St. Maximos' Hut

Economics is the science of choice under conditions of scarcity. Christianity (and many other religions) is (at least in part) about making choices too. Are they incompatible? I don't think so - perhaps orthogonal might be a better way to describe them. Economics tells me about how people, given human nature, make choices. Christianity tells me about human nature (fallen). The economist in me sees my religious views as a set of constraints I've adopted. I give up behavior that might prove immediately gratifying (eating a steak during Lent) in return for something more worthwhile (spiritual discipline that improves my spiritual life, a reduced level of passions that enables me to focus on repentance, and so on). These two pieces of my life thus seem to fit together nicely, rather than being in conflict. But we'll see. In part, that's why we've assembled (and the others will be signing on soon, I hope).