Economics As Religion

[Gordon Fitch]

Yes, I do read the fusty old _New_York_Review_Of_Books_, in
order to keep an eye on the bourgeoisie.  And I found the
following ad on page 20 of the June 21, 2001 edition.  You
may see that my attention has not been in vain --

(column 1)

penn

state

press

(column 2)

Luther Meets Smith

[ depressing book cover image ]

          "Nelson does not regard

       'theology' as a cuss word,

     and so his detailed sutdy of

          the theology underlying

       Samuelsonian and Chicagoan

      economics is not a putdown.

         It's a way of seeing the 

          rhetoric of funadmental

   belief -- what has been called

  vision.  Nelson ... speaks with

        authority from within the

   field....  His grasp of modern

     economics is borad and firm.
And so in theology, too.  It's an 

       important, even an amazing

       book: Luther meets Smith."

             --Deirdre McCloskey,
University of Illinois at Chicago

(column 3)

ECONOMICS AS RELIGION

FROM SAMUELSON TO CHICAGO
AND BEYOND

Robert H. Nelson

Foreword by Max L. Stackhouse,
Princeton Theological Seminary

_An insightful exploration of the
powerful role that economic belief
plays in our modern society_.

"In economic research, as with all
sytstematic thought, there is no
such thing as unguided observation.
Economists interpret events and
make predictions through the
distortive lenses of paradigms.  In
this book, which draws fascinating
parallels between economic
paradigms and religious dogma,
Robert Nelson offers a critical
survey of modern economic thought
that is a informative as it is
provocative.  _Economics_as_Religion_
will be of interest not only to
economists but also to anyone
eager to know more about how
scientific disciplines operate."

                       -- Timur Kuran,

     University of Southern California

408 pages * $35.00 cloth

-- or maybe not....