When I began my freshman year of college, I didn't care much about politics. I grew up in a conservative Christian home, and as far as I knew, the beliefs of my parents suited me just fine.
Joseph Sunde
Joseph Sunde is the founder and lead writer of Remnant Culture, a blog dedicated to exploring the intersection of religion and economics. He is project coordinator for the On Call in Culture community and is a regular contributor to the Acton Institute's PowerBlog. He resides in Minneapolis, Minn., with his wife and two children.
Joseph is on Twitter at @josephsunde. You can find Remnant Culture on Twitter at @RemnantCulture and on Facebook.
Articles by Joseph Sunde
Over the past 50 years, the U.S. government has fundamentally shifted away from its original design and destiny. As Nicholas Eberstadt diligently chronicles in his book, "A Nation of Takers: America’s Entitlement Epidemic," "the United States of America has become an entitlements machine … American governance has literally turned upside-down by entitlements."
Does the story of Joseph and the famine provide a Biblical argument for centrally managed economies? The claim is often made, most recently by Shawn Ruby: Whether the famine was supply-side or demand-side in origin, Joseph's example teaches us the important role government has in smoothing out the ravages of the business cycle.
Last week, our very own T. Kurt Jaros provided a timely post-election reminder that "there already is a king who is lord over our lives." Although his kingdom is not yet fulfilled, Jaros notes, it is indeed here.
"GM is alive, and Osama bin Laden is dead," said President Obama in his recent speech at the Democratic National Convention. The crowd responded with resounding cheers, energetically waving signs bearing the same slogan. Now, just a week later, bumper stickers are already primed for your Prius.
I have already provided some thoughts on Charles Murray's new book, "Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010," related to the broader implications of his argument that our country is experiencing an "inequality of human dignity."
Data-visualization guru Hans Rosling recently gave a fascinating TED talk contemplating the relationship between religion and babymaking. (For more examples of his wizardry, see here and here.)
In a recent interview, Malik Fal, managing director of Endeavor South Africa, outlines some key challenges for South African entrepreneurs, as well as some suggested solutions. South Africa certainly has its own unique issues with regard to battling poverty and empowering entrepreneurs...
Charles Murray’s new book, "Coming Apart: The State of White America, 1960-2010," has been making waves in typical Murray fashion. Murray, W.H. Brady scholar at AEI, argues that America has, over the past 50 years, experienced a new class divide between what he calls the “upper middle class” and the “lower middle class.”
The makers of Instagram, a popular iPhone photo-sharing app, recently sold their company to Facebook for $1 billion. The company was founded a mere 18 months ago by a pair of twentysomethings. It has only 12 employees and brings in no revenue. No big deal.
Over at Public Discourse, Nathan Schlueter explains why he’s not a libertarian, providing concise conservative responses to 10 popular libertarian claims. Given the recent back-and-forth between Acton Institute’s Joe Carter and Values & Capitalism’s Jacque Otto, it seems particularly timely for readers of this blog.
I’m currently reading Witness, an autobiographical account of former Soviet spy Whittaker Chambers’s flight from communism and the events that ensued thereafter. The book’s forward, “A Letter to My Children,” has become somewhat of a classic in and of itself...
I’ve been reading Booker T. Washington’s autobiography, Up from Slavery, which is about as inspiring a work as one will read. But of the many lessons one might draw from Washington’s attitudes and accomplishments, I wanted to take a moment to focus on his philosophy as it relates to work and the path to dignity and prosperity.
Relevant Magazine recently published an article by author Julie Clawson that attempts to “debunk some common objections to shopping ethically.” As for what is “ethical” or “fair,” the article leaves that mostly up to our trusty millennial imaginations, but by reading between the lines, one can gain a pretty good sense of where her foundation lies—or doesn’t.
This year’s State of the Union address was particularly painful for anyone who understands that human knowledge has its limits. Notions of central-planner grandeur were flowing, causing economist Friedrich Hayek’s famous bit from The Fatal Conceit to run repeatedly across my mind throughout the rest of the evening...
Of all the warts Mitt Romney boasts on his big smelly toe (appealing image, no?), Newt Gingrich and others have decided to attack the one thing Romney has going for him: his business-leader experience in the private sector.
The Barna Group is fond of the topic of Christian millennial migration (have you noticed?), and recently released a report specific to the topic of vocation.
In a recent column for the Washington Post, Rev. Richard Cizik joins a growing chorus of progressive evangelicals in accusing Christian conservatives of showing little concern for the poor.
In a recent CNN debate between contenders for the GOP nomination, Rick Santorum initiated a brief spar with Ron Paul over the notion of individualism.
I recently noted the ill effects of U.S. agricultural subsidies on the global poor, suggesting that if so-called “fair traders” really want to make a lasting impact on prices and wages, this is where they should begin.