This is thinking in public, a program dedicated to intelligent conversation about

front-line theological and cultural issues with the people who are shaping them.

I'm Albert Moa, your host and president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville,

Kentucky.

Benjamin M. Friedman is the William Joseph Meyer professor of Political Economy, and he's also the former

chair of the Department of Economics at Harvard University.

It was from Harvard, he earned his PhD, and there he's had an active academic career in the field of economics and

economic policy. He's the author of more than 150 academic articles, the author

or editor of 12 books. His most recent book, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, explores the crucial

intersection between religious thinking and economics, even theology in

economics, and deals with how religion shaped economic philosophy in the modern era.

Religion in the rise of capitalism is an important work

and it's the topic of my conversation with Professor Benjamin M. Friedman today.

Professor Friedman, welcome to Thinking in Public.

Thank you for having me.

I'm delighted to be with you.

I found your book to be frankly a surprise.

And I try to read a great deal of economic literature, but I haven't seen anything in this generation by any major economic theorist or economic historian.

And this really dealt with what you take

as the central issue here in the title,

your book, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism.

It's a fascinating read, and it leads me to want to ask you at the onset

...