The Ethics and Economics of Agrifood Competition by Harvey S. James

Author:Harvey S. James
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Springer Netherlands, Dordrecht

7.3.4 Mater et Magistra (1961)

In a very precarious and volatile era in human history, Pope John XXIII publishes Mater et Magistra, literally Mother and Teacher, and more commonly titled Christianity and Social Progress, in 1961. A second world war had been fought destroying lives, leveling nations, extinguishing cultures, and depleting treasuries. Hitler has risen and fallen. So had the atomic bomb. John XXIII faced a global community that was increasingly jettisoning long-held moral traditions and challenging established authority. There were signs of hope though. The United Nations (UN) had been established and, in one of its first acts, issued a declaration on human rights. Individual nations declared their independence from their foreign colonizers. Space exploration had begun.

In the midst of profound disparity, John XXIII examined “new aspects of the social question” in Mater et Magistra. In this letter, John XXIII offers the most comprehensive treatment of farming to date. He acknowledged its rich interconnectedness with so much of life:It brings into its service many branches of engineering, chemistry and biology, and is itself a cause of the continued practical development of these sciences in view of the repercussions of scientific and technical progress on the business of farming. It is a work which demands a capacity for orientation and adaptation, patient waiting, a sense of responsibility, and a spirit of perseverance and enterprise (para 145).

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