Faith and Liberty: The Economic Thought of the Late Scholastics

Most people think that free-market ideas and theories were first substantially developed in the eighteenth century by figures such as Adam Smith. In this revised edition of Faith and Liberty, Alejandro A. Chafuen illustrates this misconception by examining the sixteenth and seventeenth century writings of a group of Catholic theologians and philosophers. The Late- Scholastics, as they are called, were the first to engage in a systematic moral analysis of the ethical issues associated with trade and commerce. In doing so, they arrived at solutions that are in many senses indistinguishable from the ideas of many modern free market commentators. In this revised edition, Chafuen bolsters his case by including recent and pertinent material which gives rise to new questions and concerns. Reading this book will force to consider what they understand to be an authentically Christian approach to economic questions.