Theological understanding of Political Economy

Abstract

In this article, the author, relying on primary sources, conducts a brief retrospective analysis of the attitudes to economics, from church writers of the Byzantine period through the Age of Enlightenment to modern Russian theology. After the Fall, needs prevailed in man, for which he is forced to work tirelessly to find the means to satisfy them. Labor, both physical and mental, is not only a means of satisfying needs, but also a punishment and trial. God’s Providence has not left man defenseless in the face of needs. The article proposes a special approach to the science of political economy, pointing to the religious factors of its formation. The economists who created economic science believed that the laws of God’s Providence presuppose order, harmony, goodness, and greater and greater improvement ad infinitum. The author examines the views of theologians on the theories of economists who change the traditional attitude towards the goals and objectives of economic activity. The study was able to identify the reasons for the multiplicity of economic theories. The article addresses the following questions: If God teaches people through inequality and labor how to improve their lot, is there a cure for inequality? To what extent can the economy be social without the threat of ruin? Is God’s Providence fair in economics?