Okay, so I’m willing to listen and think about it, when the CEO of Barclays, John Varley, gets up at St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London and says “Is Christianity and fair reward compatible? Yes.”
I’m even willing to listen and think about it when Lord Griffiths, of Goldman Sachs, stands up in St. Paul’s Cathedral to insist that “we have to tolerate the inequality as a way to achieving greater prosperity and opportunity for all.” The preferential option for the poor may well be best achieved by increasing universal prosperity.
But Griffiths is just not going to get much traction for the idea when he uses this phrasing: “The injunction of Jesus to love others as ourselves is an endorsement of self-interest.”
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
