Dr. E. Michael Jones writes thick books, which only means you get several books between two covers. One of these is Barren Metal: A History of Capitalism As the Conflict Between Labor and Usury.
The founder and editor of Culture Wars magazine returns to the podcast to talk about capitalism in light of Catholic teaching, usury, and why God must matter to economics. “Barren metal” is a reference to coins in a line spoken by Antonio to Shylock in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice
In This Interview You Will Learn
- The various senses in which popes have used the word capitalism
- The origins of modern Catholic economic thought
- The traditional role played by the Jews in money lending industries
- Why usury is unnatural and sinful, and why Dante placed usurers and sodomites in the same ring of hell in The Divine Comedy
- Why capitalism is best understood as the conflict between usury and labor
- How our Lord used money in parables and in teaching examples
- Why mammon vs God is often the central biblical life decision
Resources
- Fidelity Press book link to the works of Dr. E. Michael Jones, including Barren Metal: A History of Capitalism As the Conflict Between Labor and Usury
- Culture Wars magazine
The Patrick Coffin Show podcast features weekly interviews with A-list influencers and outliers in the effort to recover the Judeo-Christian roots of the culture. Patrick is the Canadian-born former host of Catholic Answers Live, and he has raving fans around the world. He injects these fascinating interviews with his own distinctive blend of depth and levity. If you’re tired of politically correct mediaspeak, you want to see God back in the public square, and you’re not allergic to having a laugh, this is the place to be.
13 thoughts on “ Capitalism in the Light of Catholic Teaching: E. Michael Jones”
The larger problem is that Coffin seems unacquainted with basic economics, the subject of which is totally free of any ethnic considerations. Its laws are as valid as those of the physical sciences despite efforts over centuries by tyrants to bend them to the breaking point. I recommend he start with The Wealth of Nations and move on through to the works of Milton Friedman and Art Laffer. He will find that theory and practice fall into place much easier.
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“In another text, The Jews and Moral Subversion, Jones declares that the Church must “work for the conversion of the group that is responsible for virtually every social ill in our day — from wars in the Middle East to pornography and gay marriage at home — namely the Jews, around whose evil machinations the axis of history turns.””
Sounds pretty anti-Semitic to me.
Patrick would say it’s an out-of-context snippet.
Lol if you think that term is meaningful in any way then you clearly don’t follow EMJ’s work.
CatholicStand posters, whom I often am inspired by but often disagree with, have the virtue of engaging with different viewpoints. With the back and forth each side can learn new things (I know I have). Unfortunately Patrick Coffin is not one of them.
“Integrity and honesty.” Right. Your main goals.
See, every single one of my guests, including me the host, have critics and haters in one form or other, as an internet search will show.
PDC
You hurt your own credibility, Patrick, by being defensive rather than open. Have faith that the Lord loves you and will take care of everything. You don’t need go around with your fists up.
“Only Labor has value. But that’s not what the Jews think! We live in a culture which is dominated by Jewish thought. We think that money copulates and you get a return simply on money!”
This is at 15:50 in the interview.
Not only is Dr. Jones anti-Semitic, but he is also anti-Jesus. See the parable about the wise servant who invested his master’s money and got a return on it. Matthew 25:14-30.
Why Patrick keeps letting this man on his show (and why Catholic Stand keeps letting him onto its blog) is a mystery.
Oh dear. You take a snippet, wrench it from context, and pile on additional accusations based on ignorance. Finance 101: a return on investment, as with stocks and bonds, is not the same as usury.
But your cancel colors are showing, so congrats, “CaptCrisis.” You can always listen to other shows. This is my last comment. I don’t engage fake names.
PDC
The elements in parables don’t represent themselves, they represent other things. The parable of the wise servant is not about investing money. Everything in the parable, including the money, represents something else.
As a matter of integrity and honesty, the reader should know of the criticism of Dr. Jones, especially with regard to anti-Semitism. An example: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/e-michael-joness-war-on-the-jews/.
No one cares. That epithet is ringing increasingly hollow. At this point if a person isn’t accused of being “anti-semitic” then they are not entirely honest and cannot be trusted.