We all have to ask the same question: "Should Christian economists (historians, engineers, salespeople, janitors) do their jobs differently than anyone else who is trying to be excellent in their chosen field?" Many answer “no” and adopt the standards of their guild, assuming that their faith has little direct relevance to their chosen specialty.

Working within the Christian tradition can be an enormous asset to academics, and economists in particular. However, the project of faith integration runs into two broad challenges: specialization and pluralism. The increasingly narrow specialization of academics makes the essential inter-disciplinarity of faith integration difficult, and at the same time, ethical pluralism in the academy has caused many academics to retreat from the kind of concerns that are theologically important.

These difficulties are worth overcoming. The project of faith integration requires integration in a broader liberal arts framework, but it also makes that inter-disciplinary approach easier by providing some common language. To demonstrate this, Professor Steven McMullen will draw upon some of his work work integrating economics, theology and animal ethics.