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Abstract

Radically Orthodox theologians believe they are developing an operative Christian economics qualitatively different from the economics with which Christian economists are familiar. Some use postmodernist concepts, relating to desire and power. This paper evaluates a leading exponent of this thesis, Daniel Bell Jr., in his 2012 Economy of Desire, a book so far overlooked in Christian economics discussion. This paper contends that Bell does not take the case for an alternative Christian economics further than where earlier Christian economists had reached, that postmodernist concepts do not illuminate the issues, and that his critique of capitalism does not lead to clear-cut alternatives. The case here is that capitalism is in process of being reformed incrementally on the road to the alternative or divine economy — the mustard seed notion. In the last section, instances are given of how this is being achieved.

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