Zadok Paper S98 Autumn 1999
Christian Theology and Economics: a Reading Guide
by Paul Oslington

A bridge named "ethics"

ECONOMISTS OFTEN SEE ETHICS as a bridge between economics and theology. But this is not a helpful approach when it reduces theology to a set of ethical rules which are then fed in to economics. Works on theological ethics I have found helpful are Alisdair MacIntyre's After Virtue,111 Stanley Hauerwas's The Peaceable Kingdom,112 Oliver O'Donovan's Resurrection and Moral Order113 and John Milbank's The Word Made Strange.114 Hausman and McPherson's Economics and Moral Philosophy115 is an excellent discussion of the place of ethics in contemporary economics, as are others such as Amitai Etzioni's The Moral Dimension116 and Charles Wilber's Economics, Ethics and Public Policy.116

People of other religious traditions face similar issues reconciling faith and economics. This is particularly so for Islamic economists, whose work is reviewed by Rodney Wilson.118 E.F. Schumacher's Small is Beautiful119 provides an interesting contrast between 'Buddhist' and 'Christian' economics that illustrates the impact of different values systems and world views in economics.

It is impossible in a reading guide such as this to fully discuss the various positions taken on the relationship between Christian theology and economics. The most important works will be grouped below according to the theological tradition from which they come, though, of course, there is not a perfect fit between theological traditions and positions on the relationship between Christian theology and economics.

Catholicism: Catholic social teaching is perhaps the richest of the modern traditions of reflection on social issues, and is built around a century of Papal statements since Pius XI's Rerum Novarum. I suggest one start with: Barry Gordon's The Economic Problem in Biblical and Patristic Thought,120 Donal Dorr's Option for the Poor: a Hundred Years of Vatican Social Teaching,121 Robert Simons' Competing Gospels,122 Charles Wilber's Economics, Ethics and Public Policy,123 and Michael Novak's The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism and Catholic Social Thought and Liberal Institutions.124

Liberation Theology: I have not discovered much contact between academic economics and liberation theology, but it has greatly affected the way Christians think about social issues. Three key texts are: Gustavo Gutierrez's A Theology of Liberation,125 Jose Miranda's Marx and the Bible126 and J.M. Bonino's Doing Theology in a Revolutionary Situation.127

Anglicanism: Earlier this century the link between Church and state in England created a place for church social teaching and activism (Archbishop Temple's well known book, for instance). There is a wide range of views among contemporary Anglicans about economics but the major contributions in recent years have been by the evangelical practicing economists at the end of the list, especially Donald Hay of Jesus College Oxford. Their work focuses on practical problems, starting with scripture and deriving principles which are then applies to the particular issue under consideration. I suggest: F.D. Maurice's The Kingdom of Christ,128 Archbishop William Temple's Christianity and the Social Order,129 Deny's Munby's Christianity and Economic Problems,130 John Atherton's Christianity and the Market,131 Timothy Gorringe's Capital and Kingdom: Theological Ethics and Economic Order,132 the writings of R.H. Tawney,133 Ronald Preston134 and, in particular, Donald Hay,135 Brian Griffiths136 and Kim Hawtrey.137

Calvinism: This group is a mixture of theologians and economistsand, most see some tension between economics and theology. Some seek to rebuild economics on 'proper' theological foundations, and the alternative economics suggested by these writers often has a non-neoclassical flavour. They claim that an economics built on revealed truth (that is, with an awareness of the Fall), should actually be better economics than secular economics; but the claim needs to supported by actual economics analysis which does this. Some Calvinist writers are suspicious of the quest for foundations, seeing it as an unhelpful legacy of the enlightenment rather than a theological imperative. The major texts are: Abraham Kuyper's Principles of Sacred Theology,138 Herman Dooyeweerd's Roots of Western Culture: Pagan, Secular and Christian Options,139, A.B. Cramp's Notes Towards a Critique of Secular Economic Theory,140 Alan Storkey's A Christian Social Perspective and Transforming Economics,141, Douglas Vickers' Economics and Man and Economics and Ethics,142 and the writings of Bob Goudzwaard,143 Wolterstorff,144 Jim Ingram,144 John Tiemstra,146 Roland Hoksbergen.147

Reconstructionist Protestantism: I tend to think of this as an aggressive and complete rejection of professional economics and replacement of it by the application of the Old Testament Law to the contemporary economy. The biblical mandated economy looks like an idealised form of American capitalism. See Franky Schaeffer148 or Gary North.149

A critique of integration: Here I would like to briefly outline the views of three prominent Christian economists who are critical of attempts to integrate Christianity and economics. The first of these arguments comes from Anthony Waterman of the University of Winnipeg in Canada. Based on careful study of the historical relationship between Christian theology and economics150 he argues that economics and theology parted ways in the early 19th century and that this parting was for sound reasons (originally expressed by the economists/churchman Richard Whately) which remain valid for economists today. Economics is a useful set of tools and generalisations, but cannot make ultimate judgements of value, which is the proper domain of theology. Economics and theology are distinct and separate disciplines, although interdisciplinary exchange is not ruled out.

The US economist Paul Heyne151 also resists integration and denies there is a distinctive Christian economics. His arguments are: firstly, that no one has yet described such a Christian economics, at least to his satisfaction, and, second, that arguing from Christian premises pollutes the democratic process and, third, that constructing and applying a Christian economic ethic obscures the force of the gospel.

David Richardson,152 another US economist, urges Christian economists to do economics and do it well. Our Christian faith, he would say, will show in our choice of topics and way we go about our work. He is not opposed to integrative work, but feels it should be done by only a small number of Christians who are have professional qualifications in both economics and theology/philosophy.

Other suggested works by Protestants are: Walter Rausenbusch's Christianity and the Social Crisis, and Christianising the Social Order,153 Reinhold Niebuhr's Moral Man and Immoral Society,154 Ulrich Duchrow's Global Economy,155 Robert Van Drimmelen's article, "a Christian Reflection and Action on Economics in the Twentieth Century",156 Max Stackhouse's On Moral Business,157 Douglas Meeks', God the Economist,158 Clive Beed's God's Economic Strategy159 and the writing of Kenneth Boulding160 and Phillip Wogaman.161

Mainstream responses: Despite the large number of works seeking an integration between economics and theology (a full bibliography would be at least ten times the length of this list), they have made little impression on mainstream economics. Some responses from the mainstream profession which illuminate the relationship (or lack thereof) are: Frank Knight and Thornton Merriam's The Economic Order and Religion,162 Jacob Viner's The Role of Providence in the Social Order163 and Robert Nelson's Reaching for Heaven on Earth: The Theological Meaning of Economics.164

Recently, economists have taken an interest in churches and theology as objects of study. Religion is one of the last areas of life to receive attention. In the last few decades, following Gary Becker's The Economic Approach to Human Behaviour,165 economists have analysed government, crime, marriage, childbearing, drug addition and even suicide. Gary Anderson discusses Adam Smith's analysis of churches, in particular the benefits of competition in the religious markets.166 Avinash Dixit and Gene Grossman,167 and Jagdish Bhagwati168 provide a somewhat lighthearted discussion of the trade-offs between earthly and heavenly happiness by a maximising individual. Laurence Iannaccone170 and Rodney Stark, Iannaccone and Roger Finke171 survey the recent work on explaining patterns of church attendance and church behaviour using maximising individual models.

To: Christian reflection on particular issues

Paul Oslington has been lecturer in economics at Deakin University Geelong since January 1998, after completing a Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Sydney on the relationship between trade and unemployment, and a Bachelor of Divinity from Melbourne College of Divinity. Comments and suggestions on the guide are welcome and he can be contacted at School of Economics, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia 3217. E-mail: osling@deakin.edu.au