The origins of neoliberalism : modeling the economy from Jesus to Foucault / Dotan Leshem.

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Dotan Leshem reveals the role of Christian theology in shaping economic and political thought. Beginning with early Christianity engagement with economic knowledge, he follows the secularization of economics in liberal and neoliberal theory. Only by relocating the origins of modernity in late antiquity, Leshem argues, can we confront neoliberalism.

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CHOICE Review

Leshem (government and political theory, Univ. of Haifa, Israel) makes the bold argument that the genealogy of the rise of the liberal political and economic order reveals an often-overlooked relationship with the Christian theological doctrine of the Trinity. For Leshem, Christian understandings of persons and configurations of time around church, state, and economics allowed for the rise of neoliberalism in the modern West. A signature challenge of this book is its engagement with the development of the "care of the self" put forth by philosopher Michel Foucault. Leshem contends that what Foucault called "pastoral power" emerged at a much earlier point in history than many theologians and philosophers realize. The book's major weakness lies in general claims about "theology" that do not give due to the complex and contested development of Christian doctrine. This flaw notwithstanding, even those who are not fully persuaded by the details of Leshem's argument will find that this book has interesting things to say. Summing Up: Recommended. With reservations. Graduate students, researchers, faculty. --Aaron Wesley Klink, Duke University