Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Whose Community? Market Economics And The Concept Of Solidarity, Paul R. Koch

Faculty Scholarship – Economics

The debate over the relationship between market processes and community values has intensified in recent years, due to the pace of economic change, as well as the respective impacts of the global financial crisis and the pandemic. This essay explores various conceptions of community, raising the question of whether or not a genuine sense of social solidarity requires that those who participate in those interactions live in physical proximity to one another. The implications of this discussion for economic policy are also examined, including the possibility that the composition of what has been historically regarded as “conservative” economics might be …

American Evangelicals And The European Union, Paul R. Koch

Faculty Scholarship – Economics

This paper seeks to explore the potential reasons for the antagonistic sentiments that are held by many Protestant evangelicals, in the United States, towards the European Union. The possible causal factors include the following:

1) The legacy of anti-internationalism among evangelicals, dating back to the debate over American membership in the League of Nations almost 100 years ago;

2) The level of attraction to the current wave of “populist” politics and economics;

3) The aversion of politically conservative American evangelicals to the perception of Europe as a “socialist’ continent;

4) The negative portrayal of the European Union, as an instrument …

Engaging Capitalism With Wesleyan Theology, Paul R. Koch, Kevin Twain Lowery

Faculty Scholarship – Economics

In this paper presented at the Wesleyan Theological Society Annual Meeting in March 2014, two professors from Olivet Nazarene University – one from the field of Economics and the other from Theology – address the intersection of Wesleyan theology and ethics with the theoretical foundations of capitalism. The paper consists of four major sections:

• A Wesleyan voice in the capitalist jungle
• The compatibility of capitalism and Wesleyan thought
• Elements of Wesleyan theology most relevant to capitalism
• Toward a Wesleyan approach to free market economics

Stories Economists Tell: Studies In Christianity And Economics, By John P. Tiemstra, Paul R. Koch

Faculty Scholarship – Economics

A review of the book Stories Economists Tell: Studies in Christianity and Economics by John P. Tiemstra (Pickwick Publications, 2012).

Engaging Economics: New Testament Scenarios And Early Christian Reception, Edited By Bruce W. Longenecker And Kelly D. Liebengood, Paul R. Koch

Faculty Scholarship – Economics

A review of the book Engaging Economics: New Testament Scenarios and Early Christian Reception edited by Bruce W. Longenecker and Kelly D. Liebengood (William B. Eerdmans Pub., 2009).

The Complexities Of Securing Living Wages For The Working Poor, Kevin Twain Lowery

Faculty Scholarship – Economics

This essay examines the complexities involved with making the minimum wage a living wage for working families. The author contends that, since there are many ways by which businesses and corporations can maintain their profit margin, a simple change in legislation (i.e., merely raising the minimum wage) will not be sufficient for maintaining living wages for the working poor.