I co-edited a new book entitled Human Flourishing: Economic Wisdom for a Fruitful Christian Vision of the Good Life. It’s a collection of essays by leading theological scholars across the disciplines on how faith, hope and love can be embodied in economic life. And it’s out in paperback at a reasonable price, not the usual $150 academic price to gouge libraries. So pick up a copy today!

From the introduction:

This book is a step forward for an urgent conversation in theology. In our time, there is a growing consensus that theological knowledge ought to help cultivate authentic human flourishing in the church and, through the church’s participation in the cultural structures of the nations, in the world as well. The natural next step is for theological scholars to explore how their knowledge in its particularity – knowledge about such topics as what Proverbs and Paul say about poverty, Karl Barth’s encounters with capitalism and socialism, or how the gospel relates theologically to the cultural mandate – could contribute to the real-life flourishing of truck drivers, administrative assistants, stay-at-home parents or leaders in business and government as each of these carries out their daily tasks in a pluralistic and fragmented world.

In the past generation, the theological disciplines have been struggling to overcome the dismissive perception that they are just historical and technical studies. To do this, they must show that they provide knowledge – real insight – into the deep structures of reality. Through the works of Mirsolav Volf and Matthew Croasmun, Kevin Vanhoozer, Jonathan Pennington and many others, theological scholars are increasingly recognizing that in order to show that theology is knowledge, they must show how it can help cultivate human flourishing. That is the tangible test of whether the ideas produced by the theological disciplines really provide knowledge about reality. If theological knowledge is knowledge at all, it must be useful – though of course it has other value as well.

Let me know what you think!