Moral Economy and the Jesuits

In this article, originally published in French under the title “Les jésuites et la morale économique” ( Dix-septième siècle 237, no. 4 [2007]: 739–54), Paola Vismara presents the Jesuits’ major contributions to the teaching of moral economy from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. In particular, Vismara explores Jesuit doctrines on moral economy and focuses on various Jesuit approaches to the problems of contracts and the management of capital, with particular attention paid to lending at interest. Retracing the most significant early modern Jesuit theologians’ contributions to issues of moral economy, including the treatise of Leonard Lessius, Vismara paints a complex picture, highlighting the new ideas contained in the works of the Jesuit theologians, shedding light on disputes between probabilist and rigorist theologians, and discussing the Roman Church’s responses to various theological orientations to moral economy over three centuries

Ancient history · Capital (architecture · Church History · Economics · Economy · Moral economy · Moral theology · Political science · Sociology · Theology · Historical Economic and Legal Thought · History · Law · Philosophy