The Family Economy
Discovering the Family as It Was Designed to Work
by Rory Groves
Afterword by Allan C. Carlson
Imprint: Wipf and Stock
Centuries after the "triumph of industrialism," we find ourselves wrestling through a paradox of wealth and loss, of abundance and loneliness. The home, once the principle "factory" of society, stands now as a mere shell of its former function and authority. The family, once the bedrock of civilization, is more divided today than it has been at any point in human history.
In the face of such monumental shifts, corrupt philosophies, and entrenched interests, what can one family possibly do? Quite a bit, actually. We believe the answer can only come from families, and it can only start at home. The family economy is a concept so foreign to the modern industrial mind that it needs to be re-introduced and defined again as the solution that it has been for thousands of years.
That is what this book intends to do.
Rory Groves lives and works with his wife and six children on their farm in southern Minnesota. He is the author of Durable Trades: Family-Centered Economies That Have Stood the Test of Time and founder of Gather & Grow, a Christian ministry dedicated to rebuilding the family economy.
“Excellent! The Family Economy ably translates complex historical developments into a plan of action to rebuild families—and a true civilization.”
—Allan C. Carlson, editor, The Natural Family: An International Journal of Research and Policy
“Rory Groves has done it again! The Family Economy makes a great companion to his excellent book, Durable Trades. It’s a brief introduction to the household economy, actually, the real economy, historically, and practically understood. It’s what we’re working for and where the work is meant to be done.”
—C. R. Wiley, author of Man of the House and The Household and the War for the Cosmos
“Rory Groves here offers a clarion call for the restoration of the family economy in the twenty-first century. The time has never been more urgent for it. Human society in developed economies is now pressed to the breaking point. The family has been decimated by cultural, social, and sexual revolutions. Technology has turned counterproductive to human life. We’re doing everything wrong, and that’s hardly an exaggeration. This is the very beginning of putting things right again. Ultimately, we’re going to have to get back to God’s way—the third way.”
—Kevin Swanson, author of Epoch: The Rise and Fall of the West