ABSTRACT

This Handbook introduces and systematically explores the thesis that the economy, economic practices and economic thought are of a profoundly theological nature. Containing more than 40 chapters, this Handbook provides a state-of-the-art reference work that offers students, researchers and policymakers an introduction to current scholarship, significant debates and emerging research themes in the study of the theological significance of economic concepts and the religious underpinnings of economic practices in a world that is increasingly dominated by financiers, managers, forecasters, market-makers and entrepreneurs.

This Handbook brings together scholars from different parts of the world, representing various disciplines and intellectual traditions. It covers the development of economic thought and practices from antiquity to neoliberalism, and it provides insight into the economic–theological teachings of major religious movements. The list of contributors combines well-established scholars and younger academic talents.

The chapters in this Handbook cover a wide array of conceptual, historical, theoretical and methodological issues and perspectives, such as the economic meaning of theological concepts (e.g. providence and faith); the theological underpinnings of economic concepts (e.g. credit and property); the religious significance of socio-economic practices in various organizational fields (e.g. accounting and work); and finally the genealogy of the theological–economic interface in Judaism, Christianity, Islam and in the discipline of economics itself (e.g. Marx, Keynes and Hayek).

The Routledge Handbook of Economic Theology is organized in four parts:

• Theological concepts and their economic meaning

• Economic concepts and their theological anchoring

• Society, management and organization

• Genealogy of economic theology

part I|64 pages

Theological concepts and their economic meaning

chapter 2|9 pages

Providence

chapter 4|11 pages

Confession

chapter 5|8 pages

Purgatory

chapter 6|9 pages

Faith and trust

chapter 7|8 pages

Justification and salvation

chapter 8|9 pages

Guilt

part II|92 pages

Economic concepts and their theological anchoring

chapter 9|8 pages

Profit and interest

chapter 10|8 pages

Money

chapter 11|8 pages

Debt and credit

chapter 13|10 pages

Property and ownership

chapter 14|8 pages

Prosperity and wealth

chapter 15|10 pages

Poverty

chapter 16|10 pages

Corporations

chapter 17|9 pages

Government

chapter 18|10 pages

Markets and marketization

part III|87 pages

Society, management and organization

chapter 19|10 pages

Time

chapter 21|8 pages

Organization and management

chapter 22|8 pages

The entrepreneur

chapter 24|8 pages

Branding and marketing

chapter 25|7 pages

Hedonism and asceticism

chapter 26|8 pages

Leadership

chapter 27|9 pages

Intellectual property

chapter 28|8 pages

Accounting and accountability

part IV|116 pages

Genealogy of economic theology

chapter 29|9 pages

Jewish economic theology

chapter 30|7 pages

Oikonomia

chapter 34|10 pages

The southern spirit of capitalism

chapter 35|8 pages

Invisible hand

chapter 39|8 pages

Marxist economics and theology

part V|14 pages

Exit

chapter 42|12 pages

Intellectual brokerage in economic theology

Methodological and theoretical reflections from Islamic banking and finance