Charles Kenny observes that the world is growing wealthy: “The last 10 years have seen developing countries grow far more rapidly than high-income countries, closing the gap in average incomes. Economist Arvind Subramanian estimates that China in 2030 will be about as rich as the whole European Union today and that Brazil won’t be far behind, clocking in at a GDP per capita of around $31,000. Indonesia, he reckons, will see a GDP per capita of $23,000 – about the same... Read more

Inequality is a big theme these days. Alister Heath writes to remind us that not all inequality is equal.  Some inequality arises inevitably because of disparities of talent, opportunity, risk, etc. Heath focuses on the inequality that arises when people cozy up to power in order to use that power to their advantage. Some make a killing “by erecting barriers to entry to restrict competition, by providing them with cheap credit or by allowing them to use their political connections to... Read more

Psalm 107 repeats the same phrase four times: “then they cried out to Yahweh in their trouble, He saved them from their distress” (vv. 6, 13, 19, 28). There are four forms of distress: Some wander in a wilderness, hungry and thirsty, unable to find their way to a city (vv. 4-5); some are in a deathly, shadowy prison (vv. 10-11); some suffer distress because of their own rebellion and iniquity, which leads them near the gates of death (vv.... Read more

There are two temple sermons in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah himself preaches at the gate of the temple (Jeremiah 7), warning that the house of Yahweh has become a “den of thieves” (v. 11) and that the Lord will do to His house “as He did to Shiloh” (v. 14). Later, he sends Baruch to read out his prophecy in the temple. Some royal officials hear the reading and take Baruch to the king, who makes a merry bonfire... Read more

Sciences today often occupy ruts, separated from each other, each as incomprehensible to non-specialists as languages were at the tower of Babel, and separated too from the larger currents of culture. But it is a myth, Rosenstock-Huessy says (Christian Future), to believe that “sciences can advance without regard to the society of which they are a part, and even that their particular science can move ahead without paying any heed to the philosophy of science as a whole” (84). He... Read more

Progress, Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy points out (Christian Future), was originally a plural term. “Les progres” was Condorcet’s phrase. What he had in mind were improvements, new gadgets and machines and gizmos. The singular form of the term came from early Christianity and referred to the spiritual improvement of man. Clearly, the plural and singular don’t necessary move in unison: “Bombs get better all the time,” Rosenstock points out, but we are making progress in the original sense only in “NOT-using” them... Read more

“Work is charismatic,” writes Craig Keen in After Crucifixion (80-1). Keen elaborates in a beautiful passage: “What we are given to work upon precedes us, a gift sent our way the first five days of creation, the days when the Spirit hovered over the face of the waters, before our dust first stirred. That we are given to work is a gift of the sixth day of creation, the day the Spirit is breathed into our nostrils and we rise to... Read more

Roger Cohen is tired of Twitter bashers: “It’s not easy, being of a certain generation, to avoid the dinner conversation that veers into a lament about the short attention spans, constant device distraction, sad superficiality and online exhibitionism of a younger generation geared to life in 140 characters or less. “You have to duck under the table or at least bite your lip as yet another jeremiad about the depredations of social media unfurls. How the screen has taken over.... Read more