Economics and Antagonisms

In this brief response to Brad Bateman's address I suggest that Adam Smith's contribution to “economics” is more nuanced than many of his interpreters suggest when they characterize him as a utilitarian. Rather what Smith provided was an intellectual expression of “economics” as an independent sphere that had already been created through developments such as the commoditization of time. The result of such commoditization is that modern economics becomes antagonistic to Christianity as it reframes human interaction within a system of exchange that ensures time is money. For Christians, time is given--not owned.