Toward a Catholic theology of money

Thesis

The Catholic tradition is rich in supplying the principles by which to evaluate theological matters—and usually quite comprehensive in applying them as well. A great lacuna in them, however, is in the context of money. For all the Catholic vitriol on the evils of money, the tradition has not sufficiently grappled with the nature of money, instead leaving us to wonder whether or not it is opposed to God and the Church. Given the rise of Catholic social doctrine since Pope Leo XIII (d. 1903)—which has developed theological understandings of many financial techniques and systems—it is surprising that there is no evaluation of money as the foundational financial instrument. Catholic economic insight will be limited until it has effectively considered money. This thesis begins to fill that gap. Chapter 1 considers various contemporary theories attempting to define the essence of money, concluding that they are insufficient precisely because the various forms of money arising in history do not neatly fit into a singular category; they all have a different etiology and function. Instead, we must ask which type of money is simplex or ideal for human communion. Chapter 2 considers that question by examining the only treatise in patristic or scholastic literature that systematically addresses it—Nicole Oresme’s De moneta, in which he argues for decentralized commodity money. From there I attempt an evaluation of that specific form of money—its metaphysical predicaments (Chapters 3 and 4) as well as its redemption (Chapter 5), entering into a debate with the Austrian school of economics in doing so. In the final chapter of the thesis, I consider the nature of money as capital and argue that the attempt to render all money as primarily a productive asset undermines the stability of just exchanges. Ultimately, while this thesis resurrects and defends the neglected Catholic endorsement of a stable currency, I argue that returning to sound money is not first and foremost a policy proposal, but a derivative of a disposition that either makes the just use of money easy or difficult—a catalyst for moving further into abstraction or an aid to better live in reality.

Authors: Imam, JF

• Type of award: DPhil
• Level of award: Doctoral
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford