Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Wealth and Poverty in Light of the Gospel
Wealth and Poverty in Light of the Gospel
Dec 15, 2025 4:58 PM

Rev. Robert A. Sirico

On Monday, October 2, Acton President Rev. Robert A. Sirico debated the President and Founder of Evangelicals for Social Action, Dr. Ronald J. Sider on the campus of Calvin Theological Seminary. The topic of their exchange was Wealth and Poverty in Light of the Gospel: How Can Christians Work Together if We Disagree? The event was jointly sponsored by Calvin Seminary and Western Theological Seminary.

Their spirited exhange is now available online in both video(streaming video – Real mediaformat NOTE: the presentation begins about 6 minutes into the video) and audio format. Both the video and audio appear courtesy of Calvin Seminary.

Dr. Ronald J. Sider

You can also review a responses to the debate from the Kruse Kronicle, and an overview of the event from the Kerux, Calvin Theological Seminary’s student newsletter. And as always, your thoughts and reactions are e in ments section below.

Update 8/5/2013: A reader informed us that the media files originally linked in this post have since gone offline. To make amends, I’ve re-posted the audio, which you can listen to via the player below:

Previous Article：The Catholicity of the Reformation: Musings on Reason, Will, and Natural Law, Part 2 Next Article：“Everyone is scared, permanently.”
Comments
Welcome to mreligion comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
What You Should Know About the Contraceptive Mandate Decision
This morning the U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling on the Health and Human Services (HHS) contraceptive mandate (see here for an explainer article on the case). The Court ruled (5-4) that that employers with religious objections can opt out of providing contraception coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Here are six points you should know from the majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito: 1.The “Hobby Lobby” decision is really a collection of three separate lawsuits. Although the focus...
A Cultural Case for Capitalism: Part 10 of 12 — The Free Market that Wasn’t
[Part 1 is here.] Some might answer any defense of the free economy by pointing to the housing and financial crisis that came to a head in 2008, holding it up as proof positive the free economy is a wrecking ball swinging munities and leaving all manner of economic and cultural destruction in its wake. The financial crisis did enormous damage, but the major drivers of the crisis were a series of public policies that manipulated the market in pursuit...
From Steadfast Conservatives to the Faith and Family Left: Highlights from Pew Research’s Political Typology Survey
In discussions of political issues, the American public is too often described in a binary format: Left/Right, Republican/Democrat, Red State/Blue State. But a new survey by the Pew Research Center takes a more granular look at our current political typology by sorting voters into cohesive groups based on their attitudes and values: Partisan polarization – the vast and growing gap between Republicans and Democrats – is a defining feature of politics today. But beyond the ideological wings, which make up...
Calvin Coolidge’s warning against an entrenched bureaucracy
As we read about the increase of scandal, mismanagement, and corruption within our federal agencies, it is essential once again to revisit the words of Calvin Coolidge. Recent actions at the IRS, Veterans Administration, and the ATF gunwalking scandal all point to systemic problems e from an entrenched bureaucracy. As more and more of the responsibilities of civil society is passed over to centralized powers in Washington, federal agencies have exploded with power and control, leading to greater opportunities for...
Using Drones for Good
Drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), have been a prominent and controversial topic in the news of late. Today, the Washington-based Stimson Center released its mendations and Report on US Drone Policy. The think tank, which assembled a bipartisan panel of former military and intelligence officials for the 81-page report, concluded that “UAVSs should be neither glorified nor demonized. It is important to take a realistic view of UAVs, recognizing both their continuities with more traditional military technologies and the...
The Disease of Self-Chosen Sacrifice
In our efforts to serve others and do good in the world, we humans have a remarkable tendency to fall short, no matter how carefully constructed or well intended our plans and designs may be. When failure occurs, economists are likely to point to some kind of knowledge problem, notingthat, for instance, Western Congregation X didn’t (and perhaps couldn’t)know or foresee that sending hundreds of free shoes to Developing Nation Y would put several local merchants out of business. To...
Video: Rev. Sirico on Pope Francis and the Mafia
Earlier today, Rev. Robert Sirico spoke with Fox News’ Lauren Green on ‘Spirited Debate’ about Pope Francis’ decision to municate members of the Italian mafia. From Heard on Fox: “Italy has e increasingly more secular and that has impacted the secularity of the mafia – they don’t have the kind of dramatic religious ties that they might have had at one time … the stuff of which movies portray,” said Sirico. He added, “they [the mob] have an appearance of...
Finding Meaning in Blue-Collar Work
Over at the Patheos Faith and Work Channel, Larry Saunders shares about his journey from pastor to grocery-store clerk to blue-collar factory worker to current MBA student in search of a white-collar job, offering deep and personal reflections on faith, work, and meaning along the way. When he became a United Methodist pastor, Saunders enjoyed certain aspects of what he calls the “white collar work of ministry,” finding “a strong correlation between my personal sense of vocation and my gifts.”...
A Cultural Case for Capitalism: Part 11 of 12 — The Challenges
[Part 1 is here.] Economic freedom does generate certain challenges. The wealth that free economies are so effective at creating brings with it temptation. Wealth can tempt us to depend on our riches rather than on God. The temptation can be resisted, as we see with wealthy biblical characters like Abraham and Job. But it’s a challenge the church should be mindful of, helping its members cultivate a balanced view of money and of our responsibility and opportunities as stewards...
The Moral Value of Economic Growth
In 1820, America’s per capita e averaged $1,980, in today’s dollars. But by 2000, it had increased to $43,000. That economic growth has benefited the rich, of course. But it has also transformed the lives of the poor — and prevented many more from ing or staying poor. In this superb short video, the American Enterprise Institute briefly explains the moral value of economic growth. ...
Related Classification
RELIGION & LIBERTY
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
About
Terms and Conditions Privacy policy Cookie Settings Contact Us
Services
Login register
mreligion RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE RELIGION & LIBERTY
Links
zpostcode Recruit weather mreligion Yellowpages sport constellation shopping name game directory literature Word tour furnish Lottery tftnews lyrics News digital car dir Edu Finance
Copyright 2023-2025 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved