RELIGION & LIBERTY July and August • 1999 A Publication of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty Volume 9 • Number 4

The Free Society Requires a Moral Sense, Social Capital

Interview: James Q. Wilson Wilson: Capitalism seeks ways to mini- mize costs, so it will find racial discrimi- James Q. Wilson, Ph.D., is an emeritus professor at the nation burdensome, thus helping put an Anderson Graduate School of Management at the Uni- end to it. Gary Becker, the Nobel laure- versity of California–Los Angeles. He is the author or ate, showed how costly bigotry is. It coauthor of twelve books, including The Moral Sense shuts a firm off from many potential and, his most recent, Moral Judgement. In 1990 he re- customers and from many potential ceived the James Madison Award for distinguished schol- workers, thus lowering sales and rais- arship from the American Political Science Association. ing labor costs. The costs of segregation can be withstood when law and custom R&L: Unlike defenders of capitalism “Yes, sir” to every customer. People mandate it, but when segregation ended such as Friedrich von Hayek and Philip working for minimum wage will do this in the South, business firms desegre- Johnson, who view capitalism as a mor- countless times a day and, in time, I sus- gated much more quickly than govern- ally neutral system, you see a clear re- pect, will do it even when off the job. ment entities, such as schools. lationship between morality and the Or imagine competing for customers free market. To your way of thinking, with Burger King, Taco Bell, and R&L: You have noted that the free what is the connection between capi- Wendy’s. Each firm must work hard to market cannot function well without talism and morality? please customers by serving fresh food certain kinds of moral and social capi- with no harmful consequences. Success- tal—trust, diligence, and frugality, for Wilson: To me, capitalism is neither ful retail competitors act as if they are— example. Where does this capital come immoral nor amoral but, on balance, a and, I imagine, in fact, really are—more from and how is it preserved? moralizing force. True competition gives attractive people than unsuccessful ones, to businesspeople an incentive to acquire but some of the latter learn to be the Wilson: Free-market systems require, a good reputation, and to clerks an in- former. obviously, certain personal qualities, centive to treat customers fairly. These including trust in those who borrow incentives, I think, produce more than R&L: What other examples can you from you, a willingness to invest (that mere pretense; they actually change be- offer of ways that capitalist structures is, to defer present enjoyments for fu- havior. Imagine working at McDonald’s act as a moralizing influence in a free ture benefits), and a readiness to take the where you must say “Yes, ma’am” or society? demands of customers seriously. This

INSIDE THIS ISSUE ¥ Interview: James Q. Wilson ❦ Articles: “The International Vocation of American Business” by Michael Novak, and “Common Law and the Free Society” by David VanDrunen ❦ Review Essay: “Francis Fukuyama’s Unhappy Optimism” by Marc D. Guerra ❦ Book Review: Ingrid A. Merikoski on Adam Smith and the Virtues of Enlightenment ❦ In the Liberal Tradition: Samuel Cooper ❦ Column: “Rediscovering the Sacred in Secular Spaces” by Rev. Robert A. Sirico ❦ Plus Book News. social capital arises from long-sustained In addition, religion must coexist successes rests in part on his unusual competition, from a culture that assigns with human freedom, and this relation- definition of capitalism. To him, capi- a high value to making human charac- ship, of necessity, requires religious talism was not simply a system of people ter decent, and from a political system freedom. With such freedom, many sects who own private property and who en- that refrains from rewarding people for will prosper, and none will be the sole gage in voluntary transactions; it was their power rather than for their perfor- state church. But religious freedom does that, plus a reliance on credit to finance mance. not mean religious weakness, since vir- innovations. Capitalism alone cannot produce I think he was wrong. Credit cre- sufficient social capital. Culture and ation has not had the effects he sus- government must add their share by Religion must coexist with human pected of killing technological giving people incentives to be civil, innovation and rewarding only the by rewarding savings, and by en- freedom, and this relationship, of largest and most powerful firms. couraging trust. Because culture and necessity, requires religious Because he was wrong about this, government are so important, suc- freedom. With such freedom, he was wrong to predict that social- cessfully capitalistic nations tend to ism would, in time, replace capital- be democratic states with a strong many sects will prosper, and none ism. culture. This is why democracy and will be the sole state church. But capitalism together make some na- religious freedom does not mean R&L: Do the changes that capital- tions so much richer than others. religious weakness. ism precipitates in the social and cultural orders, though, create cer- R&L: What role does religion have tain challenges for capitalism? in the formation of social capital? tually every church—Christian, Jewish, Wilson: Capitalism, narrowly defined, Wilson: All important religions require or Islamic—teaches the same funda- has, in fact, created its own opponents. you to do to others as you would have mental moral lessons. It requires the maintenance of universi- them do to you. In this way religion ex- ties and the free exchange of expertise, pands the range of human obligation R&L: Some have argued—Joseph and these, in turn, give rise to an intel- from self and family to neighbors, visi- Schumpeter, most notably—that capi- lectual class that to a great degree is hos- tors, and strangers. Without this wider talism contains the seeds of its destruc- tile to capitalism. This is the New Class sense of obligation, society can never ex- tion within its successes; in other that lives off of ideas more than practi- pand beyond the boundaries of a fam- words, that it tends to destroy the very cal affairs and that sees bourgeois soci- ily, a village, or an ethnic group. Since social capital it needs to survive. How ety—the great social creation of ethnic rivalries are the chief cause of do you respond to this claim? capitalism—as hopelessly flawed. There human discord today, it is obvious how are, of course, intellectuals who favor difficult it is for the Golden Rule to make Wilson: Joseph Schumpeter’s claim that capitalism and bourgeois society, but headway. capitalism would be destroyed by its they are usually a minority.

The Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Lib- RELIGION & LIBERTY erty was founded in 1990 to promote a free society charac- A Publication of the Acton Institute for terized by individual liberty and sustained by religious the Study of Religion and Liberty principles. The Institute is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, chari- Volume 9 • Number 4 table, educational, and literary center. It is supported by donations from foundations, corporations, and individuals Publisher: Rev. Robert A. Sirico and maintains a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. Editor: Gregory Dunn Letters and subscription requests should be directed to: Contributing Editors: Acton Institute, 161 Ottawa St., NW, Suite 301, Grand Rap- William B. Allen, Ph.D. Rabbi Daniel Lapin ids, MI 49503 or phone (616) 454-3080. John Attarian, Ph.D. Ronald Nash, Ph.D. The views of the authors expressed in Religion & Lib- Doug Bandow, J.D. Rev. James V. Schall, S.J. erty are not necessarily those of the Acton Institute. Erik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn, Ph.D. † Herbert Schlossberg, Ph.D. © 1999 Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty.

2 • RELIGION & LIBERTY JULY AND AUGUST • 1999 R&L: You have written, “If we wish spective of the role of religion in the orthodoxy” I mean a single, state- prosperity, we must embrace freedom, free society. Is this so? sponsored church. This inevitably and freedom means religious hetero- erodes human freedom, and reduced doxy, not religious orthodoxy, a secu- Wilson: I do not at all hold a pessimis- freedom will, in time, harm religion. lar rather than a religious state, and a tic view of religion in society, only a somewhat self-indulgent popular cul- pessimistic view of a society that em- R&L: What would you offer as an ex- ture.” This statement seems to indicate braces one church—I should say, one ample of a more optimistic view of that you hold a rather pessimistic per- sect—as its preferred one. By “religious religion’s role in the free society?

Samuel Cooper (1725–1783)

“As piety and virtue support the honor and happiness of every community, they are peculiarly requisite in a free government. Virtue is the spirit of a republic; for where all power is derived from the people, all depends on their good disposition. If they are impious … all is lost.”

A charming conversationalist, eloquent preacher, and empathetic counselor, Samuel Cooper was pastor of the influen- tial and affluent Brattle Street Church in Boston, Massachusetts, from 1746 to his death. In this capacity, he was one of the chief, albeit behind-the-scenes, intellectual proponents of the American Revolution in that city. He was the pastor of patriots John Hancock, James Bowdoin, and John Adams; an intimate friend of Samuel Adams and James Otis; and a regular correspondent with Ben- jamin Frankin. Cooper, as an ordained Christian minister, could be without reservation a partisan for American independence because he saw no fundamental conflict between liberal political principles and biblical principles. He came to this conclusion not only through his study of Scripture but also through his understanding of natu- ral law. It was his conviction that there could be no contradiction between God’s general revelation in nature and his special revelation in Scripture, as God is the author of both. In Cooper’s words, “The sum and substance of both tables of the law is written on the heart of every man.” Though biblical law never contradicts natural law, it does go beyond it. Many truths cannot be known through nature alone; thus, “from the book of nature, we must pass to the book of revelation.” But, for Cooper, political principles are not of this class. Thus, for Cooper, we do not need “a special revelation to teach us that men are born equal and free, that no man has a natural claim of dominion over his neighbors,” and other such principles of republi-

In The Liberal Tradition can government. These principles are written by God in the natural law and are therefore accessible to human reason apart from special revelation; they are, according to Cooper, “the plain dictates of that reason and common sense with which the common parent of men has informed the human bosom.” Moreover, it is “a satisfaction” that these principles are also “confirmed and impressed … by the in- structions, precepts, and examples given us in the sacred oracles.” In this way, Cooper could conclude that “reason and Scripture will forever sanctify” America’s Founding principles. A

Sources: Political Sermons of the American Founding Era, 1730–1805, edited by Ellis Sandoz (Liberty Fund, 1998), and “Samuel Cooper and Natural Law in Religious Context” by John G. Buchanan in American Presbyterians (Winter 1985).

JULY AND AUGUST • 1999 RELIGION & LIBERTY • 3 Wilson: I am struck by the extent to for the attack on slavery could be found the destruction of the family, and an which profound cultural problems in the in the United States. unabashed creed of “doing your own United States have summoned forth a It is difficult to imagine that volun- thing.” Second, religion offers a trans- religious response. In 1999 we already tary as opposed to clan-arranged mar- forming experience to people who have hear the two most likely contenders for riages could have been created without resisted these moral intuitions and so the presidency talking about faith-based the Roman Catholic Church’s insistence have descended into pathology. approaches to crime, drug abuse, and on voluntarism. The control of clans illegitimacy. over marriages was a powerful force that R&L: Let’s look at these two barriers That pattern is much less evident in not only inhibited free choice but also each in turn. First, what do you mean European democracies. Abroad, faith in impeded the growth of capitalism by when you say that human moral intui- government solutions to cultural prob- making all agricultural workers subor- tions resist license? lems remains strong. But that faith is dinate to a controlling clan or family. I greatly exaggerated. Not only do nations should say, however, that religious faith Wilson: Americans are optimistic about such as England have higher property is not always essential for the creation their nation but pessimistic about its crime rates than does the United States, of a decent society. culture. That pessimism reflects the be- the rate of out-of-wedlock births is about lief that the United States is less moral as high in Europe as in America, even R&L: How so? than it ought to be. That this view per- though their populations lack the prob- sists in the face of an entertainment lem of the experience of slavery, which Wilson: Japan, for example, is con- media that so widely and persistently left African Americans with weakened spicuous for having a decent culture but endorses self-indulgence is remark- family systems. Moreover, the welfare little in the way of a real religion. Japan able—apt testimony, I think, to the value state abroad has harmed the ability of is an interesting exception to all of these that the great majority of people attach those nations to compete in a world generalizations, apparently because it to caring for their children, protecting market, thus leaving their citizens worse has a culture, unlike any found in the their property, honoring their promises, off financially than Americans. West, that uses shame and group pres- and living a good life. sure to achieve what freedom and reli- R&L: How, then, do you envision the gion have produced here. But this is one R&L: As for the second barrier, can you unpack for us what you mean by the transformative experience of reli- gion? A free society requires a moral sense, something that it occasionally pretends it does not need. It needs it Wilson: The greatest success story in because freedom implies that important human American society is the power of Alco- holics Anonymous to reclaim the lives relationships will be created out of spontaneous human of addicts by suggesting to them the contact and not decreed by some state authority. power of God and placing them in a human environment in which members reinforce one another’s abstinence. On role of religious faith in a free society? product the Japanese cannot export. a less grand scale, countless people re- port on having overcome adversity by Wilson: Most societies find that with- R&L: How does a free society prevent faith. out a universalizing religion, human at- liberty from degenerating into mere li- tachments remain focused on clan and cense? And can it be prevented with- R&L: You have written extensively on village concerns. It was organized reli- out a strong religious culture? the nature of the human moral sense. gion, combined with enlightened capi- Is there any connection between your talism, that led Quaker merchants in Wilson: Every mass culture faces a vision of the moral sense and the clas- England in the early part of the nine- powerful temptation to degenerate into sical or medieval understanding of the teenth century to become such staunch— self-indulgence, but there are two barri- natural law? and ultimately successful—foes of ers to this descent: First, human moral slavery. Much the same religious basis intuitions naturally resist social license, continued on page 10

4 • RELIGION & LIBERTY JULY AND AUGUST • 1999 The International Vocation of American Business Michael Novak

ew today believe that socialist eco- economic growth then awakened de- Xandunese leaders attempt to control the Fnomics is the wave of the future, but mands for political democracy. That was efforts of Kavon and all the other for- most nations still find it difficult to root the sequence in such countries as eign companies now bringing their fac- themselves in capitalism, democracy, Greece, Portugal, Spain, South Korea, tories, know-how, and new technologies and moral purpose. Most have little ex- the Philippines, Kenya, Chile, and Ar- to Xandu. perience under the rule of law. Most of gentina. The Xandunese leaders can see the countries of the former Soviet Union, that a system of economic liberties gen- Seven Favorite Devices most of Asia (emphatically including erates a desire for political liberties. The First, the Xandunese insist that all China), much of the Middle East, and social mechanism seems to be as fol- employees of some new foreign firms most of Africa lack many of the cultural lows: Successful entrepreneurs learn by be selected and “prepared” by a and political habits and institutions re- experience that they are smarter and in Xandunese personnel company. This quired for a successful capitalist system. closer touch with some realities than company will be run by the Xandunese What, then, is the proper conduct for political commissars. They resent being National Party, and this Party will insist United States businesses with respect to badly governed. They begin to demand on having an office on the site of the such countries? Let us invent a compos- republican institutions—that is, institu- foreign firm to mediate any labor prob- ite, fictional nation called Xandu and tions of representative government. lems. From that office, it will also main- perform a case study. In the Xandunese diagnosis, there- tain strict political control over the work- fore, the business corporation is the force. A Test Case: Xandu camel’s nose under the totalitarian tent. Second, to the extent that labor Suppose that Kavon (a fictional, new The Xandunese know that they need unions will be represented within the electronics firm) is scouting out the pos- Western corporations, at least for the foreign firm, these will be limited to of- sibility of launching an operation in next twenty years, but they discern the ficial Xandunese national unions and Xandu. The general rationale for such essentially moral character of business will also be used as instruments of po- projects is that “constructive engage- and its subversive effect, since the cor- litical control. ment” is the only way in which Xandu poration embodies principles of limited Third, some foreign firms will be will be brought into the circle of demo- government, the rule of law, and high required to provide information about cratic, capitalist, and law-governed na- internal ideals of person and community. the behavior of their employees. For in- tions. That rationale has merit, no doubt, Through the practices of business cor- stance, showing signs of religious prac- but will its premises be realized? What porations, these ideas spread like a “dis- tice, having children beyond the mandated must be done to make sure that they are? ease,” which Xandu wants to keep in minimum, or reading certain political The political system in Xandu is still quarantine. The Xandunese need the materials are matters about which the a narrow, closed, paranoia-feeding sys- technical and moral culture of the cor- labor monitors want to be informed. tem, whose elites remain in power only poration—the technology, the skills, the Fourth, foreign entrepreneurs who by maintaining total political and psy- methods, the training. They do not want own small firms will be obliged to enter chological control over their population. the political culture it gives rise to, how- into “partnerships” with Xandunese These elites are intelligent and have ever. They hope that by redoubling their firms owned either by the government come to see that capitalist methods de- efforts at control, they can quarantine or by freelancing officials. From time liver abundance, whereas socialist meth- liberty within the economic sphere. They to time, in fact, a recalcitrant foreign ods deliver scarcity. want at all costs to prevent the principle entrepreneur has been arrested, thrown The Xandunese leaders, however, of liberty from gradually seeping into into jail, his assets seized, and commu- have studied recent history and found the political life of Xandu. nication with the outside world entirely that many societies that first pursued By seven favorite devices, the cut off. One such imprisonment has been

JULY AND AUGUST • 1999 RELIGION & LIBERTY • 5 known to last six years. Larger foreign more advanced rocket technology. The (Xandu needs their know-how) to cre- firms will be expected to turn a blind latest Xandunese rockets are now being ative moral purposes. eye. sold to at least three sworn enemies of A handful of American firms, for in- Concerning the government, there is the United States. stance, are led by evangelical Christians no rule of law. Even one or two large Seventh, the government of Xandu with a strong commitment to following firms have been bilked out of large regards religions of the Creator (such as the practice of Jesus by taking their ef- sums—$50 million in one deal, $100 Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) as forts to the whole world, no matter how million in another—when Xandunese threats to its own total power. Because unsavory the reputation of the regime. partners (government officials or their the leadership is obscurely aware that Such firms will need to have procedures proxies) walked away from losses respect for the individual arises from in place to protect themselves against caused by their own behavior. belief in a Creator who transcends the complicity and scandal, lest they be Fifth, foreign firms are sometimes power of governments, the government taken advantage of. So, also, will other expected to accept suppliers assigned to of Xandu regards personal acts of reli- firms whose interests are predominantly them. Factories in Xandu, unhappily, are gious piety as dangers to the regime. It economic. There may be some firms very often staffed with slave labor main- discreetly watches over Xandunese em- whose leaders are so cynical that they tained in appalling conditions and forced ployees of international firms for signs make it a practice not to raise moral or to toil for years for the sole benefit of of religious deviation. It especially per- political questions about potential busi- the ruling Party elite. To say that stan- secutes Christians. ness activities, yet even they will need dards of nutrition, sanitation, and living to take precautions against the sort of quarters in the Xandunese labor camps The Need for Advance Precautions abuses listed above, lest large sums be are primitive is too weak. They are in- Under conditions such as these, the lost in crooked dealings. tended to humiliate and to intimidate. mere presence of American firms in Corrupt government officials are Details have been confirmed in texts Xandu will not necessarily lead to so- found all around the world. Some firms smuggled out by survivors. cial change for the better. “Constructive better than others know how to draw a Sixth, Kavon and other high-tech engagement” that is complicit in the bright line around the edges of their own companies will be requested, cajoled, practices described above can be a de- dealings and to instruct their agents clearly to live by U.S. company stan- dards. They do not enter negotiations The chief justification for expecting Sunday School, but they are encouraging American prepared to spot and to avoid abuses in advance. businesses to invest in foreign No doubt, few are the governments societies is to help build up an that in the full range of their attitudes international civil society. and practices manifest all the behaviors ascribed above to this fictional country — Michael Novak of Xandu, yet even within countries whose record, on the whole, is good, there are rogue operations that need to and compelled to share with their coun- lusion. If American businesses blindly, be checked. terparts in government firms important unintelligently, and uncritically collabo- Thus, in planning their operations in secrets of U.S. satellite, missile, metal- rate with leaders who implicate them in Xandu, the executives of Kavon might lurgic, or computer technology. barbarous practices, they will destroy the wish to consult a checklist of all the Xandunese engineers, scientists, and reputation of capitalism, democracy, and abuses of sound business ethics that have technicians have learned enormous their own declared moral purposes. been reported in various countries. They amounts from their American counter- If, on the other hand, fully prepared should certainly prepare defensive tac- parts, particularly when their own rock- for techniques such as those listed above tics. They will need an ongoing capac- ets, hired to carry aloft U.S. satellites, and armed with countermeasures and a ity to gather accurate information about blew up and when, to avoid more such firm insistence on living up to their own their business contacts. They will also heavy expenses, U.S. technicians international standards, American firms need to be on guard against contractual coached the Xandunese in the details of might well use their bargaining power provisions for any practices that they

6 • RELIGION & LIBERTY JULY AND AUGUST • 1999 would not wish to expose to the world their inner constitution. polity. Commerce is the “commercial” public. They need a set of positive pro- It is therefore crucial for American half of “the commercial republic” envi- posals to suggest in the place of those and other Western firms to maintain their sioned by our founders. Commerce mul- they find objectionable. moral self-respect. They must become tiplies human opportunity and generates The chief justification for encourag- acutely conscious of their own moral and economic growth and thus opens upward ing American businesses to invest in for- political identity, determined not to sell pathways for the poor. Commerce pro- eign societies such as Xandu is to help themselves as less than they are. Busi- motes inventions and discovery. As new build up an international civil society. ness corporations truly are the avant- talents rise and obsolete technologies If and when business corporations in- garde of free societies. They represent die, commerce constantly stirs the cir- dulge in activities that injure or destroy the first wedge of the development of culation of elites. Commerce helps to civil society, then they commit a four- healthy civil societies, the rule of law, establish a complex system of checks fold evil: (1) They do things evil in them- and the new birth of activities, associa- and balances. Further, commerce makes selves; (2) they distort and damage the tions, and organizations independent of resources available for projects outside internal moral structure of the corpora- government. the orbit of state activities and thickens tion; (3) they injure the moral reputa- The first practical step for Kavon and social life while subtracting from the tion of their firm; and (4) they defile the other companies is to recognize that power of the central state. It gives in- model of the free society to which they some rare nations may for a time, under centives to enterprise and character and swear allegiance, and in whose name a certain regime, be so bad that it would inculcates an important range (but not they justify constructive engagement in be a blunder for any self-respecting firm the full range) of moral virtue, especially the first place. to collaborate with them. The second the virtues necessary for prudent living practical step is to outline new rules of and the rule of law. Maintaining Moral Self-Respect engagement for our new international By such practices, some companies era. Such internal rules of behavior, in- A Highly Moral Profession have injured the moral reputation of cluding conditions of immediate dis- To summarize, the success of many capitalism around the world. They have missal for specified acts of wrongdoing, new businesses from the bottom upward acted as if all they were interested in was would guide internal corporate initia- is crucial to economic growth. The suc- their own financial gain. They have al- tives and practices. The cleaner the ethi- cess of these businesses is crucial to the lowed observers to infer that they were cal principles within the company, the success of democracy, especially where indifferent to the plight of human be- easier decisions are for executives in the large majorities are poor. All these goods ings and to the immoral and oppressive field. They know in advance which sorts belong not solely to Americans, but to structures of the lawless nations in which of behavior will receive moral support all people on earth. To help set in place they operated. from the home office, and which will the preconditions for the achievement of It is because business organizations end in reprimand or dismissal. these great social goods—to help break are economic organizations rather than Negatively, then, businesses must the chains of worldwide poverty—is the political or moral organizations, that avoid those activities that injure or de- international vocation of American busi- they are allowed to function in totalitar- stroy the moral structure of civil soci- ness. ian countries, while moral and political ety. Positively, they must proactively Being a business leader today, then, institutions are not. Nonetheless, busi- seek out ways—quiet ways—to nurture is a highly moral profession. The bad ness corporations are not merely eco- the political and moral soil that the uni- news is that one can fail at it. The good nomic institutions, for they develop to versal growth of commerce requires. If news is that one can succeed. normal growth and in normal ways only they fail these responsibilities, they will That is the human drama. That is the within certain kinds of political regimes, win disdain from the very foreign tyrants suspense. A and only in certain kinds of cultural ecol- who will welcome them like prostitutes ogy. In this sense, corporations are frag- bought and paid for. And they will not Michael Novak holds the George ile plants; they grow only in certain deserve to be honored by their fellow Frederick Jewett Chair in Religion and kinds of soil. Corporations, therefore, citizens back home. Public Policy at the American Enter- cannot shed their commitment to law, By contrast, when firms fulfill their prise Institute. This essay is excerpted liberty, and moral purpose as snakes responsibilities to their own full iden- from The Hansen-Warner Memorial shed their skin. Commitments to law, tity, they strengthen commerce, and Lecture delivered at the University of liberty, and moral purpose are part of commerce is the foundation of a free Notre Dame on November 12, 1998.

JULY AND AUGUST • 1999 RELIGION & LIBERTY • 7 Common Law and the Free Society David VanDrunen

ost would agree that the rule of dicial decisions rendered in prior cases political traditions. Despite their differ- Mlaw is an absolute requirement for resembling the case currently before the ences on many issues, both Protestants any society wishing to enjoy order, pros- court. It was felt that these precedents and Roman Catholics, both libertarians perity, and freedom, but what is the na- were usually the best evidence of what and conservatives, have reasons to ap- ture of this law, that we claim ought to the relevant customs were. Common law preciate the lost ideal of common law. rule? The typical modern understanding recognized, however, that customs are is that law is something decreed by ex- modified over time, so, evidence of Common Law and Ordered Liberty ecutive officials, legislative assemblies, change in custom would occasionally Catholics and Protestants both can or bureaucratic agencies. Often forgot- prompt a judge to depart from precedent. find common-law principles present in ten is that this view of law has not been From this perspective, legislative the natural law theories of some of their the predominant perspective through statutes were viewed essentially as iso- most significant theologians. For ex- most of Anglo-American history. Rather, lated outposts in a common-law world. ample, Thomas Aquinas, still so impor- the Anglo-American legal/political tra- Statutes were assumed to be consistent tant for Catholic social teaching, dition has been marked by the predomi- with the common law, and judges inter- believed that human law should be de- nance of common law, a law not created preted them in this way. The legal pic- rived from the natural law. Who, then, by government officials. A recovery of ture was painted on a common-law was actually to establish the human law? the common law, which has been so canvas, and statutes were like single Aquinas taught that the people as a much eroded in recent generations, brush strokes that may have slightly al- whole could be entrusted with this task, ought to be a high priority for all who tered the details but did not change the and, when they were, their customs were seek the advance of ordered liberty in portrait as a whole. to have more authority than even the our societies. There is historical evidence that, at commands of the king. On the Protes- several times in Anglo-American history tant side, John Calvin also believed that The Character of Common Law (for example, the Glorious Revolution human laws were to be based on the The key concept underlying the com- of 1689 and the American War of Inde- natural law. However, he thought sinful mon-law tradition is that law, at its es- pendence), a renewed appreciation of people would follow the natural law pre- sence, is not something to be decreed this legal heritage inspired those strug- cepts only when they felt some selfish but something that emerges spontane- gling for liberty against government necessity for doing so. Yet it is exactly ously through the interaction of the encroachment. In recent generations, in the trenches of ordinary life—the pre- members of society. According to this however, the supremacy of common law cise place where customs are formed— vision, communities of people have de- has been largely eclipsed by a burgeon- that such necessity most makes itself veloped certain customs and habits over ing corpus of legislative codes and ad- felt. time. Most of these customs have not ministrative regulations. If, in prior ages, Likewise, the common-law heritage been imposed by government command statutes were seen as occasional adjust- provides a useful point of contact and but have been created through the trial ments of detail on the common-law can- source of dialogue for conservatives and and error of ordinary people seeking to vas, now statutes themselves make up libertarians, who represent two differ- cope with the challenges of life and to the canvas. The idea that law is law only ent, yet often allied, political traditions. establish manners of dealing with each if it is decreed by governmental author- Libertarians ought to appreciate its em- other in peaceful ways. As traditionally ity has come to dominate our thinking phasis upon the spontaneous ordering of understood, common-law judges were and practice. society and the way it allows people to to base their verdicts on these unwritten Preserving the historic function of shape the character of their own lives customs. This customary law was ordi- common law ought to be a task of inter- largely apart from government planning. narily discovered in precedents, the ju- est to people of various religious and Conservatives ought to appreciate its

8 • RELIGION & LIBERTY JULY AND AUGUST • 1999 respect for the wisdom of those who can change only as quickly as society’s synthesizing the results of prior cases have lived before us and its recognition own customs, which tend to change only most resembling the controversy cur- of the historical nature of the rights and gradually. In a society recognizing the rently at issue. In other words, common- privileges we enjoy. centrality of common law, one can be law adjudication is based on the One of the key benefits of a vibrant relatively certain that the law of the near assumption that the rule governing one common law is that it reinforces the idea future will not look much different from situation is to complement and even ex- of the rule of law. By the rule of law we the law of today. And this means that plain the rules for other situations. Rules understand that members of society are one can better prepare for what is to of common law are recognized as such to act according to certain known rules, come. only because they fit well into the whole which bind government officials as well fabric of the law. as ordinary citizens. Without the rule of The Inner Harmony Our final consideration is that com- law acting to constrain the arbitrary of Common Law mon law accounts well for the complex- whims of those in power, members of Another characteristic of common ity of society and for the fact that no society cannot enjoy freedom in a mean- law that promotes a free society is its single person or group of people can ingful way. In our own day, when we tendency toward inner coherence. Or- possibly attain enough knowledge to see legislatures and administrative agen- dered liberty requires a law that is a uni- understand exactly how all the parts of cies passing a plethora of statutes and fied whole, not just a collection of society fit and work together. Undeni- regulations, it is obvious that the rule of isolated rules. The reason for this is that ably, many of the things most valuable law has become severely attenuated. judges must constantly decide cases for to us were never created by anyone in Though we still like to think that our which there is no clear, established rule particular but developed spontaneously government officials are bound by the that speaks directly on point. If there is over time through the free input of many law, what does this really mean when no internal harmony to the law, no con- people. For example, the intricate vo- these very government officials are de- nection from one established rule to an- cabulary and grammar of the world’s creeing nearly every law that exists? other, then judges have no predictable languages were never decreed by a leg- Here is where we can recognize part of standard for deciding such cases and are islative body but have taken their cur- the genius of a common-law system. Be- left to their own arbitrary instincts. rent forms by the incremental and cause the common law is not created by government officials but by the people as a whole as they freely interact with Without the rule of law acting to each other, it can serve as an external constrain the arbitrary whims of rule for constraining those in authority. When an independently generated com- those in power, members of mon law governs the actions of govern- society cannot enjoy freedom in ment officials, their ability to exercise a meaningful way. arbitrary power is curtailed. Another way in which common law — David VanDrunen promotes the ordered liberty of society is by allowing people to plan confidently for the future. To develop one’s skills When the law consists almost entirely unplanned modifications of ordinary effectively, choose one’s occupation, or of statutes and regulations, drafted by people discovering better ways to com- invest one’s resources—key aspects of many different people in a variety of municate with each other. No central living in a free society—future condi- rule-making bodies, inner coherence is planning committee could ever have tions must be foreseeable with some inevitably impossible to attain. In con- enough knowledge or information to degree of certainty. Obviously, life will trast, the very manner in which common create a language as useful as the ones never be wholly predictable, but such law develops gives it a tendency toward that now exist. Similar things could be uncertainty about the future is only en- consistency. Judges discover the com- said for the discovery of scientific laws hanced when the law is subject to legis- mon law by analogizing present cases or the establishment of prices for goods. lative change at any time. Unlike current to previously adjudicated cases. Because Certainly the complexity of society sug- American law, common law is not prone exact precedents are rarely found, com- gests that the rules of our law should also to abrupt change. By its very nature, it mon-law judges must decide cases by develop spontaneously, apart from

JULY AND AUGUST • 1999 RELIGION & LIBERTY • 9 government dictation. A complex soci- law is certainly capable of taking over Interview: James Q. Wilson ety requires complex rules for smooth as statutes are phased out. However, it continued from page 4 and effective operation. Why should we would be necessary for the voting pub- Wilson: I certainly hope that my view have any more confidence in the ability lic to cease expecting their candidates reflects the natural law. My argument is of legislators or bureaucrats to produce to fix every perceived problem by means that what serious people have defined such necessarily elaborate rules of law of new legislation. as the natural law reflects in large mea- than we have confidence in their ability A final objection for us to consider sure the results of human evolution and to determine the intricate rules of lan- is that a common-law system grants too human sociability. guage? It is reasonable to believe that much power to judges. If the judicial We must live with other people, and the spontaneous development of com- usurpation of authority has been such a so we must understand what the rules mon law, utilizing the aggregate knowl- problem in recent years, why would we of that engagement will be. Over time, edge of all the members of society, will want to augment their power even fur- human evolution has rewarded—with bring forth better results. ther? This, too, is a legitimate concern. survival—people who are naturally so- However, a common-law system would ciable and so are well-equipped to value A Response to Objections not in itself increase the power of judges. and understand human sociability. Before concluding, let us address Though common law is sometimes re- Aristotle first made this argument; Saint briefly a few objections that are some- ferred to as “judge-made law,” tradi- Thomas Aquinas fleshed it out. times leveled against such pleas for a tional common-law advocates, in fact, return to common law. One objection is share the conviction that judges should R&L: Finally, in your mind, what is the that a common-law system is appropri- not be making rules of law but only dis- connection between the moral sense ate only for societies that are relatively covering and applying those that already and the free society? cohesive and unified in their outlook on exist. Judicial activism is a potential life. While this may have been the case problem in any legal or political system. Wilson: A free society requires a moral in medieval England or colonial What a return to common law would do sense, something that it occasionally America, it does not seem to be true for is not increase the power of judges so pretends it does not need. It needs it be- modern pluralistic society. This objec- much as decrease the power of legisla- cause freedom implies that important tion does not really tell against the pos- tures and bureaucracies. human relationships will be created out sibility of common law so much as The character of a society is inti- of spontaneous human contact and not against the possibility of society itself. mately bound up with the character of decreed by some state authority. But Our society indeed is increasingly frac- its laws. Those who wish for the free- since, for some people, freedom implies tured, but as long as it is still society, dom, prosperity, and virtue of their com- license, the state must set some limits we necessarily share common customs munities cannot but deeply care about on how much self-indulgence is accept- in our interactions with each other. As how their laws are created and how they able. We have laws against drug abuse; long as these customs exist, a common benefit or hinder the communities’ flour- we worry when people wish to sleep on law is possible. When they cease to ex- ishing. Those who love the free soci- the streets; we think that pornography ist, not only common law but society it- ety—both Protestants and Catholics, should be restrained. self is impossible. both libertarians and conservatives— People who love freedom alone ob- Another objection is that even if ought to renew their appreciation for the ject to many or all of these restrictions; common law is technically possible in common law. This vital, but frequently people who wish to remake human na- today’s world, we have gone down a forgotten, part of our heritage is built ture object to much or all of this free- path of no return by creating a statute- upon principles echoing the concerns of dom. The contrast between the intellectual governed society. This objection, that the those who desire the strengthening of culture of some parts of the New Class reestablishment of common law is un- ordered liberty. A and the ordinary culture of everyday workable in practice, is certainly seri- people can be found in how they react ous in light of the current state of affairs, David VanDrunen is an Illinois attor- to drug abuse, the homeless, and por- but creative solutions could surely be ney, a Ph.D. student at Loyola Univer- nography. found. For example, we could introduce sity of Chicago, and an alumnus of the The delicate and never-ending task more constitutional restrictions on the Acton Institute’s “Toward a Free and of any society is to strike the right bal- ability of legislatures and administrative Virtuous Society” conferences. ance between enforcing morality and ex- agencies to create rules. And common panding freedom. A

10 • RELIGION & LIBERTY JULY AND AUGUST • 1999 Francis Fukuyama’s Unhappy Optimism Marc D. Guerra

lthough the decade ended thirty tion, divorce, and illegitimate births. The changes brought about by the Ayears ago, the 1960s are in many Such social pathologies have eroded the Pill, however, were unprecedented. The ways still with us. Like Jacob Marley’s levels of trust and social capital that civil ability to control fertility not only al- ghost, they serve as a haunting reminder society must necessarily rely upon for lowed women to enter the workforce— of who we once were and who we have its stability and well-being. supported by an information-based become. That the 1960s continue to in- But Fukuyama is interested in “His- economy—but also transformed the na- fluence our society is acknowledged by tory” more as a process than in the ordi- ture of male-female relations. Fukuyama partisans on both the Right and the Left. nary sense of that term. He is less takes “the main impact of the Pill” to be Thus, while conservatives trace many of concerned with locating the source of the change it caused in “male behavior.” our problems back to the liberationist these eruptions in “specific American Access to effective birth control further ideologies of the 1960s, former eroded the already precarious natu- radicals, now turned pillars of the ral ties that males felt toward fam- establishment, praise the decade’s The Great Disruption: ily life; he notes, for example, that revolutionary idealism in the hope Human Nature and the since its invention, the number of that this will inspire today’s youth shotgun weddings has been cut in to follow their lead. Reconstitution of Social Order half. No longer worried whether All of this helps make the argu- by Francis Fukuyama sexual encounters would result in ment of Francis Fukuyama’s latest offspring, men found it easier to book particularly provocative. The The Free Press avoid their long-term familial re- Great Disruption is less concerned 1999. 368 pp. Cloth: $26.00 sponsibilities. Fukuyama makes a with celebrating or rejecting the strong case that this is the real rea- revolutionary “values” of the 1960s son that rates of divorce, abortion, than with announcing their death. The events,” such as Watergate or Vietnam and illegitimacy have increased over the author of the best-selling The End of than in interpreting the historical forces past thirty years. History and the Last Man here presents that have caused the United States and yet another controversial thesis: The other Western countries to experience The Eternal Return of broad social turbulence of the previous such great societal disruptions. Human Nature three decades has come to an end, and Fukuyama examines several expla- Fukuyama argues in the latter part of Western societies are presently experi- nations for these disruptions—poverty, his book, however, that the era of the encing the beginning of a “Great Recon- inequality, and failed governmental poli- Great Disruption has ended and that we struction.” cies—and finally settles on two: the are currently in the midst of a time of movement of Western societies from social self-healing. The impetus for this Disruptions Great and Small industrial- to information-based econo- is not a nostalgic desire to return to the Fukuyama’s claim that the social mies, and the invention of the Pill. That lost bourgeois morality but to the upheaval of the past thirty years has been the technological revolution ushered in reassertion of human nature itself. a “Great Disruption” in the normal great social change does not surprise Fukuyama’s argument is rather rhythms of social life is hard to dispute. him. He points out that social upheaval simple: Human nature desires social sta- In a Herculean, scholarly effort, occurred during the Industrial Revolu- bility. Drawing on a number of biologi- Fukuyama presents an overwhelming tion; it, too, replaced many of the old cal, historical, psychological, and array of historical data that shows that virtues with new ones and saw previ- sociological sources, he argues that hu- the past three decades have witnessed ously unthinkable social arrangements man beings naturally seek to instill or- the steady growth of rates of crime, abor- now become the norm. der in society. Specifically, Fukuyama

JULY AND AUGUST • 1999 RELIGION & LIBERTY • 11 uses the recent discoveries of evolution- the ineradicability of human nature and ating “social capital,” but what kind of ary biology to argue that, like his pri- social life as merely a rediscovery of social capital have they created? The mate ancestors, man is drawn to the kind Aristotelian wisdom, this turns out not slugs have fashioned a world in which of stasis that institutionalized rules of to be the case. On the one hand, they live together without living to- honesty, trust, and reciprocity provide. Fukuyama affirms the existence of hu- gether. They can speak to each other but And, if he cannot find such rules, he man nature; on the other, he relies upon not about the highest things. They are, “will spontaneously create [them] … New Age, materialistic evolutionary bi- in other words, not Aristotelian citizens without the benefit of a prophet … or a ology and psychology to explain it. Yet engaged in the pursuit of the good life lawgiver to establish government.” these two things are ultimately irrecon- but the kind of apathetic individuals that Fukuyama is wary of “top-down” cilable. Does Fukuyama finally think Tocqueville feared and that Nietzsche impositions of either religious or politi- human nature is sempiternal or perpetu- identified as “Last Men.” Fukuyama’s cal forms of social order. Instead, he fa- ally evolving? And, if it is always evolv- slugs live in a world where everything vors the “self-creating” stability that the ing, toward what is it evolving? is social and, thus, where nothing is so- efforts of decentralized human beings cial. provide. (Accordingly, while his natu- Fukuyama’s Newfangled Interestingly, in a recent essay in the ralistic defense of society leaves room Aristotelianism National Interest appropriately titled for the voluntary associations that reli- Similarly, Fukuyama’s sociological “Second Thoughts,” Fukuyama observes gions must rely upon in liberal societ- framework and penchant for evolution- that today the most radical threat to hu- ies, he remains suspicious of organized ary theories cause him to exaggerate the man society comes from biotechnology. religion. In a laughably contemptuous autonomy of social life while simulta- Popular pharmaceuticals like Ritalin and yet revealing remark, he likens the pos- neously defining human sociality down. Prozac “threaten” us with “the Last Man sibility of a religiously inspired moral Thus, while he makes periodic refer- in a Bottle.” Through prescription nar- reconstruction of American society to “a ences to man’s political nature, he never cotics we shall live in a world of sedated Western version of the Ayatollah really factors this into the analysis. Con- human beings where “everyone is the Khomeini’s returning to Iran on a jet- sequently, his account of sociality fails same.” One wonders why Fukuyama liner.”) For Fukuyama, government to do justice to the noble ends of poli- chose not to temper his book’s essen- plays a necessary and salutary role in tics and the religious and philosophic tially “optimistic view” of the future society, but societal norms come prin- ends toward which political life itself with these perceptive insights; that is, cipally from human nature itself; he points. one has to wonder how, or even whether, points to the “message of male respon- This is most visible in his account of his two different appraisals of the Last Man fit together. While Fukuyama’s claim that Western societies will This brings us to the larger question that Fukuyama’s book raises. While his continue to witness economic and political progress is claim that Western societies will con- compelling, must we also embrace the lowered social tinue to witness economic and political and moral standards that his book is willing to accept? progress is compelling, must we also embrace the lowered social and moral standards that his book is willing to ac- sibility” preached by groups such as the car-pooling Washington civil servants cept? Or would we not be better off shar- Promise Keepers and the organizers of known as “slugs.” The practice of slug- ing some of his article’s more sober the Million Man March as examples of ging arose “spontaneously.” Originally “second thoughts” about the human de- this phenomenon. designed to combat the oil crisis, slug- sirability of such a future? And, if we That the social and political turbu- ging lets car-poolers shave twenty min- answer yes to this last question, will we lence of the Great Disruption had to utes off their commute. Slugs have not have to reconsider whether the great come to an end was inevitable. Human established their own set of social rules: disruption in human society has, in fact, nature found it too unbearable. Eventu- They cannot smoke, and their conver- come to an end? A ally human beings were forced “to cre- sation must remain light—above all, ate new rules to replace the ones that slugs must avoid talking about “religion Marc D. Guerra teaches theology at [had] been undercut.” and politics.” Assumption College in Worcester, Mas- While some will see his defense of Fukuyama praises the slugs for cre- sachusetts.

12 • RELIGION & LIBERTY JULY AND AUGUST • 1999 Moral Sentiments. Readers are then pre- pared to move on to a discussion of the Adam Smith and the mechanisms through which virtue is Virtues of Enlightenment cultivated: sympathy, selfishness, imagi- nation, and passion—all of which Smith by Charles L. Griswold, Jr. deemed central to human life. Cambridge University Press, 1999. 448 pp. Paperback: $21.95 It is one of the strengths of Griswold’s work that he confronts the complexity Review by Ingrid A. Merikoski of Smith’s thought directly, particulary concerning these very mechanisms, for none of them are completely reliable dam Smith (1723–1790) is best re- tue, the “bettering of our condition,” and guides in and of themselves. For ex- Amembered today as the celebrated permits individuals to overcome selfish ample, as Griswold points out, sympa- author of The Wealth of Nations (1776), impulses that many believe permeate thy permits an individual to reflect upon who defined the workings of market commercial culture. The necessary tools the consequences of a given action based economies and defended principles of for the cultivation of virtue include im- upon the amount of pleasure or pain it liberty. To his contemporaries, particu- partiality, sympathy, and reason. may cause another. The virtuous person larly his fellow thinkers of the Scottish Smith was well-aware of the poten- avoids taking action that will result in Enlightenment, Smith was recognized tial risks involved in advocating com- negative consequences, for he does not first for his profoundly original contri- mercial activity, should motivations for wish to be seen as selfish or unruly. In butions to moral philosophy and natu- it be reduced to avarice or love of luxury. this instance, feelings of sympathy re- ral jurisprudence. By developing what Griswold calls “an strain self-interest. In other circum- In an important new book, Adam achievable notion of virtue” available to stances, however, feelings of sympathy Smith and the Virtues of Enlightenment, nearly all responsible individuals, Smith may actually be motivated by self-love Charles Griswold, professor of philoso- provides an innovative means for over- or vanity, in which case, sympathy does phy at Boston University, challenges coming vulnerabilities in human nature not contribute to virtue. Smith believed readers to look again at Smith’s work in that often lead to corruption and social human beings are naturally inclined to its entirety. He argues that the enthusi- disorder. Smith’s arguments in favor of view themselves as others see them. The asm with which Smith has been adopted the possibility of widespread moral and manner in which we behave is directly as a pioneering economist has not been social improvement include the pursuit related to how our actions will be per- balanced by careful study of Smith’s full of such “fundamental goods” as reputa- ceived by others. teachings. Griswold seeks to redress this tion, health, and property. Furthermore, imbalance by providing a comprehen- his moral vision extends ideas of aristo- his “spectatorial vision” was one of sive and penetrating analysis of Smith’s cratic excellence to members of the Tthe unique facets of Smith’s moral moral and political philosophy as it ap- merchant and trading classes of society. system. From it, Smith developed his no- peared in Smith’s first published work, Griswold’s analysis of Smith’s tion of the Impartial Spectator, the ulti- The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759). thought occurs on a number of levels. mate arbiter of conduct that rivals the Until recently, The Theory of Moral Griswold places his book in the context Invisible Hand as one of Smith’s most Sentiments has been overshadowed by of a continuing historical and philo- original creations. The Impartial Spec- The Wealth of Nations. Yet, in terms of sophical discussion about the nature of tator could not be swayed by emotional Smith’s overriding wish to articulate a the Enlightenment and modernity. He impulses on moral questions. Griswold theory of society that described the ethos focuses readers’ attention on Smith’s de- explains that Smith relied on the com- of the commercial culture that evolved fense of liberal moral and political bination of the following facts to define in eighteenth-century Britain, The views, with special reference to Smith’s the Impartial Spectator: “We view our- Theory of Moral Sentiments is in an treatment of ancient philosophers, par- selves through the eyes of others; we important sense Smith’s integral text. In ticularly Plato, Epictetus, and the later learn to distinguish between praise and its pages, Smith describes a moral vi- Roman Stoics. Griswold examines blame actually given and that which sion that serves as the best guarantor of Smith’s use of rhetoric and method with ought to be given; we praise and blame civility in commercial society. This vi- a view to illustrating how Smith formu- others, and thus, ourselves, with quali- sion is based on the cultivation of vir- lated his arguments in The Theory of ties we take to be praise- or blame-

JULY AND AUGUST • 1999 RELIGION & LIBERTY • 13 worthy; we thus become capable of viewing ourselves through the eyes of an ‘ideal’ other (an impartial spectator).”

Conscience, in turn, is the “internalized Book News impartial spectator.” Conscience could be a useful and necessary tool in human life, Smith ac- Financing the American Dream: outlines Bavinck’s theology of creation, knowledged, but is susceptible to con- A Cultural History of Consumer is the second section to have been pub- fusion, for it comes from “mortal Credit lished, following The Last Things: Hope extraction.” Griswold notes that Smith’s Lendol Calder for This World and the Next, which was understanding of conscience highlights Princeton University Press, 1999 published in 1996. his “acute sense of the dangers of cor- 377 pp. Hardcover: $ 29.95 Bavinck, while firmly ensconced in ruption inherent in the interplay among reformed orthodoxy, interacts fruitfully social morality, conscience, rules, and The conventional wisdom despises the with other traditions, such as Roman religion.”Smith recognized that social development of consumer credit; blames Catholicism and liberal Protestantism, institutions, including religious ones, it for weakening old-fashioned virtues and draws deeply from the church fa- could contribute to “the evolution of such as diligence, thrift, and delayed thers and medieval schoolmen. Further, conscience,”but that such encourage- gratification; and, consequently, declares an attentive reading of In the Beginning ment could also lead to religious fanati- it the primary engine of consumerism yields essential insights for Christian cism. and hedonism. The reality, according to social teaching, especially Bavinck’s As Griswold expands his discussion Lendol Calder, is much more compli- treatment of the nature of the created of the application of Smith’s moral cated and ambiguous. In pursuit of a bet- order established by the triune God, of thought to practical life, readers are ter-grounded perspective, he presents a the human person created in the image guided through Smith’s treatment of jus- well-articulated, well-balanced, and of God, and of God’s fatherly care of tice, commerce, and religion. Smith or- thoroughly researched history of, in his the world through divine providence. dered the destruction of his lecture notes words, “how consumer credit was in- and unfinished manuscripts upon his vented and how it helped to make the Uncommon Grounds: death; therefore, his lectures on religion culture of consumption what it is today.” The History of Coffee and How It are lost. Griswold adds to current dis- His striking and original conclusion is Transformed Our World cussion about Smith on religion in terms that, rather than producing hedonism Mark Pendergrast that take readers beyond the traditional and instant gratification, consumer credit Basic Books, 1999 identification of Smith as a deist. This in fact drives people to greater disci- 542 pp. Hardcover: $27.50 is particularly helpful to those interested pline, hard work, and productivity. in how matters of faith, liberty, and con- Coffee, after oil, is the second most valu- duct intermingle. In the Beginning: able legal commodity in the world. Un- The Theory of Moral Sentiments Foundations of Creation Theology common Grounds presents a panoramic went through six editions in Smith’s life- Herman Bavinck view of the history of this remarkable time, and this eminent thinker spent his Baker Books, 1999 commodity, from its discovery in Ethio- last years refining the final version of 291 pp. Paperback: $15.99 pia in the sixth century up to the present the book. There is a certain poignancy day. In the course of telling this tale, to the fact that Smith concluded his life’s Herman Bavinck’s Reformed Dogmat- Mark Pendergrast shows how coffee has work where it began—with the study of ics (in four volumes first published in transformed culture, fomented revolu- human morality. A the years 1895 through 1901) stands as tion, started or averted wars, and gener- the pinnacle of four hundred years of fer- ally influenced the course of world Ingrid A. Merikoski pursued doctoral tile theological thought in the Dutch re- politics and the development of global studies in the Scottish Enlightenment at formed tradition. Previously available economics. Further, this history invites the University of Edinburgh. She is the only in Dutch, this magisterial work reflection on the relationship between editor of Well Temper’d Eloquence, a presently is being translated into English economics, politics, and culture and the collection of the correspondence of and published incrementally as sections great influence each has on the others. David Hume. are completed. In the Beginning, which —Gregory Dunn

14 • RELIGION & LIBERTY JULY AND AUGUST • 1999 Rev. Robert A. Sirico Rediscovering the Sacred in Secular Spaces

French woman was raised a Roman Catholic but re- prices, and private property—not government control— Aveals that today she no longer considers herself one. are the foundation of economic development. Indeed, she has taken herself off the church rolls. When Yet many Christians remain suspicious of the free mar- asked why, one might expect from her the sorts of com- ket and, especially, of anything that smacks of “commer- plaints usually leveled against established religion. But not cialization” or “commodification.” They are not, however, in this case. Her answer came directly and without qualifi- making all the proper distinctions. It is one thing to re- cation: She could no longer afford to pay the taxes. It turns mind of the traditional teaching that wealth is not an in- out that in France, to be a member of a church means to herent good; it is quite another to say that wealth is capable pay tribute to the state, which, in turn, supports various of no good at all. religious institutions. This lady simply decided to give her- The material world cannot offer us salvation, to be sure, self a tax cut by ceasing to identify herself as a Catholic, in but it does not then follow that it is inherently corrupt. the same way someone might decide to save money by Christians make a grave error when they hold that com- forgoing a night on the town. mercial culture has no redeeming Why doesn’t this woman think value. This is why the Acton In- of her religious identity as a fun- Seeds of the sacred are scattered stitute continues to look for seeds damental spiritual issue on which throughout the secular landscape, of the sacred in the secular space rests the fate of her soul? Why waiting to be discovered. of commercial culture. doesn’t she see that Christianity For example, through work, is not simply about being a part we learn service. Through entre- of a social group but, rather, about the most fundamental preneurship, we learn creativity. Through the personal re- issue of our lives: the relationship between man and God? sponsibility required by the free economy—akin to the It seems to me that what she has lost sight of—and this personal responsibility at the heart of our faith—we learn is true with Western culture in general—is the meaning prudence and thrift. And through the expansion of interna- and mystery of the sacred. This is a widespread problem tional markets, we learn how to cooperate in commerce, in in our day, when large institutions in society seem to de- knowledge, and in the building of a peaceful and just world. liver only secular messages. In response, religious leaders It is no accident that Jesus did not use simply wheat shift between two extremes: on the one hand, an aggres- and grapes—the work of the earth untransformed—at the sive triumphalism that seeks to battle the secular world Last Supper. No, he used natural elements from earth trans- through political action; on the other, a passive quietism formed through human labor into bread and wine, which that despairs of the world and counsels retreat into small are then transformed again into our spiritual food and drink. sects of pietistic purity. In the spirit of Saint Thomas More, Their use at the Lord’s Table teaches us that the work of who said, “The times are never so bad that a good man our hands is not unfitting but, rather, especially fitting for cannot live in them,” I would like to suggest a third option. sacred purposes. It teaches us how to discover beneath the Seeds of the sacred are scattered throughout the secular seemingly inescapably mundane, secular world the tran- cultural landscape, waiting to be discovered. scendent beauty and power of God’s grace. A For example: One outstanding mark of our times is the dramatic economic change the world has undergone in the Rev. Robert A. Sirico is a Roman Catholic priest and the last ten years, change that has grown more conspicuous as president and co-founder of the Acton Institute. This essay the nightmare of communism recedes into memory. To- is adapted from his remarks at the Acton Institute’s ninth day, there is no longer any serious dispute that markets, annual dinner on June 9, 1999, in Grand Rapids, Mich.

JULY AND AUGUST • 1999 RELIGION & LIBERTY • 15 “… the sea is good in the eyes of God … because it brings together the most distant parts of the earth and facilitates the intercommunication of mariners. By this means it gives us the boon of general information, supplies the merchant with his wealth, and easily provides for the necessities of life, allowing the rich to export their superfluities, and blessing the poor with the supply of what they lack.”

—Saint Basil the Great—

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