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Abstract

Of increasing influence in the Australian Catholic Church is the kind of orthodoxy associated with American conservatism in which the defence of life and family against the depredations of cultural liberalism is tied to the defence of the free market and the promotion of economic liberalism. The clearest example of this thinking being the magazine First Things, a magazine with great influence both in American and in Australia. The argument of this paper is that there is an organic and determinative link between economy and culture such that economic liberalism will inevitably give rise to, and promote, cultural liberalism. In short, that if the Church identifies herself with the promotion of economic liberalism she will find herself promoting that which she rightly opposes, namely what John Paul II referred to as the culture of death.

About the Author

Dr Robert Tilley is a lecturer in Biblical Studies at both the Catholic Institute of Sydney and The University of Notre Dame, Australia and also lectures in Catholic Adult Education in the areas of theology and the arts. He holds a BA, MA, and a BD from the University of Sydney. Dr Tilley received his doctorate from the University of Sydney with a thesis entitled Reading the Sacred Text. In 2007, Dr Tilley published Benedict XVI and The Search for Truth and is currently working on Job, a critique of negative theology in the light of justice, and antoher on St Paul's understanding of grace as a theology of inclusion.

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