Theology, Morality and Adam Smith

by Jordan J. Ballor (Editor), Cornelis van der Kooi (Editor)

Overview

This work details the theological sources and moral significance of the life and work of the Scottish moral philosopher Adam Smith (1723–1790).

The panel of contributors deepens our understanding of Adam Smith in his religious and theological context and the significance of this understanding for contemporary moral, economic, and political challenges to modern social life. The chapters cover a broad range of disciplinary and historical concerns, from Smith’s view of providence and his famous "invisible hand" to the role of self-interest and benevolence in Smith’s social and economic thought. A better appreciation for the moral and theological dimensions of Smith’s thought provides not only a better understanding of Smith’s own context and significance in the Scottish Enlightenment but also promises to assist in meeting the perennial challenges of properly connecting economic realities to moral responsibility.

The book is of interest to advanced students and scholars of the history of economic thought, historical and moral theology, intellectual history, political science, and philosophy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780367534660
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/29/2024
Series:	Routledge Studies in the History of Economics
Pages:	314
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Jordan J. Ballor is a theologian with doctoral degrees in Reformation history from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, and moral theology from Calvin Theological Seminary, USA. He is director of research at the Center for Religion, Culture & Democracy and executive editor of the Journal of Religion, Culture & Democracy. He is also associate director of the Junius Institute for Digital Reformation Research and the Henry Institute for the Study of Christianity and Politics.

Cornelis van der Kooi is professor emeritus in systematic theology at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and has published widely in the field of systematic theology and on the theology and impact of (neo)calvinism. Currently he serves as distinguished scholar at the Erasmus Economics and Theology Institute (EETI) at the Erasmus University Rotterdam.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Exploring Adam Smith’s Theological Contexts, Sources, and Significance 1. Bourgeois Culture: Understanding Adam Smith’s Moral Horizon 2. A Survey of Adam Smith’s Theological Sources 3. Calvin and Smith on Providence, Morality, Virtues, and Human Flourishing 4. Self-love and Its Discontents: Trajectories in Reformed Moral Philosophy and Theology before Adam Smith 5. Smith and the Scholastic Tradition on Markets and Their Moral Rationale 6. Adam Smith’s Seventeenth-Century French Theological Sources 7. Smith and Enlightened Augustinianism 8. Adam Smith’s Theological Hinterland 9. Butler and Smith’s Ethical and Theological Framing of Commerce 10. Adam Smith’s Theory of the Moral Vicegerents of God 11. Adam Smith’s Theology and Virtues as Conditions for the Potential of Free-Market Economies to Contribute to Human Flourishing 12. The Adam Smith Problem Theologically Reconsidered 13. Smith on Moral Agency, and the Moral Significance of Context