ABSTRACT
A two-way relationship between edges and mainstream is both inevitable and potentially creative. Both Edinburgh and Fair Trade stories illustrate this. Walking down the Royal Mile from the castle to Holyrood Palace is not the simplest of journeys, particularly in August at the height of the Edinburgh Festival. A critical and constructive exploration of Fair Trade emphasises how ethical and engineering economics are both essential for the promotion of human wellbeing. Fair Trade is a quite major feature of the global economy/capitalism, particularly as the remarkable growth in world trade since 1945. It is intimately related to poverty reduction strategies, and the Millennium Development Goals of the UN. Mainstreaming ethical economics, illustrated through the story of Fair Trade, therefore becomes a shared commitment of both economics and theology given the clear overlap of their respective continuums. Faithful economics should also be seen as incorporating a continuum from ethical economics to a theological economy.
