A Return to Augustinian Economics By John D. Mueller Posted: Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Pope Benedict XVI has called that neglected economic realist St. Augustine "my great master." Because Augustine placed the fact of scarcity squarely at the center of moral decision-making, Catholic claims from the left (and fears from the right) that the encyclical Caritas in Veritate portends some utopian global political scheme or endorsement of President Obama’s economic policies are likely to prove equally unfounded.
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The Preacher as Economist vs. "The Economist as Preacher" Economics, Secularism, and Faith By John D. Mueller Posted: Monday, June 2, 2008 The Economist as Preacher was the title of a book by George J. Stigler, who was most responsible for "Smythology": the myth that Adam Smith invented or is indispensable to understanding economics. "The Preacher as Economist" is Thomas Aquinas, who integrated the outline of economic theory taught for five centuries by Catholics and Protestants alike. More broadly, they propose two different ways of understanding what it means to be an economist -- and for that matter, what it means to be a preacher.
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John Paul II's "Renewal" of the Church's Economic Thought By John D. Mueller Posted: Saturday, March 7, 1992
Pope John Paul II sees his own contribution as a "renewal" -- that is, both a continuation and an updating -- of the Church's modern social thought. His main contributions are, first, a concise reformation of the Church's method of analysing social and economic questions, often with the satisfying feel of a well-driven nail; and second, a quickness and surefootedness in taking account of new developments, not only in economic and social conditions, but also in secular economic and social theory.
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