I'm Warren Smith, and today you'll be listening in on my conversation with author, speaker,

and the founder of the Acton Institute, Father Robert Serico.

He has a new book, and it's called The Economics of the Parables.

What Jesus does is deal in the real world when he talks about private

property or contract disputes or wage levels or the conflict between people who are being

paid different wages. He's dealing with a backdrop of economics. Robert Serrico is one of those men who defy

easy categorization. He was raised in an Italian Catholic family in Brooklyn, but he now lives

in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the heart of Dutch Reformed country. He rejected his Catholic upbringing

to become a gay activist and one of the early leaders of the Metropolitan Community Church

movement, which is a denomination made up mostly of gay congregations. He was also ordained a

Pentecostal minister and pastored churches in the Pacific Northwest. To add to his

interesting associations, Father Serico's brother is Tony Serico, an acclaimed actor best known for his

roles in Woody Allen movies and as Pauly Gualtieri, Polly Walnuts, and the hit show The Sopranos.

Now, this eclectic background doesn't make Robert Serico an obvious candidate to become one of the most

significant Christian thought leaders in the nation. And the picture clouds even further when you

consider that his college training is in English and theology, but it is in the nation. And the picture clouds even further when you consider that his college training is

in English and theology, but it is in the field of economics that he has emerged probably,

most prominently, as an articulate Christian thinker. If you think it through, though, it kind of

makes sense, because that theological

training in his deep understanding of the nature of man. In fact, it's what Father

Serico calls a Christian anthropology and what the Bible has to say about the nature of

humankind that ultimately led him to his deep understanding of economics

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