Introduction

For the past few years, a select group of Christian social thinkers have engaged in dialogue with free-market economists concerning the morality of market activity. This friendly interdisciplinary exchange inspired the conception of a new subdiscipline that sought to synthesize central aspects of theology and economics, thereby giving rise to a new body of scholarship termed economic personalism. This essay introduces economic personalism in its historical, philosophical, and practical components.

Economic personalism is a science of the morality of markets--an attempt to analyze the moral ramifications of economic activity in light of a theological vision of the human person. This includes a detailed exploration of economic theory, history, and methodology, as well as actual market practices, all viewed from the perspective of the Christian faith, particularly its recognition of the dignity of the human person and the concern for justice that stems from this recognition.

There have been attempts to address economic development within the theoretical context of Christian moral concerns. These previous efforts sought a Christian economics as part of a comprehensive social theology that could elaborate the proper moral structures for all areas of social life--political, cultural, and economic.

These past efforts have shown themselves inadequate in one respect or another. A typical weakness is to offer principles of morality for the market that lack either sufficient knowledge of morals or sufficient knowledge of economics. In either case, the result is an inability to achieve a true synthe sis. (1) A true synthesis cannot afford to be reductionistic but must respect the genuine claims of both economics and moral theology.

No matter how sublime the theology, it is no substitute for genuine economic knowledge, especially when the goal is to analyze economic structures in terms of their moral significance. How can a theologian who fails to grasp the principles and structures of the market accurately comment on their moral status? While not all theologians need be economists and not all economists need be theologians, a minimum of expertise in both disciplines is required on the part of the moral critic.

Economic personalists contend that maintaining a proper theological anthropology is foundational to achieving an adequate synthesis of theology and economics. In the past, theories within social science have tended to be overly rationalistic, unduly collectivistic, utilitarian, or weak regarding the metaphysical dimension of human existence. Deficiencies like these naturally resulted in a skewed conception of human nature. Merely being aware of these mistakes requires social theorists to uphold simultaneously a sound theological anthropology and a firm grasp of basic economic principles. The human person's obligations can only be derived from his theological aspect as creature and subject of God's grace.

Economics is the study of human action in the marketplace, while moral theology is the study of the rightness or wrongness of human action in general. (2) The human person is central both to economics and moral theology. The two sciences intersect in the human person and the systematic analysis of human action. A proper synthesis of...