Political Economy and Christian Theology Since the Enlightenment

Political economy and Christian theology coexisted happily in the intellectual world of the eighteenth century. During the nineteenth century they came to be seen as incompatible, even mutually hostile. In the twentieth century they went their separate ways and are no longer on speaking terms. These fourteen essays by Anthony Waterman serve as snapshots of the history of this estrangement, and illustrate the gradual replacement of the discourse of theology by that of economics as the rational framework of political debate. Others have recently shown that both political economy and Christian theology are important, though somewhat neglected elements in modern intellectual history. This book is the first to combine these two lines of inquiry.

Autorentext

A. M. C. WATERMAN read economics at Cambridge, studied theology at St John's College, Winnipeg, and earned a doctorate in economics and economic history at the Australian National University. Beginning in 1965, he has published extensively both in economics and theology. Since his tenure of the Maurice Reckitt Fellowship in Christian Social Thought at the University of Sussex he has increasingly attempted to combine the two fields in intellectual history. His Revolution, Economics and Religion (Cambridge 1991) was awarded the Forkosch Prize for intellectual history in 1992.

Inhalt

List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgements Preface Political Economy and Christian Theology Why the English "Enlightenment" was Different Theology and Political Doctrine in Church and Dissent Intellectual Foundations of Tory Doctrine A Cambridge Via Media Wealth of Nations as Theology The Sudden Separation of Political Economy Methodology of Classical Political Economy Peasants, Population and Progress Property Rights in Christian Social Teaching The Intellectual Context of Rerum Novarum Market Social Order and Christian Organicism Establishment Social Thinking Economics and the Mutation of Political Doctrine Notes References Index