Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2023
Abstract
From the first century forward, Christian thinkers and authorities have espoused many dierent views of economics, regulation, the role of the state, and economic law. Christian thought on economic regulation underwent systematic scholarly exposition during the Scholastic, Reformation, and modern eras, culminating in a wide array of perspectives on the role of markets and the government’s regulatory role. From Thomas Aquinas on just price theory to Martin Luther on cartelization and predatory pricing and Adam Smith on the nature of the market’s “invisible hand,” Christian and Christian-inuenced thinkers worked out the ethical and moral implications of contracts, usury, exchange, and the role of government in economic matters. Christian thinkers thus laid the foundations for the modern economic world. However, in the modern era, Enlightenment rationalism, empiricism, and academic specialization gradually displaced a distinctive Christian inuence on economic law. Even though many Christians continue to work on matters of economic law, modern scholarship on market regulation shows little evidence of an ongoing, expressly Christian inuence. However, recent trends in political, social, and academic interests regarding economic law— particularly those related to the fallibility of human decision-making and wealth inequality—oer renewed opportunities for productive engagement by Christian thought.
Publication Information & Recommended Citation
Crane, Daniel A. "Christianity and Economic Law." In The Oxford Handbook of Christianity and the Law, edited by John Witte Jr. and Rafael Domingo, 501-513. New York: Oxford University Press, 2024.
Comments
This material was originally published in The Oxford Handbook of Christianity and Law by Daniel A. Crane edited by John Witte and Rafael Domingo and has been reproduced by permission of Oxford University Press. For permission to reuse this material, please visit http://global.oup.com/academic/rights