Chesterton Perspectives brings you:
Can Capitalism Be Christian? Economics and Social Hierarchies
A Conversation with Jonathan Tran Associate Professor of Philosophical Theology and George W. Baines Chair of Religion
March 27, 2023
7:30pm ET in person at 111 The Knoll Rd
7:45pm ET via Zoom
Register Here
What if it turned out that even well-intended attempts to remedy social and economic injustice actually made things worse? Jonathan Tran, a theological ethicist at Baylor University, has argued just this. On his telling, an overly narrow focus on racial biases, bigotry, and interpersonal microaggressions (what in modern parlance goes by “antiracism”) unwittingly entrenches the very economic structures that allow racial oppression to persist.
But what if instead the goal that antiracism seeks in vain is better found in a revolutionary Christian ethic? What Christians most need today, Tran argues, is a kind of economic revolutionary spirit, one that goes beyond mere Marxism, which lacks the framework required for moral judgment and just action. On his view, Christianity can supply just this sort of economic revolutionary spirit, one that would be better suited to address oppressive social structures of what he terms “racial capitalism” by pushing for a Biblical vision of a just social order. Join us in conversation with Jonathan about theology, social hierarchy, and economic justice.
Jonathan Tran Associate Professor of Philosophical Theology and George W. Baines
Originally from Southern California, Jonathan received his BA from University of California, Riverside and his M.Div. and Ph.D. from Duke Divinity School where he studied under Stanley Hauerwas. He joined Baylor University’s Religion Department after completing his graduate studies in theology and ethics at Duke University. Currently, he serves as Associate Dean of Baylor’s Honors College and Associate Professor of Theology within the Great Texts program. Jonathan teaches undergraduate and graduate courses while serving students, staff, and faculty in the Honors College, and his research examines the theological and political implications of human life in language.
