Samson, Steven Alan

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Liberty UniversityDigitalCommons@LibertyUniversityFaculty Publications and Presentations Helms School of Government2009Joseph Ratzinger: Market Economy and EthicsStudy GuideSteven Alan SamsonLiberty University, ssamson@liberty.eduFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/gov_fac_pubsPart of the Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, Political Science Commons, and thePublic Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration CommonsThis Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Helms School of Government at DigitalCommons@Liberty University. It has beenaccepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@Liberty University. For moreinformation, please contact scholarlycommunication@liberty.edu.Recommended CitationSamson, Steven Alan, "Joseph Ratzinger: Market Economy and Ethics Study Guide" (2009). Faculty Publications and Presentations.Paper 355.http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/gov_fac_pubs/355JOSEPH RATZINGER:  MARKET ECONOMY AND ETHICS STUDY GUIDE, 2009 Steven Alan Samson  http://www.acton.org/publications/occasionalpapers/publicat_occasionalpapers_ratzinger.php?view=print  Outline  A. CHURCH AND ECONOMY: RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FUTURE OF THE WORLD   ECONOMY  1. Economic Inequality Between Northern and Southern Hemispheres   a. Increasing misery in the world   b. Need for moral impulses as well as new ideas  2. Question of What the Church and the Economy Should Have to Do with Each Other   a. First Tension: Classical Economic Theory: Adam Smith’s idea that the market     is incompatible with ethics    1) Post-Vatican II Objection: Autonomy of Specialized Realms Must Be      Respected     a) Adam Smith     b) Efficiency vs. Morality    2). Limitations of This Theory     a) First presupposition: determinism     b) Second presupposition: the supposed goodness of the natural       laws of the market    3) Peter Koslowski’s qualifier: the market is also determined by men    4) Role of spiritual powers in the market [cf. James Madison on conscience      As the most sacred property]   b. Second Tension: The Free Play of the Market Is Endangered by the Inherent     Inequality of Various Individual Economic Zones    1) Development projects have failed    2) Market Economy Has Been Condemned as Institutionalized Sin and      Injustice [cf. liberation theologians and evangelical left]    3) Contrasting Presuppositions  3. Marxist World   a. The Marxist Centrally Administered Economy is a Radical Antithesis to the     Market Economy    1) “Salvation is expected because there is no private control of the means      of production,” etc.  b. Deeper Common Philosophical Assumptions It Shares with Capitalism 1) Determinism (Werner Sombart’s thesis): Ethics is thus reduced to the   philosophy of history, which is reduced to strategy (a utilitarian thesis).   Imperative: the laws of historical progress should not be resisted.  2) Renunciation of ethics as an independent entity; religion is seen as an   obstacle to progress  3) Marxist eschatology: The Church must be overcome; it contributes   nothing positive of its own   c. Apotheosis of the central administration  4. Protestant Ethic Thesis   a. Theodore Roosevelt and Nelson Rockefeller Wished to Replace Catholics with     Protestants in Latin America   a. Max Weber: inner connection between capitalism and Calvinism   b. Liberal capitalism is not the salvation of the world   c. What is needed: self-criticism within the Christian confessions  5. Conclusion   a. Need for fruitful dialogue   b. Need for a maximum of ethical discipline and a maximum of religious strength   c. Both moralism and scientism must be overcome  Review  classical economic theory Adam Smith   shared philosophical assumptions inequality of economic zones Protestant Ethic   Max Weber 

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