Skip to content
Home/ God and the Evil of Scarcity: Moral Foundations of Economic Agency
God and the Evil of Scarcity: Moral Foundations of Economic Agency

God and the Evil of Scarcity: Moral Foundations of Economic Agency

by Barrera, Albino
No customer reviews yet ISBN 9780268021924 University of Notre Dame Press

In his celebrated Essay on Population, Thomas Malthus raised the puzzle of why a benevolent Creator would permit material scarcity in human existence. Albino Barrera revisits this question using Thomas Aquinas's metaphysics of participation and Sacred Scripture's invitation to covenant fidelity and kingdom discipleship as analytical lenses with which to examine the seeming incongruity of scarcity in God's providence. Barrera concludes that scarcity turns out to be a signal opportunity for economic agency to receive, internalize, and communicate God's goodness and righteousness within the human community.

Written for theologians, philosophers, social scientists, and policymakers interested in the theological and philosophical foundations of economics, this study argues that precarious, subsistence living is not an immutable law of nature. Rather, such a chronic, dismal condition reflects personal and collective moral failure. In this carefully researched study, Barrera argues that scarcity serves as an occasion for God to provide for us through each other and that there are strong metaphysical and scriptural warrants for enacting progressive social policies for a better sharing of the goods of the earth.

About the author

Product details

BrandUniversity of Notre Dame Press
Pub dateNov 15, 2005
ISBN-100268021929
ISBN-139780268021924
LanguageEnglish
Dimensions9 × 0.63 × 6 in
Weight1 lb
Last updated 2026-09-08 12:53
$110.03
In stock — ships in 24 hours with free tracking
Delivery by Monday, September 14, 2026
Qty
Sign in to Add to Saved list
Free delivery on orders over $35.
15-day returns. Any reason.
Secure checkout. We never store card details.

Readers who bought this also bought

More from Religious
See all
Theism and Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophy
<p><em>Theism and Atheism: Opposing Arguments in Philosophy</em> is a peer-reviewed, academic volume that has two separate editors in chief, with their respective editorial boards. The atheism side is led by Graham Oppy (Australian philosopher, Monash University). The theism side is led by Joseph Koterski, S.J. (American philosopher, Fordham University) and includes Christian, Jewish, and Muslim philosophers. <p/><br>The two editorial boards worked together to identify twenty key topics in philosophical debates regarding arguments for and against the existence of God (e.g., Religious Experience, Miracles, Our Universe, Human Beings, Science, Religious Diversity, etc.). The single volume is composed of forty total chapters. The format is such that an author taking the side of theism composes a chapter on a topic, followed by an atheism author covering the same topic (e.g., Miracles: Theism followed by Miracles: Atheism).<br> <p/>The title presents complex philosophical counter perspectives in a lucid manner. It grapples with issues that have occupied philosophers for more than two millennia. These include the sufficiency/insufficiency of an empirical explanation for the existence of the universe&#x3b; the capacity/incapacity of the empirical sciences to draw conclusions about a possible infinite being&#x3b; the validity/invalidity of philosophical arguments regarding the existence of an infinite being&#x3b; various notions of infinity&#x3b; the problem of evil, and so on. </p>
$383.62
Early Christian Doctrine: Revised Edition (Revised)
Kelly, J N D
$27.73
Run to the Mountain: The Story of a Vocationthe Journal of Thomas Merton, Volume 1: 1939-1941
Merton, Thomas
$13.60
Poetry, Language, Thought
Heidegger, Martin
$13.47
Meister Eckhart: The Essential Writings
Eckhart, Meister
$18.77
Dogmatics in Outline
Barth, Karl
$21.14