Idols of Nations: Biblical Myth at the Origins of Capitalism
Jul 2014 · Fortress Press
Ebook
208
Pages
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About this ebook
Roland
Boer and Christina Petterson here produce a critical survey showing that the
rise of capitalist theory was shaped by the way different economic
philosophers—Smith, Hobbes, Grotius, Malthus, Locke––read the Bible. Invoking
Jeremiah (14:22) and Adam Smith—who took the title of his Wealth of Nations from Isaiah (61:6, 66:12)—they show that early
theories of capitalism were shaped by particular assumptions that these
theorists brought to their readings of the story of Eden in particular. They
examine those assumptions and evaluate what has changed in subsequent
centuries. Idols of Nations shows
that the Bible was central to the theorization and economic thought of these key
thinkers as it explores the distinct problems each sought to overcome.
Boer and Christina Petterson here produce a critical survey showing that the
rise of capitalist theory was shaped by the way different economic
philosophers—Smith, Hobbes, Grotius, Malthus, Locke––read the Bible. Invoking
Jeremiah (14:22) and Adam Smith—who took the title of his Wealth of Nations from Isaiah (61:6, 66:12)—they show that early
theories of capitalism were shaped by particular assumptions that these
theorists brought to their readings of the story of Eden in particular. They
examine those assumptions and evaluate what has changed in subsequent
centuries. Idols of Nations shows
that the Bible was central to the theorization and economic thought of these key
thinkers as it explores the distinct problems each sought to overcome.
About the author
Roland Boer is Xin Ao Professor of Literature at Renmin University of China and Research Professor at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Among many publications, including Marxist Criticism of the Bible (2003) and Rescuing the Bible (2009), his most recent are Lenin, Religion, and Theology (2013) and In the Vale of Tears: On Marxism and Theology V (2014).
Christina Petterson is a postdoctoral research associate at the University of Newcastle, Australia. She is the author of Acts of Empire: The Acts of the Apostles and Imperial Ideology (2012) and The Missionary, the Catechist, and the Hunter: Foucault, Protestantism, and Colonialism (in press).
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