Contrary to popular opinion, ethical and religious themes played an important role in the development of economic thought, from the Middle Ages to the present times. This is illustrated in this book, with essays focusing on different periods and authors, from the Scholastics to John Maynard Keynes.

Gilbert Faccarello is a Professor at Panthéon-Assas University, Paris, France. He is a founding editor of The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, and the co-editor of the Routledge Historical Resources website devoted to the History of Economic Thought. He is the editor of Handbook on the History of Economic Analysis (3 volumes, co-edited with Heinz D. Kurz, 2016).

Introduction - Sæculum 1. Agency, exchange, and power in scholastic thought 2. The concept of "lawfulness" in economic matters. Reading Ibn Rushd (Averroes) 3. The necessity to work, according to John Calvin's duty of stewardship 4. Liberal Jansenists and interest-bearing loans in eighteenth-century France: a reappraisal 5. Defending free trade after physiocracy: On Dugald Stewart's architectonic of passions, reason and Providence 6. Theological themes in Ricardo's papers and correspondence 7. Religion and political economy in Saint-Simon 8. A dance teacher for paralysed people? Charles de Coux and the dream of a Christian political economy 9. Religion and the sociological critique of political economy: Altruism and gift 10. Henry Sidgwick, moral order, and utilitarianism 11. Pigou on philosophy and religion 12. Keynes and Christian socialism: Religion and the economic problem