Home
/
RELIGION & LIBERTY ONLINE
/
Economy of Wonder: Peter Kreeft on Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
Economy of Wonder: Peter Kreeft on Truth, Goodness, and Beauty
Jan 16, 2026 4:30 PM

In the latest video from For the Life of the World, Christian philosopher Peter Kreeft expounds on the Economy of Wonderand how it intersects with our stewardship of God’s house.

Hipster head-bobbingispermitted:

There’s beauty everywhere. We just don’t see it…Life is a mystery to be lived continuously, not a problem to be solved suddenly…

In this life, we are so full and foolish that we appreciate only a few of these things, since we have more and more slaves that we have to take care of, and therefore we have less and less time every generation — less and less leisure. Our slaves are not made of flesh and blood anymore, thank God, but they’re made of steel and plastic puter chips. We are happiest when we play with endlessly fascinating simple things, like the sea or sticks and stones, instead of with puter games that bore us so quickly that we require new ones every month. This is an image of the human condition.

…Everything that exists has some truth, some goodness, and some beauty. Everything is divine revelation. We are creators because we are created in the image of the Creator. We are artists because God is, and it’s because we dimly know this that we weep with both joy and sorrow when we meet someone pulls up the curtain an inch — the curtain that separates the heavenly vision from the earthly.

…How do we use this to save the world? How do you appreciate beauty? You just love it. How do you appreciate goodness? You just love it. How do you find the truth? You love it. Seek and you shall find. Truth, goodness, and beauty. You just do it. It’s like, “How do you love? How do you pray? How do you live?” Just do it.

For more on the Economy of Wonder, purchase For the Life of the World: Letters to the Exiles, register for Acton University by the end of January and receive a free copy. For routine updates, see the FLOW blog and Oikonomia blog, and follow each on Facebook (here and here).

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
The welfare state threatens vulnerable life
Poland has an overwhelmingly Roman Catholic population, a putatively pro-life government, and a popular initiative to protect the lives of children suffering from genetic conditions like Down syndrome – so, why has it gone nowhere? Politicians candidly admit allowing sick children to survive would cost the state-run health care system too much money. At Acton’s Religion & Liberty Transatlantic website, Polish author Marcin Rzegocki writes: A report from an official parliamentary body, the Bureau of Parliamentary Analysis, stated that “adoption...
The folly of ‘following your passion’
If you’re a young person in America, you’ve undoubtedly been bombarded by calls to“follow your passion,” “pursue your dreams,” or “do what you love and love what you do.” But do these sugary mantras truly represent the path to vocational clarity, economic abundance, personal fulfillment, and human flourishing? Not according to a new study by researchers from Stanford University and Yale-NUS College, which found that “following your passion” is likely to lead to overly limited pursuits, inflated expectations (career, economic,...
Africa needs trade, not more weapons
The EU is considering a $12-billion peace plan that would supply weapons to war-torn western and central Africa, known as the Sahel region. But Ibrahim Anoba – who hails from Lagos, Nigeria – says trade and economic development, including lower EU tariffs, would go a long way toward bringing peace to the area. At Acton’s Religion & Liberty Transatlantic website, Anoba writes: [T]he recruitment strategy of [al-Qaeda’s regional affiliate] – like most terror organizations – focuses on exploiting munities already...
Adam Smith and the morality of commercial society
Over at Arc Digital today I take a look at Adam Smith’s moral teachings, particularly in light mercial society and Christian theology. This essay serves as a brief introduction to one of the Moral Markets projects I am working on, as well as a teaser for further exploration of the relationship between Christianity and classical political economy. As A.M.C. Waterman describes the developments following the publication of Smith’s Wealth of Nations (WN), “Whether Smith actually intended WN to be read...
The ‘idea equation’ and economic growth
Note: This is post #86 in a weekly video series on basic economics. As we’ve seen in recent entries in this series, ideas play a key role in economic advancement. If we can predict the future of ideas we can, in part, predict the future of economic growth. But how do we do that? To answer that question, economist Alex Tabarrok look at the “Idea Equation.” In this video by Marginal Revolution University, Tabarrok explain how Ideas = Population x...
Enjoying your weekend? Thank God and free markets
No two words in the English language create the feeling of relaxation as perfectly as “summertime weekend.” But the two days of physical and spiritual rest we enjoy each week are not the inevitable products of the cosmic order: They have been made possible by the unique marriage of the free market and faith. In the state of nature, rest follows work – or precedes death. Abraham Maslow codified in a precise way the fact that, only after we have...
Radio Free Acton: Discussing the Trump-Putin summit with Mihail Neamtu; Upstream on how to read
On this episode of Radio Free Acton, host Caroline Roberts speaks with Mihail Neamtu, Romanian conservative author, on the Trump-Putin summit, Russia’s economy, and what Trump should have prioritized at his meeting with Putin. Then, on the Upstream segment, Bruce Edward Walker talks to Peter Meilaender, Professor of political science at Houghton College, on literary criticism and how to best read a book. Check out these additional resources on this week’s podcast topics: Read “The Trump-Putin summit: A missed opportunity...
30 key quotes from ‘Humanae vitae’ (Of human life)
Fifty years ago this week, Pope Paul VI released Humanae Vitae, an encyclical on marital love, responsible parenthood, and artificial contraception. Because contraception profoundly influences so many areas of life—from the family to national policies—this statement on human anthropology and sexuality has e a one of the most significant documents of Catholic social thought. In honor of the anniversary, here are 30 key quotes from the papal encyclical: The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which...
Justin Welby reimagines a poorer and less free Britain
“Christian leaders are often guilty of ‘souping up, mon good,” says Noah Gould in this week’s Acton Commentary. “Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury, is no exception. In his latest book, Reimagining Britain: Foundations for Hope, Welby sets out to create a new social and political vision for the United Kingdom based on mon good.” The most precise definition Welby offers is that mon good “looks not to averages but to the totality of flourishing in a group.” He uses the...
Why religion is a central pillar to the civil society
In an article for the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Kay Coles James, president of the Heritage Foundation, argues that “the health of a civil society is dependent on religious expression and liberty.” James is also the author of Transforming America from the Inside Out and has been featured by the Acton Institute before. Religion has always been a central aspect of civil society because it makes up a very significant portion of those cultural institutions that unite, inspire, and guide...
Related Classification
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.mreligion.com All Rights Reserved