William Appleman Williams writes in his Tragedy of American Diplomacy (1962) that “in expanding its own economic system throughout much of the world, America has made it very difficult for other nations to retain any economic independence. This is particularly true in connection with raw . . . . Continue Reading »
Charles Adams ( Those Dirty Rotten taxes: The Tax Revolts that Built America ) notes that the clash between North and South was exacerbated by the Confederate decision to lower tariffs and create a free trade zone. Northern interests recognized that this would ruin their trade and manufacturing, as . . . . Continue Reading »
In his The Industrious Revolution: Consumer Behavior and the Household Economy, 1650 to the Present , Jan de Vries notes connections between the “Confessionalizing” movement of the seventeenth century and the rise of “genteel” standards of taste and consumption: “While . . . . Continue Reading »
Harry Stout’s Upon the Altar of the Nation: A Moral History of the Civil War is a chilling book, but one of the most chilling moments comes at the end, in a quotation of a letter from General Philip Sheridan to Sherman in 1873: “In taking the offensive [against Indians] I have to select . . . . Continue Reading »
Gregory VII won his battle, but lost the war. Joseph Strayer ( On the Medieval Origins of the Modern State (Princeton Classic Editions) ) notes that “by separating itself so clearly from lay governments, the Church unwittingly sharpened concepts about the nature of secular authority. . . . . Continue Reading »
A pregnant paragraph from Gellner. He discusses the challenges of specialized education in traditional societies, where specialists are “viewed ambivalently”: “In the end, modern society resolves this conundrum by turning everyone into a cleric, by turning this potentially . . . . Continue Reading »
Specialization and division of labor is often seen as one of the marks of modern society. Ernest Gellner ( Nations and Nationalism (New Perspectives on the Past) ) notes that the situation is more complicated. There are, he observes, specialists in complex agrarian societies (like medieval Europe), . . . . Continue Reading »
God’s work in and with Israel is the pattern and prototype for His work in and with all nations. How far can we press the analogy? Babel unified the nations but they were dispersed. Yahweh chose Abram to launch a counter-Babel movement, and over the next half-millennium slowly, achingly . . . . Continue Reading »
Ramachandra notes a couple of limitations in recent post-colonial discussion. One is the blindness to the influence of Christianity. Christianity is “naively identified with Europe and the United states,” and thus missionaries, their achievements, and their disciples, are considered . . . . Continue Reading »
In his The Just War Revisited (Current Issues in Theology) , Oliver O’Donovan distinguishes between collateral damage and indiscrimination (a violation of just war criteria) by pointing to the intention. How can intention be determined? He offers this analysis: “One can test the . . . . Continue Reading »
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