Psalm 122 is, you could say, the theme song of this vision, and it is a vision that prompts Robinson to a ferocious critique of the abstractions of ideology – including “austerity” as an imperative to save the world for capitalism.The Liberalism of Archbishop Rowan Williams
Saturday, August 25, 2012
Paul Ryan and the "Social Gospel"
Here is something for those of you attending Catholic (St. Liz), Anglican (Christ the King), or Episcopal (St. Luke's and Holy Cross). The Archbishop of Canterbury is nominally the supreme leader of the Anglican & Episcopal churches, and what he says is a weathervane for what those churches' leaders are thinking. Here he implicitly weighs in on Paul Ryan's proposed budget plan and how it relates to church ideas.
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Giancarlo said...
ReplyDeleteThe Archbishop seems to think that the talks of austerity in North America are bad and Marilynne’s Robinson’s “When I Was A Child I Read Books” seems to defend government expenditures. The Archbishop defines liberalism in the biblical sense but one of the more recent historical meaning of liberalism was during the Enlightenment Movement with focused on rights of life, right of property, and free markets; this liberalism was the foundation of American politics. The liberalism the Arch Bishop seems to be defending is one influenced by the Progressive movement in America.
The Arch Bishop seems to support liberal talking points when supporting Robinson“defending public investment in both welfare and universities, exposing the plain mean-spiritedness and self-righteousness that lurks beneath rather a lot of language about austerity.” The austerity measures that are supported by Paul Ryan are actually not that different in the short run from Obama’s. If you look at spending for the first decade under Paul Ryan’s plan there is barely any difference; if you look at the spending levels two decades out and beyond, that’s when you start to see more of a significant difference. Ben Bernanke even pointed out the relatively small short-term differences between current projected spending and Ryan’s plan (I search for the video but with no luck).
http://www.blogcabin.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Ryan-budget-graphic-04052011.jpg
While Roger Berkowitz’s article talks about the giving and taking of wealth, I feel he over simplifies this process. People can give their wealth or other people in an attempt to help them but government cannot. Governments do not have any of their own money; they have our money that they forcible take through taxation. I don’t think many churches sponsor the idea of theft to fund charitable activities but they do in the case of government programs