Course Description
Socioeconomic life is fraught with moral dilemmas. What do we do when agape and justice present us with incompatible duties? Which takes precedence and why? How do we avoid complicity in the marketplace given its tight web of interdependence? Are we morally liable for the unintended harms of our actions? This course illustrates how theology, social philosophy, and economics mutually enrich each other in articulating the moral foundations undergirding such hard choices. It also revisits Malthus’s theodicy of scarcity and advances a theology of economic responsibility. Intractable socioeconomic problems fortuitously present opportunities for the further development of Catholic social teachings.
Bibliography
Barrera, Albino. 2005. God and the Evil of Scarcity: Moral Foundations of Economic Agency. (Notre Dame).
Barrera, Albino. 2013. Biblical Economic Ethics: Sacred Scripture’s Teachings on Economic Life. (Lexington).
World Council of Churches. 2013.
Moral Discernment in the Churches Wright, John. 1957.
The Order of the Universe in the Theology of St. Thomas Aquinas. Analecta Gregoriana 89.