One of the central educational resources in the Oikonomia Network is the vision paper for the Economic Wisdom Project (EWP), released this past May. This fall, seven seminaries in our network will directly use the content of the EWP in one form or another with students. The rest are finding their own ways to integrate these economic insights into theological education.
We are releasing a new version of the EWP vision paper under the title “A Christian Vision for Flourishing Communities.” As you will see, the ideas are the same, but we have made some significant improvements to the document:
- More biblical and theological connections. Responding to feedback from our faculty leaders, we added a few additional statements and references to make the organic connections between the EWP and biblical/theological foundations more explicit. We are still as serious as ever about not overstating these connections, but we want to make sure they’re not neglected, either.
- The “maxims” are now “elements.” Multiple ON faculty reported that the word “maxim” prompted students to expect universal laws applicable to all cases in all situations – exactly what the EWP doesnot provide! After consulting with a number of faculty, we settled on “elements” as a simpler way to frame the 12 wisdom statements at the heart of the EWP.
- Professional graphics. False modesty aside, we think you’ll be impressed with the appealing and user-friendly document our graphic designer has produced, in close partnership with KFF Program Associate Drew Cleveland and the KFF communications team.
Soon, we plan to release a set of research notes to help you locate connections between the EWP elements and relevant, theological resources. We had student researchers comb through classic texts like Herman Bavinck’s systematic theology and William Placher’s “Callings,” as well as more recent works – including some written by faculty leaders in our network! We look forward to continuing to work with you on developing new resources, new scholarships, and new ways of integrating economics alongside work in the seminary classroom.
