Issue 137 When the church goes to market

What's inside

Brood of vipers or avenue for flourishing?

Debt and lending in church history

Nathan Hitchcock

The undeserving poor

Early Christians emphasized doing good for all, whether or not they were worthy

Daniel F. Caner

Bringing profit to neighbors

The church and economic theories from zero-sum to mutual benefit 

Jordan J. Ballor

Friendly economics

How Quakers in North Carolina used the marketplace to free enslaved people from bondage

Christina Hitchcock

God’s money

How influential thinkers have approached business, finance, and the market

Charlie Self

When the church goes to market, Did you know?

The church and economics from the parables to Brother Cadfael to missionary presses

The editors and contributors

Letters, Christian History 137

Letters to the editor

Readers and the editors

Editor's Note: When the church went to market

What should be the relationship of Christians to economics and the market?

Jennifer Woodruff Tait

“On trading and usury”

Martin Luther preaches on taking the “fourth way”

Martin Luther

Poor Soldiers’ banks

the Templars set up banks all across Europe and the Mediterranean

Dylan Pahman

Misunderstood missionaries

 Colonial enablers or pioneers of social and economic reform?

Robert D. Woodberry

Alternative economies

 The Shakers

Jennifer Woodruff Tait

Self-serving vice or society-building virtue?

The long-standing influence of Max Weber’s linking of Protestantism and capitalism

Kenneth J. Barnes

“The invisible hand”

Adam Smith and moral theory

Paul D. Mueller

Christian History timeline: Market matters

Some ways Christians have preached, thought about, shaped, critiqued, and participated in economic life throughout church history

The editors

“The right use of money”

 Stewardship advice from John Wesley

John Wesley

Avoiding shipwrecks

Catholic papal encyclicals recommended a middle way on economic issues

Kevin Schmiesing

“The conflict now raging”

  Leo XIII and Rerum novarum

Leo XIII

Alternative economies

The fair trade movement

Jennifer Woodruff Tait

What would Jesus do in business?

The rise, struggles, and promise of the faith and work movement

David W. Miller

God’s kingdom

Interviews with two scholars who study Christians and the Market

Denise Daniels, Brent Waters, and the editor

Money Matters: Recommended resources CH 137

Find more on the history of the church’s relationship with economics and the market in these resources selected by CH’s authors and editors.

The editors and issue authors
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