support their favorite soundbite excuse for economic policy. (Or whatever. This book\u2019s looking at the economic stuff.)<\/p>\n
5. So Maciej Zieba is doing great work with his book, at least as far as I\u2019ve read. He wades through the muck and sorts out fact and fiction.<\/p>\n
6. But it sure isn\u2019t light. Readable, but not light.<\/p>\n
\u2013> By \u201cnot light\u201d what I mean is that if someone is doing squeaky voices in the background, and periodically interrupting you to show you Instagram pictures, that makes it a lot harder to finish a paragraph.<\/p>\n
7. Prerequisites you\u2019ll need in order to be able to follow along with the book:<\/p>\n
(a) A working knowledge of history, economic theory, and Catholic teaching. We can be flexible on that last one, because, hey, catechist here, I can get you up to speed.<\/p>\n
(b) A willingness to look up big words. I always forget what \u201ctelelogical\u201d means. You probably have a word you forget what it means, too. Or you tend to do like I do, and nod and pretend you know what it means, and hope you guessed right. You have to actually look up the words and know their meanings in order to read this book.<\/p>\n
(c) Acceptance of the fact that before it\u2019s all over, you\u2019re going to have to go read the encyclicals themselves. Which is actually a whole lot faster than reading the book. But like I said, the book helps you wade through all the nonsense surrounding each encyclical, so it\u2019s a genuince contribution.<\/p>\n
Reassuring Book Club Rule:<\/strong> We are not going to do a poll to see which encyclicals everyone\u2019s read already. You can totally just be quiet about the 387,000 seminal works you\u2019ve never read. We\u2019ll get to the ones we care about when we care about them, and not a minute sooner.<\/p>\n8. So this is one of those Introverts Unite! situations, where I could really use some discussion partners. If you\u2019re game, speak up. Leave a comment, and a link to your blog where you\u2019ll be chit-chatting if you tend to go more than one paragraph, and let\u2019s get the ball rolling.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
FYI \u2013 Yeah, I\u2019m busy, too. It\u2019s not a giant hurry. But there sure aren\u2019t a lot of people who can talk intelligently on these topics, so if you\u2019re one of them, or you\u2019re willing to try to play such a character on the internet, speak up.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hey book reading public, I\u2019m working through my review copy of Papal Economics, and I could really use a discussion group. Anyone interested? Here\u2019s the scoop: 1. It\u2019s a good book. As analyses of the intersection between history, economic theory, papal encyclicals, and political ideology go, it\u2019s eminently readable. I\u2019m a good ways in, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[178,174,118,19,17,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-catholic-church","category-faith-y-stuff","category-personal-reading-challenge","category-random-bookishness","category-review","category-what-julies-reading"],"yoast_head":"\n
Papal Economics, Anyone?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Hey book reading public, I'm working through my review copy of Papal Economics, and I could really use a discussion group. Anyone interested? Here's the\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/01\/papal-economics-anyone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Papal Economics, Anyone?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hey book reading public, I'm working through my review copy of Papal Economics, and I could really use a discussion group. Anyone interested? Here's the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/01\/papal-economics-anyone\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Happy Catholic Bookshelf\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-01-30T01:57:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Fitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Jennifer_Fitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer Fitz\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/01\/papal-economics-anyone\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/01\/papal-economics-anyone\/\",\"name\":\"Papal Economics, Anyone?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-01-30T01:57:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-01-30T01:57:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3\"},\"description\":\"Hey book reading public, I'm working through my review copy of Papal Economics, and I could really use a discussion group. Anyone interested? Here's the\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/01\/papal-economics-anyone\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/01\/papal-economics-anyone\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/01\/papal-economics-anyone\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Papal Economics, Anyone?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/\",\"name\":\"Happy Catholic Bookshelf\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3\",\"name\":\"Jennifer Fitz\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jennifer Fitz\"},\"description\":\"Jennifer Fitz is the mother of four fantabulous children, and author of Classroom Management for Catechists. She writes online for Patheos and for the Catholic Conspiracy. When she isn't blogging, teaching, or complaining about something, she likes to play outside.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/\",\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jennifer_Fitz\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/author\/jenniferfitz\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Papal Economics, Anyone?","description":"Hey book reading public, I'm working through my review copy of Papal Economics, and I could really use a discussion group. Anyone interested? Here's the","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/01\/papal-economics-anyone\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Papal Economics, Anyone?","og_description":"Hey book reading public, I'm working through my review copy of Papal Economics, and I could really use a discussion group. Anyone interested? Here's the","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/01\/papal-economics-anyone\/","og_site_name":"Happy Catholic Bookshelf","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/","article_published_time":"2014-01-30T01:57:19+00:00","author":"Jennifer Fitz","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Jennifer_Fitz","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jennifer Fitz","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/01\/papal-economics-anyone\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/01\/papal-economics-anyone\/","name":"Papal Economics, Anyone?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-01-30T01:57:19+00:00","dateModified":"2014-01-30T01:57:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3"},"description":"Hey book reading public, I'm working through my review copy of Papal Economics, and I could really use a discussion group. Anyone interested? Here's the","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/01\/papal-economics-anyone\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/01\/papal-economics-anyone\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/2014\/01\/papal-economics-anyone\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Papal Economics, Anyone?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/","name":"Happy Catholic Bookshelf","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/a1a80a6198996fd8f065088c38a255c3","name":"Jennifer Fitz","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3aa95bdcebf0f9f0962d1a672129e152?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Jennifer Fitz"},"description":"Jennifer Fitz is the mother of four fantabulous children, and author of Classroom Management for Catechists. She writes online for Patheos and for the Catholic Conspiracy. When she isn't blogging, teaching, or complaining about something, she likes to play outside.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/jenniferfitz\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/JenFitz.Writes\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jennifer_Fitz"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/author\/jenniferfitz\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1209"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2377\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/happycatholicbookshelf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}