Sense, Sensibility, and Adam Smith with Jan Van Vliet
Life and Books and Everything
Clearly Reformed
4.5 • 661 Ratings
🗓️ 16 February 2026
⏱️ 69 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This year is a special anniversary for the United States as Americans celebrate 250 years of independence. But 1776 was an important year in more ways than one. Besides the Declaration (and several other key events and people), 1776 was the year that Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations. In this episode, Kevin talks to Dordt professor Jan Van Vliet about his book on Adam Smith (P&R, 2024). Together, Kevin and Jan explore Smith’s biography, his two most important works, whether those works contradict each other, and whether Smith was religious. Along the way, they look at how Smith influenced the modern world and what lessons we can still incorporate today.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This episode of Life and Books and Everything is brought to you by Crossway, |
| 0:10.0 | publisher of New Morning Mercy's Daily Gospel Devotional from Paul David Tripp. |
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| 0:53.7 | got good gospel meat to it. And it's a good way to start out your day. |
| 0:58.7 | This devotional equips readers with the good news that we need at the start of every day to trust in God's goodness, live for his glory day in and day out. |
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| 1:26.4 | This is an important question to ask yourself, can I really know God |
| 1:31.3 | if I don't know what makes him happy? What pleases God? We know the shorter catechism says the chief |
| 1:41.8 | into man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. |
| 1:44.5 | That's our enjoyment. What about the pleasures of God? There are some dozen places in the New |
| 1:50.6 | Testament talks about what pleases God. So how can we know what pleases God and what it means |
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