Market Society, Open Society? Contemporary Protestant and Catholic Critiques of Market-Oriented Liberalism

Conflicts between liberalism and religion abound. Most of the immense scholarly literature on this topic centers on the use and abuse of state power. However, the state is hardly the only institution in liberal theory and religious critics of liberalism do not only (or even primarily) target the state. Markets and commerce play a substantial role in our common life—and so must be the subject of analysis. Advocates of market society maintain it is a distinctly open society allowing many ways of life to coexist. Christian critics disagree: market society privileges ways of life which are friendly to capitalism–it is “open for business” but not much else. My dissertation assesses these contemporary Protestant and Catholic objections to defend a more open, pluralistic social order. Critical reflection on consumption, the local church, and the small farm each highlight how market society can limit access to ways of life for all, religious or not. Chapters deal in detail with the way that the market society does—or does not—facilitate the pursuit of a range of ways of life. In the process I reframe and advance liberal ideas. Ultimately, I argue market society can be salvaged–and openness expanded for all. I theorize improvements within our society, paving the way to a more open, flourishing social order. More than critique, Market Society, Open Society? draws on market-oriented liberal theory, political economy, and the theology and practice of religious groups to cultivate change, opening ways of life which are not so bound to the ways and means of capitalism thereby expanding access to many ways of life, religious or not.