Theoconomy: An ethical paradigm for economic prosperity

Abstract

The Parliament of the World’s Religions made a call to the international society to find shared values that could effectively direct the new world order that is characterised by its polycentric and heterogenous character. In response to the call and informed by the Global Ethics Project, a research study was conducted under the auspices of the Unit for Reformational Theology and the Development of the Society, at the North-West University, South Africa. The study focused on how the global economy could be organised differently in order to address the severe anomalies of superficial ethics of materialism, instant gratification and the philosophy of futility that underlies the unfettered consumerism of the secular age. The study therefore searched for a new framework of flourishing or an ethic paradigm for economic prosperity. The study introduces a new ethics labelled Theoconomy. In this article, the epistemology and ontology of the research study are expounded.

Keywords

• Adam Smith
• ethics
• virtues
• economic growth
• world religions
• business success
• theoconomy
• theoconomist
• exchange ethics
• postsecular period