Byron Smith picks up on the environmental theme that was the focus of Case 11 and offers a challenging biblical analysis of the looming crisis in oil production.

Most oil-producing nations have peaked in their production of oil. Byron Smith argues that Christians need not adopt the polar myths of infinite growth or scarcity, nor the greed that often lies behind them.

(See PDF for complete article.)

Files:

Read more

A piece on the relationship of money to happiness-a review of Ross Gittins’ book Gittinomics that considers the impact of heightened materialism on society.

Roberta says in her introduction "It’s somewhat ironic that my first contribution to Case is to review a book about a subject I’ve consciously avoided for most of my life—economics."

(See PDF for complete article.)

Files: kwan_gittinomics.pdf  

Read more

Andrew Errington has written a short discussion and reflection on the nature of representation.

Andrew Errington, inspired by the work of O’Donovan, and primed by the 2007 Federal elections, has written a short discussion and reflection on the nature of representation. He argues (as O’Donovan does) that a right understanding of political representation is fundamental to understanding our roles as citizens in liberal democratic society.

Files:

Read more

An article on economic theory and marriage in light of the Christian worldview.

Donald Hay and Gordon Menzies compare economic and biblical covenant descriptions of what marriage is in this article.

(See PDF for complete article.)

Files: hay-menzies-economists-christians-and-the-marriage-wars.pdf

Read more

In his autobiography, the Australian political intellectual explores his attitude to death, punishment and the hope of resurrection.

Brilliant writers of the last hundred years tended to spend their lives wrestling with Christianity. Samuel Beckett obsessed over the promises of Christ in plays such as Waiting For Godot. D.H. Lawrence was gripped by the Bible and attempted to re-read into it a pagan spirituality. C.S. Lewis was hunted down by the

Read more

Mike takes a look at a book which traces the history of an idea—an idea concerning the course of human history in the light of biblical prophecy about the end times.

As the recent war in Lebanon was unfolding, BBC news noted the arrival of 3400 Christians in Washington for the specific purpose of lobbying the US government to support the state of Israel. The effort was planned long before the conflict between Israel and Lebanon erupted and formed

Read more

Andrew Bain examines John Rawls’s idea of justice in a political society and shows how it’s not so just

John Rawls has been one of the most influential voices in discussion and debate about the shape of liberal democracy over the past 40 years. Best known for his two lengthiest works, A Theory of Justice (1971) and Political Liberalism (1993), several of Rawls’s insights are, for most contributors to political discussion, so pervasive as to form

Read more

Does the Bible ban interest? …and so what if it does?

On August 15, 2006, Dr Michael Schluter (former World Bank consultant and founder of Britain’s Relationship Foundation) presented a CASE lecture in which he explored the Bible’s teaching on interest and the relationship between economics and Christianity.

How should we approach understanding what the Bible says about interest? Firstly, it is important to keep in mind taht Christianity is a

In his Acton Lecture, Professor Ian Harper presents a perspective on how the market and Christian theology mesh. Presented by the Centre for Independent Studies.

As a professing Christian and a practising economist, I have often found myself at odds with my co-religionists as well as my professional colleagues. For their part, my Christian brothers and sisters often find it hard to accept that someone who claims to follow the preacher of the Sermon

Read more

Two papers from the 2004 CASE Federal Election Forum are reproduced (in expanded form) here, to stimulate discussion among Christians and to give others some insight into the ways Christian people approach politics (188k PDF).

Elections: why bother? (Andrew Cameron)
There are several reasons why a Christian might feel that elections are not worth bothering with.

• We sometimes feel cynicism about human shortcomings, in comparison to God’s government