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John Augustine Ryan (1869–1945) was a leading Catholic priest who was a noted moral theologian, professor, author and advocate of social justice. Ryan lived during a decisive moment in the development of Catholic social teaching within the United States. The largest influx of immigrants in America’s history, the emancipation of American slaves, and the industrial revolution had produced a new social climate in the early twentieth century, and the Catholic Church faced increasing pressure to take a stance on questions of social reform.〔Patrick W. Gearty, ''The Economic Thought of Monsignor John A. Ryan'' (Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 1953) 6.〕 Ryan saw the social reform debate of the early twentieth century as essentially an argument between libertarian individualists and collectivists concerned with equality, and thus contended that an emphasis on human welfare framed in natural law theory provided the most promising means to combine conflicting concerns over individual and social welfare.〔Richard R. Gaillardetz, "John A. Ryan: An Early Revisionist?" ''The Journal of Religious Ethics'' 18.2 (1990): 110.〕 Ryan’s influential response was the development of a Catholic critique of the American capitalist system that emphasized the existence of absolute natural human rights.〔Richard R. Gaillardetz, "John A. Ryan: An Early Revisionist?" ''The Journal of Religious Ethics'' 18.2 (1990).〕 While Ryan identified himself primarily as a moral theologian, he also made important contributions to American political life and economic thought. He supported a number of social reforms that were eventually incorporated into the New Deal, and have become elemental to the modern welfare state. Ryan’s most well-known contribution to American economic thought was his argument for a minimum wage presented in his doctoral dissertation, ''A Living Wage''.〔Benjamin K. Hunnicutt, "Monsignor John A. Ryan and the Shorter Hours of Labor: A Forgotten Vision of "Genuine" Progress," ''The Catholic Historical Review''69.3 (1983): 384.〕 Ryan recognized the importance of a “synergistic relation among scholarship, moral teaching, and political activism,” which led to his vigorous application of moral thinking to the political arena.〔Harlan Beckley, "Reflections on the Life of Monsignor John A. Ryan" in ''Religion and Public Life: The Legacy of Monsignor John A. Ryan'', ed. Robert G. Kennedy, Mary Christine Athans, Bernard V. Brady, William C. McDonough, and Michael J. Naughton (Lanham: University Press of America, 2001), 7.〕 ==Early life== Ryan was born on May 25, 1869, in Vermillion, Minnesota, to William Ryan and Maria() Luby. Raised in the Populist tradition on a farm homesteaded by his Irish Catholic parents alongside his ten younger siblings, Ryan’s childhood experience with the challenges faced by farmers informed his early investment in economic justice and the role of the Catholic Church in promoting social change. Ryan’s interest in moral reflection on contemporary economic issues and empathy for the poor was further cultivated in his early teenage years when Ryan read Henry George’s ''Progress and Poverty''. While Ryan later confessed to not fully understanding the book at the time, he cites his first reading of George’s work as the beginning of a lifelong commitment to questions of social justice.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「John A. Ryan」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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