ECONOMIC THEOLOGY READING LIST Curated by Jamé Bolds, Ph.D. (C)

So here's some books and articles at the intersection of faith, economics, and community development for scholars, practitioners, and serious readers. These are the books that have shaped how I think about economics, theology, and the communities we serve. Some are foundational academic texts. Some are from critical Marxist who never worked a P&L. Some are serious scholars who actually solve problems. And some are practitioner resources. All of them are worth your time. Enjoy!  — Jamé

​INTRO: THE ECONOMIC THEOLOGICAL TRADITION

1. Market as Religion (Critics of Capitalism). These scholars analyze how modern market economics acts as a secularized religion with its own doctrines, priesthood, and systems of belief. So yes, they have a point, and are really nice people. They are scholars so we need their voice. 
  • Robert H. Nelson – Author of Economics as Religion; argued that economists serve as the modern priesthood preaching a gospel of material progress.
  • Harvey Cox – Harvard theologian and author of The Market as God; mapped out how business terminology mirrors Judeo-Christian concepts of an omnipotent market.
  • Michael Budde – Focuses on how global capitalism functions as a competing "church" that shapes human desires more effectively than traditional religion.
  • Cornel West - Former professor of mine who argues the capitalism is organized greed. Not a voice I agree with,  but it's important in literature. 

2. Christian Economics & Development Praxis. Like me, these thinkers bridge the gap between academic economic theory and the practical, localized development work of the church.
  • Paul Oslington – Leading scholar on the history of how Christian theology shaped early economic thought; edited The Oxford Handbook of Christianity and Economics.
  • Bob Goudzwaard – A Dutch economist who pioneered "Neo-Calvinist economics," arguing that prioritizing absolute economic growth creates systemic poverty.
  • Daniel Finn – Author of The Moral Ecology of Markets; focuses on the structural and moral boundaries required to make market systems serve human dignity.

​3. Liberation & Political Economic Theologians. These scholars approach the field through the lens of social justice, arguing that theology must actively dismantle exploitative economic systems.
  • Jung Mo Sung – A Korean-Brazilian theologian and economist who writes on how global market systems treat poverty and exclusion as necessary "sacrifices."
  • ​Roland Boer – A Marxist theologian who uses historical-materialist and economic frameworks to analyze biblical texts and religious power structures.
  • John Milbank – Leader of the Radical Orthodoxy movement; argues that secular economics is built on false assumptions of scarcity and advocates for an economy based on community and gift-giving.
4. The Historical Pioneers. (The School of Salamanca) These 16th-century Spanish Catholic moral theologians were the world's first true economic theologians, developing early theories of free markets long before Adam Smith.
  • Francisco de Vitoria – Explored the morality of international trade, property rights, and the global economy.
  • Martín de Azpilcueta – The first to systematically defend the concept of a "just price" based on supply and demand and to explain how currency inflation worked.

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

​​Academic References
  • Schwarzkopf, S. (Ed.). The Routledge Handbook of Economic Theology. Routledge, 2019. The most comprehensive academic reference in the field. 40-plus chapters covering theological concepts and their economic meaning.
  • Tanner, K. Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism. Yale University Press, 2019. One of the most rigorous contemporary treatments of the theological underpinnings of modern capitalism.
  • Long, S.D. Divine Economy: Theology and the Market. Routledge, 2000. A theological critique of market economics from a systematic theological perspective.
  • Goodchild, P. Theology of Money. Duke University Press, 2009. A serious academic treatment of money as a theological category.

Pentecostal Economics — The Field as It Stands
  • Wariboko, N. God and Money: A Theology of Money in a Globalizing World. Lexington Books, 2008. Where the serious academic conversation begins. Nimi Wariboko is a Wall Street investment banker turned Boston University ethicist, is the most prolific scholar at the intersection of Pentecostal theology and economics. This is the first salvo. Read it before anything else in this section.
  • Martin, D. Pentecostalism: The World Their Parish. Blackwell, 2002. The sociological foundation. Before you can theorize Pentecostal economics you need to understand Pentecostalism as a global economic phenomenon. Martin provides the most rigorous account of how Pentecostal communities transform social and economic life across the developing world. The data that everyone else's theories have to account for.
  • Wariboko, N. The Pentecostal Principle: Ethical Methodology in New Spirit. Eerdmans, 2012. AAR Award finalist. Wariboko's most influential work. Develops the ethical and philosophical framework for Pentecostal engagement with economic systems — the principle of potentiality and openness that he argues is the distinctive Pentecostal contribution to social ethics. Dense but essential. Harvey Cox called Wariboko one of the most original voices in contemporary theology.
  • Attanasi, K. and Yong, A. (Eds.) Pentecostalism and Prosperity: The Socio-Economics of the Global Charismatic Movement. Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. The most comprehensive multi-author collection on Pentecostalism and economics assembled to date. Twelve scholars. Covers Africa, Latin America, China, Eastern Europe, and the United States. Debates the prosperity gospel from multiple disciplinary angles. Required reading for anyone entering this field seriously.
  • Self, C. Flourishing Churches and Communities: A Pentecostal Primer on Faith, Work, and Economics for Spirit-Empowered Discipleship. Acton Institute, 2013. The most accessible practitioner-facing treatment of Pentecostal economics in print. Charlie Self is one of the most credentialed scholars in the Assemblies of God, four earned degrees, 40-plus years of ministry, founder of the AGTS doctoral program. This is where rigorous Pentecostal economic theology meets the congregation you actually pastor on Sunday. Disclosure: Charlie Self is the Chief Intellectual Officer of Pathmakers Foundation.
  • Wariboko, N. Economics in Spirit and Truth: A Moral Philosophy of Finance. Palgrave Macmillan, 2014. Wariboko's most technically economic work. Applies Pentecostal theology to finance capitalism and develops an ethics of antifragility drawn from both Agamben's philosophy of potentiality and Pentecostal pneumatology. If you want to understand how a serious Pentecostal scholar engages the actual economics literature, this is the model.
  • Yong, A. In the Days of Caesar: Pentecostalism and Political Theology. Eerdmans, 2010. The most sustained Pentecostal engagement with public theology, political economy, and the social dimensions of Spirit-empowered faith. Amos Yong brings the full weight of Pentecostal systematic theology to bear on questions of justice, economics, and public life. An essential conversation partner for anyone working in this field.
  • Augustine, D.C. and Green, C.E.W. (Eds.) The Politics of the Spirit: Pentecostal Reflections on Public Responsibility and the Common Good. Seymour Press, 2023. Essays by leading Pentecostal scholars on the socio-economic and political dimensions of Spirit-empowered Christianity — racism, environmental justice, immigration, labor, and a theological framework for the common good. Daniela Augustine brings Eastern Orthodox sensibilities into conversation with Pentecostal theology in ways that sharpen both.
  • Augustine, D.C. The Spirit and the Common Good: Shared Flourishing in the Image of God. Eerdmans, 2023. The most important recent publication in Pentecostal economic theology. Augustine is a Reader in World Christianity and Pentecostal Studies at the University of Birmingham, with a background in economics,  examines Pentecostal pneumatology as a framework for shared flourishing, equitable distribution, and the common good. The field moved when this book appeared. If you read one new book in this section, read this one.

Faith, Economics and Community Development ​
  • Lupton, R. Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help and How to Reverse It. HarperOne, 2011. Essential critique of charity-based models.
  • Perkins, J. Beyond Charity: The Call to Christian Community Development. Baker, 1993. Foundational text on community development from a faith perspective.
  • Rubin, J.S. and Stankiewicz, M. The New Markets Tax Credit Program: A Midcourse Assessment. Brookings, 2005. Rigorous community development finance analysis -- the academic tradition I was trained in at Rutgers Bloustein
  • Rubin, Julia Sass. 2009. "Developmental Venture Capital: Conceptualizing the Field." Venture Capital: An International Journal of Entrepreneurial Finance 11, no. 4: 335–360.
  • Rubin, Julia Sass. 2004. "Community Development Financial Institutions: Current Issues and Future Prospects." Journal of Urban Affairs 26, no. 2: 181–200.
  • Rubin, Julia Sass, ed. 2007. Financing Low-Income Communities: Models, Obstacles, and Future Directions. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.​

Theology and Development — Academic
Bowers Du Toit, N.F. Theology and Development, A Critical Engagement. Various journal articles, Universiteit van Stellenbosch. My Doktormutter (doctoral supervisor) and one of the founding scholars of the Theology and Development field:
  • Bowers Du Toit, Nadine. 2022. "Development and Religion." Diaconia: Journal for the Study of Christian Social Practice 13, no. 1: 88–101.
  • ​Bowers Du Toit, Nadine, and Elisabet le Roux. 2021. "Gender-Based Violence, Religion, and the Local Congregation: A Critical Exploration." The Journal for Transdisciplinary Research in Southern Africa 17, no. 1: 1–9.
  • ​Celesi, M. P., and Nadine F. Bowers Du Toit. 2019. "The Centrality of Partnership Between Local Congregations and Christian Development Organisations in Facilitating Holistic Praxis." HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 75, no. 4: 1–10.
  • Bowers Du Toit, Nadine. 2018. "Decolonising Development? Re-Claiming Biko and a Black Theology of Liberation Within the Context of Faith Based Organisations in South Africa." Missionalia 46, no. 1: 156–174.
  • ​Msabah, Barnabé Anzuruni, and Nadine Bowers Du Toit. 2017. "“We live, and move, and have our being”: Refugees' Vulnerability and the Ecclesial Challenge for Diaconal Praxis." Diaconia 8, no. 2: 188–200.
  • Bowers Du Toit, Nadine. 2017. "Decolonising the Commercialisation and Commodification of the University and Theological Education in South Africa." HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 73, no. 3: 1–7.
  • Bowers Du Toit, Nadine. 2016. "The Elephant in the Room: The Need to Re-Discover the Intersection Between Poverty, Powerlessness and Power in ‘Theology and Development’ Praxis." HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 72, no. 4: 1–9.
  • ​Bowers-Du Toit, Nadine. 2015. "“Rise Up and Walk”: Tracing the Trajectory of the Carnegie Discourse and Plotting a Way Forward." Nederduitse Gereformeerde Teologiese Tydskrif 55, no. 3–4: 631–655.
  • Bowers Du Toit, Nadine. 2014. "Gangsterism on the Cape Flats: A Challenge to 'Engage the Powers'." HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies 70, no. 3: 1–7.​
  • Myers, B. Walking with the Poor: Principles and Practices of Transformational Development. Orbis, 2011. The standard academic text for Theology and Development programs globally.
  • Selby, P. Grace and Mortgage: The Language of Faith and the Debt of the World. Darton, Longman and Todd, 1997. An early and serious economic theology from a pastoral perspective.

Faith, Work, and Economics — Practitioner
  • Nelson, T. Work Matters: Connecting Sunday Worship to Monday Work. Crossway, 2011. Accessible theology of work and vocation for church leaders.
  • Keller, T. Every Good Endeavor: Connecting Your Work to God's Work. Dutton, 2012. The most widely read evangelical treatment of faith and work.
  • Fikkert, B. and Corbett, S. When Helping Hurts: How to Alleviate Poverty Without Hurting the Poor and Yourself.Moody, 2009. The standard community development economics text for faith-based practitioners.
  • Sherman, A. Kingdom Calling: Vocational Stewardship for the Common Good. IVP, 2011. Theology of vocation applied to community transformation.

Biblical Economics
  • Blomberg, C. Neither Poverty Nor Riches: A Biblical Theology of Possessions. IVP Academic, 1999. The most thorough biblical theology of wealth and poverty in the evangelical tradition.
  • Claar, V. and Klay, R. Economics in Christian Perspective: Theory, Policy and Life Choices. IVP Academic, 2007. 
  • Wright, C. Old Testament Ethics for the People of God. IVP Academic, 2004. Includes serious treatment of the economic ethics of the Hebrew scriptures including Jubilee, land, and redistribution.

For Further Study
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