Anne Bradley Summary

Anne Bradley came to speak about economics and faith at Colorado Christian University. She mentioned that culture is warring for our hearts and minds. Her company, The Institute of Faith, Works, and Economics, has a saying, “We’ll start with our nose in the bible and that’s how we’ll die.” Their pillars are freedom, fulfillment, and flourishing. Bradley mentioned that together we can do many things, but not alone. For the majority of her speech she talked about the importance of God. She emphasized that God is our creator and that we are sub creators. We were made to be in community with each other. We were called to fill the Earth and to subdue it. Our mission is to work, build, cultivate, and create. Mrs. Bradley goes on to say that the gospel brings us back to our original calling. We were never supposed to remain in the garden in the first place anyway. We were always supposed to fill the Earth with God’s image. She stressed that work will look different once it is placed in God than it is in the world. Another thing she talked about was worth. Anne Bradley said that our worth comes from our creator and not our paycheck. So many people get their worth from their income and that is a mistake.
Mrs. Bradley says that we live in a world of scare resources that have multiple and competing ends. We must ration, we need to know that decisions always brings tradeoffs, and incentives matter. With tradeoffs, trade liberates us. It allows us to rely on strangers to increase our opportunities. The scarcity of time is the biggest scarcity humanity has. That being said, every minute we can choose to bring glory to God, but it is always a conscious decision and one that needs to be made every day. When we focus on our gifts, we are better able to help others. Our work helps us fulfill God’s purpose and allows us to flourish more as