"Race Mathews has spent decades piecing together how an ancient church gave rise to some of the economic miracles of the modern world. With rigor and care, he tells a story that has been too quickly forgotten. And he offers something better than miracles, as well: this history puts past triumphs of cooperative business back within the future's reach." —Nathan Schneider, University of Colorado Boulder
"Race Mathews takes one expression of Catholic social teaching, Distributism, and looks at the challenges that intersected in the politics of Victoria between 1932 and 1966. In this book we find accounts of Irish and English heritages, European experiments with fascism, nationalist tendencies, the world war, and communism's postwar spread. Social developments depend on the persons involved, and Mathews tells the story of their efforts, their heroism, and sometimes their failings, all of which makes for fascinating reading in an on-the-ground account of Catholic Distributism." —David Fagerberg, University of Notre Dame
"Many critics question Distributism, and the common objection is that it may be a fine ideal, but it has no practical hope. But here is a case study showing that it has actually been implemented in the past and can be again in the future. As both a scholar and a statesman, Race Mathews has impeccable credentials with which to offer an honest examination of how Distributism can work in the real world." —Dale Ahlquist, president, American Chesterton Society
“Race Mathews has written a fine political and intellectual history with an overly modest subtitle. . . . This book is an admirable work of historical scholarship that insists on the contemporary relevance of its subject: a too-rare combination.” —Reading Religion
“In [Mathew’s] view, distributism, and, by extension Catholic social teaching and practice, thus provides a possible antidote to a series of convergent catastrophes in the political, economic, and environmental arenas that threaten the world today.” —Theological Studies
“Race Matthew’s new book, Of Labour and Liberty, shifts the focus from Methodism back to the co-operative or distributist ideas of Robert Owen and a long Catholic tradition starting with the Papal encyclicals Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo through to the work and words of Cardinals Manning in England and Moran in Australia.”—Noel Turnbull.
“Race Matthew’s new book on Catholic influence on the ALP in Victoria is a fascinating story. Scholarship, clarity of expression, supportive exposition of the aligned compatibility between social democratic and Laborist positions and Church social theory are explored thoroughly and sympathetically. Of Labour and Liberty is an astonishing achievement coming from a non-Catholic ALP activist, former leader of the Victorian Fabian Society, former MP in the national and Victorian parliaments, whom as a complete outsider has come to appreciate Catholic social thinking.”—*Journal of the Australian Catholic Historical Society. *
“The sixteen essays in this volume celebrate the work and influence of Davis in the philosophy of religion, philosophical theology, and biblical studies. After Ruloff’s 25-page introduction, the contributors include C. Taliaferro on the Christian doctrine of redemption; R. Swinburne on the coherence of Chalcedonian definition of the incarnation; B. Leftow on an argument against materialist Christology; J. Hick on Davis on the resurrection of Jesus; A. G. Padgett on Scripture, authority, and the question of truth; G. O’Collins on Davis’s philosophical theology—whether it accords with fundamental theology. A six-page selected bibliography of Davis’ works is included.”—New Testament Abstracts.