What Adam Smith wrought

March 9 marks the 250th anniversary of the publication of Adam Smith’s magisterial work, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Usually referred to as simply Wealth of Nations, Smith’s great achievement in this work was to synthesize millennia of wisdom and distill insights into human nature and the origins of wealth creation into a statement of what he called “the system of natural liberty.” Critiquing the mercantilist worldview that dominated in his own as well as earlier times, Smith became known as the “father of modern economics” for his observations concerning the superiority of free exchange and specialization for economic and social development.

The two and a half centuries since the publication of The Wealth of Nations has seen an unprecedented growth in material wealth, due in large part to the salience and widespread influence of Smith’s ideas. Economists have called this era “the Great Enrichment,” and the most important chart in economic history attests to this reality, which somehow remains broadly under-appreciated, particularly among theologians and pastors.

Antipathy toward economics on the part of theologians and pastors, often driven by gross ignorance of the subject, is even more inexcusable because of the close relationship between theology and economics, from the earliest days of human history up through the dawn of modern economics. Smith’s own work has often been miscast as either a system attempting to rival Christian theology and divine providence or as one entirely devoid of theological grounding and significance.

Smith was not, in fact, an economist in a technical or academic sense, a discipline which was only beginning to emerge in his time. The first chair of economics in Europe was founded in Italy in 1754, only five years before the appearance of Smith’s first work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments. Smith was, in fact, a moral philosopher, and his course of lectures as well as his published works are grounded in a robust and nuanced understanding of the human person. Smith’s anthropology is only rendered plausible within an intellectual context deeply informed by Christian ideas about reason, creation, morality, justice, and benevolence. When read together, Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments and Wealth of Nations present a coherent picture of the human person in a society in which collaboration, trade, and mutual benefit lead toward flourishing.

This emphasis on the economic gains from mutually beneficial exchange marked a seismic shift in human history. While there were thinkers who had recognized the God-given ability of human beings to work together productively rather than to struggle against one another destructively, Smith had the audacity and brilliance to present these aspects of human nature in a systematic way that demonstrated the untapped potential of human beings to creatively serve one another.

As Erik Matson and I show in our forthcoming volume on the history of Christian political economy, the predominant perspective on economic relations throughout most of human history has been one of zero-sum competition and destructive extraction. As the early modern French philosopher Michel de Montaigne famously put it, “One man’s profit is another man’s harm.”

By contrast, Smith showed that in free exchange, as he put it: “Give me that which I want, and you shall have this which you want, is the meaning of every such offer; and it is in this manner that we obtain from one another the far greater part of those good offices which we stand in need of.” Smith’s ideas came to America through those who were exposed to his teachings in Scotland, as well as through his writings. Many of the earliest modern economists were also clergy, and in America, figures such as the Baptist minister Francis Wayland (1796–1865), who served as president of Brown University, and the Episcopalian clergyman John McVickar (1787–1868) of Columbia University, helped disseminate Smithian ideas and develop classical political economics in the early American Republic.

Many obstacles remain to realizing Smith’s compelling vision for economic freedom and human flourishing today. Often these barriers are political, as when the interests of a narrow set of people restrict or reduce free exchange. But there are also spiritual challenges that come along with great material blessings. So often we read in Scripture that God’s material blessings for His people are misused and corrupted, leading to idolatry and spiritual malaise.

We are the wealthiest generation of human beings that has ever lived. As the Bible teaches us, to those whom much is given, much is expected. Materially speaking we have been given much, a reality that is part of Adam Smith’s great legacy. But along with these great gifts come great responsibilities, and responsible stewardship is the great challenge of our affluent age.