A Theological Criticism of Adam Smith’s Ethical Economics

This paper aims primarily to clarify the theological implications of an “impartial spectator” and “invisible hand,” which are the critical concepts of Adam Smith’s economic theory. And this study discovers how these concepts support the world’s poverty and exploitative economic structures with perverse relations to theology in the contemporary neo-liberalistic-economic system. Through diagnosing problems of the combined structure between the economics and the theology of Smith, this study pursues to analyze the pathogenesis of the neo-liberalistic system from a theological perspective and to investigate the alternative ways of creating a harmonious economic theology. To this end, a significant question emerges: What relevance does Smith’s theory have with contemporary natural theology, or how does his theological orientation impact his two concepts, the “invisible hand” and the “impartial spectator.”