While the challenge of poverty is endemic to the human condition, the rise of modernity and the industrial revolution made the problem more acute, particularly for Christians who know both that the poor will always be with us and that we’ve been commanded to look out for the least of these. While we cannot rightly characterize C.S. Lewis primarily as an economic or political thinker, he did address social and political matters in his major and minor works. Perhaps more importantly, his treatment of “mere” Christianity with regard to matters of conviction and practice offers hope that Christians from different backgrounds can find common cause in thinking about, and acting on, these questions. In this address we’ll consider what wisdom we might glean from Lewis’s understanding of how the church should, and shouldn’t, engage the social question.

This lecture is hosted in concurrence with Acton’s Fourth Annual Academic Colloquium. The event will feature a keynote address from Dr. Watson along with three panels of short paper presentations from twelve scholars on the conference theme of “Mere Christian Social Thought.”

Micah Watson holds the Paul Henry Chair in Christianity and Politics at Calvin University, where he is Professor of Politics and directs the Paul Henry Institute and the PPE program. He teaches political theory and law-related courses on Calvin’s Knollcrest campus and for the Calvin Prison Initiative. His research interests include natural law, evangelical politics, and the political thought of C.S. Lewis.

The Acton Institute is a think-tank whose mission is to promote a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.
This direction recognizes the benefits of a limited government, but also the beneficent consequences of a free market. It embraces an objective framework of moral values, but also recognizes and appreciates the subjective nature of economic value. It views justice as a duty of all to give the one his due but, more importantly, as an individual obligation to serve the common good and not just his own needs and wants.
In order to promote a more profound understanding of the coming together of faith and liberty, Acton involves members of religious, business, and academic spheres in its various seminars, publications, and academic activities. It is our hope that by demonstrating the compatibility of faith, liberty, and free economic activity, religious leaders and entrepreneurs can contribute by helping to shape a society that is secure, free, and virtuous.

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