The Market as God

I would hope that the bookstore browser would look at the introduction. It sums up what the book is about. I would also recommend the chapters on holidays, on the similar crises religions and economic systems experience, and perhaps my two chapters on Adam Smith. The last chapter gives some idea of how we can move ahead. I do not recommend abolishing the Market but returning it to its proper place. Here I use the old theological formula of "restitutio humanii," the restitution of humankind to its proper place in the scheme of creation. I suggest that the Market is not well suited to being a god and that it might be happier to be relieved of the burden!

My hope is that this book will help open a new and fruitful conversation between religion and economics. There have been times in the past in which such a conversation did occur, but it has lapsed in recent decades, to the detriment of both sides. For example, there is a long history of the ethical/theological issue of usury and interest, a topic we could usefully explore more in an age of predatory interest and loan-sharking.

The book grew out of a course I taught for a few years here at Harvard called "God and Money" in which students from several divisions of the university took part, including – very importantly – some from the Business School here who told me they wished these kinds of things had a more visible place in their own curriculum. The book has been reviewed in The Financial Times and in Forbes, so it is garnering some interest in the business community. I hope this signals that a renewed and productive conversation may be welcomed.