Augustine and the Economy of Sacrifice
Subtitle: Ancient and Modern Perspectives
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2019
Language: eng
Number of pages: 235
ISBN-13: 9781108481397
Description: Business is generally viewed as a means to generate personal or corporate wealth, but business transactions can also sacrificially serve the common good. In conversation with contemporary social theorists, Joshua Nunziato in this book critically evaluates the spiritual significance and aims of economic exchange. Inspired by Augustine's vision of the Church as a 'universal sacrifice', he explores how Augustine's approach teaches us detachment - both personal and collective - which releases us from illusory claims of ownership and reframes business as an exercise in loving and letting go. Nunziato's volume engages with the big questions of economic life and reframes both why and how we acknowledge people through business in a way that results in the common good. It will be of interest to scholars and students of Augustinian studies, philosophy of exchange, and economic ethics.