Monthly Archives

May 2017

May 23
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Joy and Prosperity

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Paper given at the University of Aberdeen, 11 May 2017 

Luke 18:22-3 ‘Jesus said, “You still lack one thing: Sell everything you own and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow Me.” But when the rich young man heard this, he became very sad, because he was extremely wealthy.’

The hypothesis of this Joy and Prosperity event is that Christians have traditionally driven a wedge between them. A bit like the rich young man, there has been a feeling that you can’t have both joy and prosperity: blessed are the poor. Today we are testing that assumption, and my contribution is to look at the question through the lens of the axioms of classical economic thought. Read More

May 11
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Thought For The Day – Blessed Transactions – 11th May 2017

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What would it be like if our economy were run by angels? Would we have trade injustice, sharp practice, shoddy goods? My suspicion is that, no matter how hard we try to blame all our ills on ‘the system’, probably we get the market we deserve. Because the market around us is no more than the sum total of all the messages about supply and demand that we put into it. So I wonder what signals you’re intending to send out into the market today. Are you creating around you the kind of market that the angels would be proud of?

Let’s imagine that there’s a new process at the Pearly Gates. Owing to problems with visas, St Peter has decided that in future to get in you need to bring him your Bank Statement, as your report card of your economic activity on earth. Would every transaction bless you? Read More