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

Contrary to popular belief, economic theology is not new, in fact, it's quite old. So I'm simply researching on the shoulders of those that came way before me. 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 Pathmakers 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

Selected Historical Theologians and Clergy who wrote on Economics

Medieval Scholastics

  • Thomas Aquinas (c. 1225–1274): Wrote on the just price, usury, private property held for the common good, and the moral limits of trade.
  • Peter John Olivi (c. 1248–1298): Franciscan who developed early theories of value, capital, and merchant contracts.
  • Bernardino of Siena (1380–1444): Franciscan preacher who wrote on commerce, value, and the social usefulness of merchants.
  • Antoninus of Florence (1389–1459): Dominican archbishop who addressed wages, banking, and business ethics in a commercial city.


Reformation and the School of Salamanca

  • Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546): Founder of the School of Salamanca; applied natural law to commerce, property, and international trade.
  • Martin Luther (1483–1546): Wrote Trade and Usury (1524), attacking monopolies and price gouging; developed a theology of vocation.
  • Martín de Azpilcueta (1492–1586): Early formulator of the quantity theory of money and theory of foreign exchange.
  • Domingo de Soto (1494–1560): Wrote De iustitia et iure; addressed the just price and public relief for the poor.
  • John Calvin (1509–1564): Permitted moderate interest, reshaped thinking on work and calling, and influenced Geneva’s economic life.
  • Tomás de Mercado (c. 1525–1575): Wrote a manual on merchant ethics and contracts for Seville’s Atlantic trade.
  • Luis de Molina (1535–1600): Jesuit who analyzed market price formation, money, and contracts.
  • Juan de Mariana (1536–1624): Jesuit who condemned currency debasement as a form of theft by the king.
  • Leonardus Lessius (1554–1623): Jesuit who wrote on interest, insurance, and the ethics of financial markets.


Puritan and Evangelical

  • Richard Baxter (1615–1691): Puritan pastor whose Christian Directory addressed honest trade, work, and stewardship.
  • John Wesley (1703–1791): Founder of Methodism; his sermon “The Use of Money” taught “gain all you can, save all you can, give all you can.”
  • Thomas Robert Malthus (1766–1834): Anglican cleric and economist known for his theory of population and scarcity.
  • Thomas Chalmers (1780–1847): Scottish minister who wrote on political economy and parish-based poor relief.
  • Richard Whately (1787–1863): Anglican archbishop who lectured on political economy and its compatibility with Christianity.


Social Christianity (19th–early 20th Century)

  • F. D. Maurice (1805–1872): A founder of Christian Socialism in England; promoted worker cooperatives.
  • Pope Leo XIII (1810–1903): Issued Rerum Novarum (1891), the founding document of modern Catholic social teaching on labor and capital.
  • Wilhelm Emmanuel von Ketteler (1811–1877): German bishop who pioneered Catholic advocacy for workers’ rights.
  • Washington Gladden (1836–1918): Social Gospel leader who championed labor unions and industrial justice.
  • Abraham Kuyper (1837–1920): Dutch theologian and prime minister; wrote The Problem of Poverty (1891) and developed sphere sovereignty.
  • Heinrich Pesch (1854–1926): Jesuit economist who developed “solidarism” as an alternative to capitalism and socialism.
  • Pope Pius XI (1857–1939): Issued Quadragesimo Anno (1931), articulating the principle of subsidiarity.
  • Walter Rauschenbusch (1861–1918): Leading Social Gospel theologian; wrote Christianity and the Social Crisis(1907).
  • Reverdy C. Ransom (1861–1959): AME bishop who brought Social Gospel thought to Black urban communities.
  • John A. Ryan (1869–1945): Catholic priest who argued for a living wage and shaped New Deal policy.


Mid-20th Century

  • R. H. Tawney (1880–1962): Christian socialist historian; wrote Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (1926).
  • William Temple (1881–1944): Archbishop of Canterbury; wrote Christianity and Social Order (1942), influencing the British welfare state.
  • Paul Tillich (1886–1965): Developed religious socialism in Weimar Germany.
  • Reinhold Niebuhr (1892–1971): Christian realist who analyzed power, labor, and economic injustice.
  • Jacques Ellul (1912–1994): French Reformed thinker; wrote Money and Power on mammon as a spiritual force.
  • Pope John Paul II (1920–2005): Wrote Laborem Exercens (1981) on the dignity of work and Centesimus Annus(1991) on markets after communism.
  • Leon Sullivan (1922–2001): Baptist pastor who founded Opportunities Industrialization Centers and authored the Sullivan Principles; a model for Black church economic development.
  • Jürgen Moltmann (1926–2024): Political theologian who addressed hope, justice, and economic structures.
  • Pope Benedict XVI (1927–2022): Wrote Caritas in Veritate (2009) on gift, gratuitousness, and the global economy.
  • Gustavo Gutiérrez (1928–2024): Father of liberation theology; wrote A Theology of Liberation (1971) on the preferential option for the poor.
  • Martin Luther King Jr. (1929–1968): Theologian and activist who pursued economic justice through the Poor People’s Campaign.


Late 20th Century

  • Franz Hinkelammert (1931–2023): Economist-theologian who critiqued market idolatry in The Ideological Weapons of Death.
  • Michael Novak (1933–2017): Wrote The Spirit of Democratic Capitalism (1982), a theological defense of markets.
  • Enrique Dussel (1934–2023): Developed an ethics of liberation and a theological reading of Marx.
  • Bob Goudzwaard (b. 1934): Dutch Reformed economist who wrote Capitalism and Progress.
  • Max Stackhouse (1935–2016): Public theologian who wrote on business ethics and globalization.
  • Ulrich Duchrow (b. 1935): German Lutheran who wrote Alternatives to Global Capitalism.
  • Pope Francis (1936–2025): Wrote Laudato Si’ (2015) and Fratelli Tutti (2020); critiqued the “economy of exclusion” and launched the Economy of Francesco.
  • Justo González (b. 1937): Wrote Faith and Wealth (1990), a history of early Christian teaching on money.
  • Leonardo Boff (b. 1938): Liberation theologian linking poverty, ecology, and economic justice.
  • Ronald Sider (1939–2022): Evangelical who wrote Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger (1977).
  • M. Douglas Meeks (b. 1941): Wrote God the Economist (1989) on the Trinity and political economy.
  • Ogbu Kalu (1942–2009): Historian of African Pentecostalism and its social engagement.


Contemporary (1940s Births to Present)

  • Stefano Zamagni (b. 1943): Catholic economist who promotes civil economy and the Economy of Communion.
  • Paul Gifford (b. 1944): Studies African Pentecostalism and the prosperity gospel.
  • Donald E. Miller (b. 1946): Co-authored Global Pentecostalism: The New Face of Christian Social Engagement(2007).
  • Wayne Grudem (b. 1948): Wrote Business for the Glory of God and co-authored The Poverty of Nations.
  • Robert Sirico (b. 1951): Co-founder of the Acton Institute; wrote Defending the Free Market.
  • Cornel West (b. 1953): Prophetic Christian thinker who links faith, democracy, and economic justice.
  • Robert M. Franklin (b. 1954): Wrote Crisis in the Village on Black churches and community renewal.
  • Gary Anderson (b. 1955): Wrote Charity (2013) on almsgiving in the biblical tradition.
  • Pope Leo XIV (1955–Present): Took his name in tribute to Leo XIII and has framed AI as a new industrial revolution requiring renewed social teaching.
  • Kathryn Tanner (1957–Present): Wrote Economy of Grace (2005) and Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism (2019).
  • Jung Mo Sung (b. 1957): Brazilian theologian who writes on economics, idolatry, and the sacrificial logic of markets.
  • D. Stephen Long (1960–Present): Wrote Divine Economy: Theology and the Market (2000).
  • Nimi Wariboko (Contemporary): Researching Pentecostalism, money, and social ethics; wrote God and Moneyand Economics in Spirit and Truth.
  • Joerg Rieger (1963–Present): Researching theology, class, and economics; wrote No Rising Tide.
  • Amos Yong (1965–Present): Pentecostal theologian who co-edited Pentecostalism and Prosperity (2012).
  • Luigino Bruni (b. 1966): Researching civil economy, gratuitousness, and the Economy of Communion.
  • Daniel M. Bell Jr. (Contemporary): Wrote The Economy of Desire (2012) on capitalism and Christian formation.
  • Mary Hirschfeld (Contemporary): Economist-theologian who wrote Aquinas and the Market (2018).
  • Brian Fikkert (Contemporary): Co-authored When Helping Hurts (2009) on poverty alleviation and church-based development.
  • Keri Day (Contemporary): Researching Black women, neoliberalism, and Pentecostalism; wrote Azusa Reimagined(2022).
  • Devin Singh (Contemporary): Wrote Divine Currency (2018) on the theological roots of money.
  • Kate Bowler (1980–Present): Historian of the American prosperity gospel; wrote Blessed (2013).


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.


Peter Heslam on Faith, Business and Human Development

Director, Faith in Business, Cambridge. Senior Research Associate, Cambridge Centre for Christianity Worldwide.

Visiting Fellow, Mockler Center, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary.


Books

  • Heslam, P.S. (Ed.). Abraham Kuyper on Business and Economics. Lexham Press, 2021. The most accessible entry point into Kuyper's economic thought for a contemporary audience. If you want to understand the Neo-Calvinist tradition that underlies so much of the faith and economics conversation, start here.
  • Heslam, P.S. and Spieker, M. (Eds.). Integral Human Development. Acton Institute, 2013. A special themed issue of the Journal of Markets and Morality, 400 pages. The most comprehensive treatment of how faith traditions understand human development as an economic category.
  • Heslam, P.S. Transforming Capitalism: Entrepreneurship and the Renewal of Thrift. Grove, 2010. Short, sharp, and directly relevant to the Churchenomics argument about building economic institutions that serve communities rather than extract from them.
  • Heslam, P.S. (Ed.). Globalization and the Good. SPCK, 2004. Multi-author collection on faith, globalization, and the common good. The most ecumenical treatment in his bibliography.
  • Heslam, P.S. Globalization: Unravelling the New Capitalism. Grove, 2002.
  • Heslam, P.S. Creating a Christian Worldview: Abraham Kuyper's Lectures on Calvinism. Paternoster and Eerdmans, 1998. The foundational academic work. Kuyper's stone lectures at Princeton, contextualized for a modern reader. Required reading for anyone working in the Neo-Calvinist and Reformed public theology tradition.


Key Articles

  • Heslam, P.S. (Forthcoming). "Business as Mission and the Pandemic Christ: Ordinary Theology for Ordinary Life." In Connecting Christianities: World Christianity and Mission in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Muthuraj Swamy and Jennifer Leith. Leiden: Brill.
  • Heslam, P.S. (2022). "Property is Theft: Abraham Kuyper and the Church Fathers on Poverty and Wealth." Journal of Markets and Morality, 25.1, pp. 67-96.
  • Heslam, P.S. (2021). "Faith, Fortune and the Future: Christianity and Enterprise in Human Development." Religions,12.11. The most direct statement of his core argument and the best single article for someone new to his work.
  • Heslam, P.S. (2015). "The Spirit of Enterprise: Common Grace in Business." Journal of Markets and Morality, 18.1, pp. 7-20. The theological foundation for his argument that business is a legitimate sphere of Christian vocation.
  • Heslam, P.S. (2014). "Christianity and the Prospects for Development in the Global South." In The Oxford Handbook of Christianity and Economics, edited by Paul Oslington. Oxford University Press, pp. 359-383. The most prestigious venue in his bibliography and the most directly relevant to the Theology and Development conversation.
  • Heslam, P.S. (2016). "The Rise of Religion and the Future of Capitalism." De Ethica: Journal of Philosophical, Theological and Applied Ethics, 2.3, pp. 53-72


Faith, Work, and Economics

  • 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