A theological map of markets as ambiguous—and improvable—moral contexts
Do markets corrupt us, or support our character? They do both, argues Christina McRorie in The World of Markets. She engages empirical research on economic decision-making to identify both the conditions under which markets encourage selfish and opportunistic behaviors and those under which markets do the opposite, encouraging just and even generous actions. This influence over our decisions suggests that markets may also shape our agency itself, over time. How should Christians make theological sense of this?
Highlighting the tensions woven into the theological concept of "the world"—given that it is beloved by God and yet also a dangerous realm of moral darkness—The World of Markets builds a case for viewing markets as ambiguous worlds that mediate both sin and grace in our daily lives by influencing our moral agency. In light of God's own love for the world, it proposes that Christians are called to approach markets with an attitude that balances critique with appreciation and to collaborate with others to make markets more grace-filled contexts. Toward this end, The World of Markets identifies concrete ways that markets can become a world where it is easier to be good.
Reviews
"In Christina McRorie's compelling book, markets are neither all bad (destroyers of human community and souls) nor all good (sources of social and material abundance). Markets are part of what the scriptures call 'the world': a fallen social order that is corrupting and dangerous, but in which God acts and provides resources for Christian action to transform it. McRorie's balanced account between markets as a world of sin and markets as a world of grace is not a fruitless compromise, a reason for inaction. It is a clear-eyed example of the Christian's vocation to work in the world to sanctify it."—Andrew M. Yuengert, Pepperdine University, author of Catholic Social Teaching in Practice
"With an astute use of economics uncommon in theology, Christina McRorie traces economic ethics to spirituality within a sacramental ontology. Resisting extremes, she superbly identifies which characteristics of markets need to be restrained to limit their sinful impact and which should be enhanced so economic life better participates in God's gift of grace."—Daniel K. Finn, professor emeritus of theology and economics, St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict
"In The World of Markets, McRorie offers a framework for moral reflection on markets premised not on the question of whether markets are good, but rather when markets are good. The resulting analysis offers a nuanced and insightful engagement with the moral strengths and weaknesses of our current economic system. Highly recommended."—Mary L. Hirschfeld, John T. Ryan Jr. Associate Professor of Theology and Business Ethics, University of Notre Dame
"In a literature that is too often polarized, McRorie sets a new bar for careful scholarship. She masterfully integrates a breadth of insights from theology and economics, but also from sociology and history. Even more, her framework for thinking about markets as morally formative social spaces puts her work at the cutting edge of theological literature and is eminently useful for thinking through contemporary problems. This is my new go-to book in economics and theology."—Steve McMullen, professor of economics, Hope College
"With elegance and rigor, McRorie not only illuminates a Christian perspective on markets beyond tired binaries of celebration or denunciation but also makes the case for human interaction as a potential mediator of God's grace, urging ethicists to attend to the role of grace in the virtuous life."—Kate Ward, author, Wealth, Virtue, and Moral Luck
"In The World of Markets, Christina McRorie eschews simplistic judgments on contemporary economic life as either wholly good or bad. Instead, through combining empirical insight with a theologically textured, sacramental imagination that draws on Catholic social teaching, she offers a nuanced account of markets as morally formative worlds all while opening new paths for faithful economic engagement. An important contribution to both contemporary moral theology and economic ethics."—Luke Bretherton, Regius Professor of Moral and Pastoral Theology, University of Oxford
About the Author
Christina McRorie is an associate professor of moral theology at the Clough School of Theology and Ministry at Boston College, and the coeditor of Markets and Other Social Structures: Analyzing Moral Ecologies in Christian Ethics. She serves as coeditor of the Journal of the Society of Christian Ethics.
