Thursday, May 27, 2010

A new book...

... and a very interesting one: Christian Perspectives on the Financial Crash, edited by Prof Phillip Booth and published by St Paul's. It was launched on Wednesday night with a packed gathering at the Institute of Economic Affairs in Lord North Street. Among the contributors is Abbot Chrisopher Jamison of Worth Abbey, who spoke extremely well. This is a really interesting examination of the underlying ethical causes of the current financial problems, and ideas for the way forward basedon Christian social thinking. It tackles issues like usury, the provision of credit, honesty, bank bailouts and so on.

The launch brought together a lot of people with creative and interesting ideas. I chatted to Francis Davis of the Las Casas Institute, Daniel Johnson of Standpoint magazine, and of course to Philip Booth the author of the book...it was particularly relevant to be tackling these economic and social issues just as the new Parliament had begun its session - much discussion and a sense of urgency. A recognition that the underlying moral and human problems of our country, and Western society in general, are at the core of things and that to talk as if the issues at stake were just economic ones is to miss the point...

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