'No One Can Serve Two Masters': Is There a Conflict between Economics an d Christian ity in the Minds of Young Christian Economists?

Pavel Chalupníček

doi:10.62374/6xn8gy55

Authors

Pavel Chalupníček University of Economics in Prague, Department of Institutional Economics

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.62374/6xn8gy55

Abstract

Work plays an important role in life of every adult. As a value creating activity, it is also important from the point of view of the social order. It is, therefore, no surprise that attitudes towards work are a subject of various value systems, including religion, that approve or disprove certain practices. Religious people thus can face an internal conflict when their workrelated attitudes and their religious beliefs are not easily reconcilable. This paper looks at the case of economists and Christianity. Economists, compared to the general population, seem to possess certain characteristics that can be in contradiction with Christian teaching (they seem to be more selfish, less cooperative and less interested in the welfare of others, among other things). Moreover, economics is by many seen as containing certain “theological structures” that can attempt to provide a complex world-view and thus crowd-out religious beliefs of economists. In search for the presence of the conflict and strategies of its possible reconciliation, six individual, in-depth interviews with Czech Ph. D. students of economics that labeled themselves as Christians were conducted. The results of this probe support the idea that the “economic way of thinking” does not easily mix with Christianity in some cases, but they also offer insight into various ways the respondents overcome this contradiction.

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