This work details the theological sources and moral significance of the life and work of the Scottish moral philosopher Adam Smith (1723-1790).
The panel of contributors deepens our understanding of Adam Smith in his religious and theological context and the significance of this understanding for contemporary moral, economic, and political challenges to modern social life. The chapters cover a broad range of disciplinary and historical concerns, from Smiths view of providence and his famous "invisible hand" to the role of self-interest and benevolence in Smiths social and economic thought. A better appreciation for the moral and theological dimensions of Smiths thought provides not only a better understanding of Smiths own context and significance in the Scottish Enlightenment but also promises to assist in meeting the perennial challenges of properly connecting economic realities to moral responsibility.
The book is of interest to advanced students and scholars of the history of economic thought, historical and moral theology, intellectual history, political science, and philosophy.
Introduction: Exploring Adam Smiths Theological Contexts, Sources, and Significance 1. Bourgeois Culture: Understanding Adam Smiths Moral Horizon 2. A Survey of Adam Smiths Theological Sources 3. Calvin and Smith on Providence, Morality, Virtues, and Human Flourishing 4. Self-love and Its Discontents: Trajectories in Reformed Moral Philosophy and Theology before Adam Smith 5. Smith and the Scholastic Tradition on Markets and Their Moral Rationale 6. Adam Smiths Seventeenth-Century French Theological Sources 7. Smith and Enlightened Augustinianism 8. Adam Smiths Theological Hinterland 9. Butler and Smiths Ethical and Theological Framing of Commerce 10. Adam Smiths Theory of the Moral Vicegerents of God 11. Adam Smiths Theology and Virtues as Conditions for the Potential of Free-Market Economies to Contribute to Human Flourishing 12. The Adam Smith Problem Theologically Reconsidered 13. Smith on Moral Agency, and the Moral Significance of Context
