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Christian Political Economy and Economic Science: a Pathway for Interdisciplinary Dialogue

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Christian Political Economy and Economic Science: a Pathway for Interdisciplinary Dialogue Southern Methodist University SMU Scholar Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations Religious Studies Spring 5-19-2018 Christian Political Economy and Economic Science: A Pathway for Interdisciplinary Dialogue Nathan McLellan Southern Methodist University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholar.smu.edu/religious_studies_etds Part of the Christianity Commons, Economic History Commons, Ethics in Religion Commons, Political Economy Commons, and the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation McLellan, Nathan, "Christian Political Economy and Economic Science: A Pathway for Interdisciplinary Dialogue" (2018). Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations. 5. https://scholar.smu.edu/religious_studies_etds/5 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Religious Studies at SMU Scholar. It has been accepted for inclusion in Religious Studies Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of SMU Scholar. For more information, please visit http://digitalrepository.smu.edu. CHRISTIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY AND ECONOMIC SCIENCE: A PATHWAY FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY DIALOGUE Approved by ______________________________ Prof. Robin W. Lovin Southern Methodist University ______________________________ Prof. William J. Abraham Southern Methodist University ______________________________ Prof. Charles E. Curran Southern Methodist University ______________________________ Prof. Paul Oslington Alphacrucis College CHRISTIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY AND ECONOMIC SCIENCE: A PATHWAY FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY DIALOGUE A Dissertation Presented to the Graduate Faculty of Dedman College Southern Methodist University In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy with a Major in Religious Studies By Nathan I. C. McLellan B.Appl.Econ., Massey University, New Zealand M.Appl.Econ(Hons)., Massey University, New Zealand M.C.S., Regent College, Vancouver, Canada May 19, 2018 Copyright (2018) Nathan I. C. McLellan All Rights Reserved ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The opportunity to study at Southern Methodist University has been one of the great privileges of my life. I am very grateful to have had this opportunity and for all the benefits I have received as a result. I want to thank my dissertation committee of William Abraham, Charles Curran, Robin Lovin, and Paul Oslington. Each of these world-class teachers and scholars has left an indelible mark on my thinking and vocation. In particular, I want to thank Robin Lovin (my doctoral advisor), whose wise judgment, broad reading, lucid writing, and care and encouragement of his doctoral students have not only seen me through the Ph.D., but stand as an example for emulation. The intellectual community and the friendships that I formed in the Graduate Program in Religious Studies at Southern Methodist University have enriched my family’s life and mine. In particular, I want to acknowledge my friends and colleagues Dallas Gingles, Spencer Bogle, Justus Hunter, David Mahfood, and Ben Boeckel. I also want to thank my friend April French who has encouraged me and supported my family throughout the Ph.D. at Southern Methodist University. This dissertation was completed while being the CEO and a Teaching Fellow at Venn Foundation. I want to acknowledge the support of both the board and staff at Venn Foundation. I especially want to thank my colleague and friend, John Dennison, who encouraged me during iv the final stages of the dissertation. Having travelled this path himself, he has been a wise and prayerful counselor. Without Bronwyn, I would never have completed this dissertation. She has encouraged me at every stage and protected me from unnecessary distractions. Chiefly, she has provided companionship that has infused the writing of the dissertation with much joy. Joy, too, has been provided by Jonathan and Caleb, whose interest in the world and people remind me to take delight in the process of inquiry. Finally, I want to acknowledge my parents, Ian and Chrissie McLellan (to whom this dissertation is dedicated). They have taught me—and continue to teach me—what a fruitful and joyful life looks like. I am grateful for their example and love. iv McLellan, Nathan I. C. B.Appl.Econ., Massey University, New Zealand, 1998 M.Appl.Econ (Hons)., Massey University, New Zealand, 2000 M.C.S., Regent College, Vancouver, Canada, 2011 Christian Political Economy and Economic Science: A Pathway for Interdisciplinary Dialogue Advisor: Professor Robin W. Lovin Doctor of Philosophy Conferred May 19, 2018 Dissertation Completed February 15, 2018 This dissertation considers two intellectual impediments to interdisciplinary dialogue between Christian theologians, ethicists, and economists: scarcity and the status of economics as a wertfrei science. Using the landmark methodological work of Lionel Robbins, An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economics Science, to frame the discussion, this dissertation seeks to remove these two intellectual impediments to interdisciplinary dialogue by considering three nested questions. They are: (1) Is scarcity—as defined by Robbins—an accurate description of the world? (2) If scarcity, as defined by Robbins, is an accurate description of the world, how is this to be justified theologically, and what are the implications for the demarcation of economics? (3) Is economics a wertfrei science, and, if it is, what are the implications for interdisciplinary dialogue? Chapter 1 elucidates these questions by outlining Robbins’s conception of scarcity, his scarcity definition of economics, and his understanding of economics as a wertfrei science. The first part of Chapter 2 considers question (1) by examining various challenges that have been leveled at Robbins’s understanding of scarcity as a description of the world. Having shown that the various challenges fail to overturn Robbins’s understanding of scarcity as a description of the world, the second part of Chapter 2 begins to consider question (2) by framing Robbins’s v understanding of scarcity in terminology more familiar to the Christian theologian and ethicist. Chapter 3 continues to consider question (2) by developing a theodicy that accounts for why humans find themselves in a world in which the degree of scarcity is such that human needs, at times, go unmet. Chapters 2 and 3, then, provide a theological rationale for scarcity and a theological rationale for the existence of economics as the study of scarcity-constrained choice. Chapter 4 turns to question (3), returning to Robbins’s understanding of economics as a wertfrei science as presented within An Essay on the Nature and Significance of Economics Science, and what this means for the relationship between economic science and ethics. This chapter also introduces a later essay written by Robbins, Economics and Political Economy, to further elucidate Robbins’s understanding of the relationship between economic science and ethics, and his advocacy for political economy as the discipline that seeks to integrate the deliverances of both economic science and ethics with a view to offering policy advice. This chapter argues for a retrieval of political economy, but (contra Robbins) based on a realist meta- ethics. Chapter 5, which is the culminating and capstone chapter, argues for Christian political economy as the site for interdisciplinary dialogue between Christian theologians, ethicists, and economists, now that the intellectual impediments of scarcity and economics as a wertfrei science have been overcome. As a particular instantiation of political economy, Christian political economy draws on the deliverances of both Christian ethics and economic science. In doing so, it respects and understands the scope and nature of economic science and seeks to maintain its theological integrity by drawing from Christian ethics. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES x LIST OF TABLES xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xii CHAPTER INTRODUCTION 1 1. THE DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF MODERN ECONOMICS 10 Introduction 10 Delineating Scarcity 13 Anterior Conceptions of Scarcity 18 A Basic Framework 34 Scarcity and the Definition of Modern Economics 39 Economics and Value Judgments 48 Conclusion 53 2. SCARCITY OR ABUNDANCE? 55 Introduction 55 The Nature-of-Desire Challenge: William Cavanaugh and There Is Never 57 Enough to Go Around vii The Nature-of-Goods Challenge: Kathryn Tanner and the Economy of Grace 66 The Incommensurability Challenge: D. Stephen Long and the Tragic World 78 of Scarcity Conceptions of Scarcity, the Finitude of Creation, and the Human Vocation 87 Conclusion 96 3. GOD, SCARCITY, AND VOCATION 98 Introduction 98 Eighteenth- and Nineteenth-Century Theodicies 103 Thomas Malthus 104 William Paley 110 John Bird Sumner 116 A Contemporary Theodicy: Albino Barrera and the Evil of Scarcity 124 God, Scarcity, and the Human and Christian Vocation 135 Conclusion 150 4. ECONOMICS, ETHICS, AND POLITICAL ECONOMY 153 Introduction 153 Economic Science, Ethics, and Political Economy 156 Neutrality, Commitment, and Objectivity 170 “Facts” and “Values” 183 Adjusting Robbins’s Schema 192 Conclusion 202 5. CHRISTIAN POLITICAL ECONOMY 204 Introduction 204 Christian Economics? 206 viii Objection 1: Economic Science Fails To Explain 209 Objection 2: God is an Agent 214 Christian Political Economy? 217 Objection 1: The Christian Faith Has Nothing Unique To Offer 220 Objection 2: The Christian Faith Has Nothing Substantive and Realistic To 228 Offer Economic Science and Christian Political Economy 231 Modern Catholic Social
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