Two traditions in Economics as Religion - Robert H. Nelson

The major theories of economics as they developed in the intellectual history of the West can best be understood in terms of another of the great contrasting traditions of theology: Roman Caholic and Protestant, each dealing with the most profound issues of existence.

One view involves a developmental, rational optimism about human abilities - morally, spiritually and socially - to improve the common condition, and offers an institutionalized set of mediating procedures to make that possible. We find this view in Aristotle, Aquinas and much of Anglicanism, but also in more secular forms in Claude Saint-Simon and John Maynard Keynes.

The second tradition is more pessimistic and radical, sometimes even apocalyptic, for it presumes that a dramatic intervention must occur within persons in the society as a whole and bring about an alleviation of pervasive evil. Otherwise, very little can be changed; improvements are modest and marginal, and real life often involves only a choice for the lessers of evils. Philosophical parallels can be found in Plato, Augustine, Luther, Calvin and the Puritans. This stream splits in the modern age, into several branches, and it can go toward Marxism, toward Social Darwinism, or toward modern theories of economic alienation.