Attempts by Christian social theorists to harmonize Austrian liberalism and Christian tradition ignore serious contradictions in their respective moral systems. Friedrich Hayek's conception of the "spontaneous order" portends potentially harmful consequences for corporate religion by elevating the subjective individual as the singular source of value in human culture. Thus, Hayek's ideas on cultural evolution may provide insight into the perceived loss of moral voice among American religious institutions, Reinhold Niebuhr's economic realism is more conducive to exploring the moral persistence of liberal society recognizing the need for balance between subjective and collective expressions of the good. Key concepts in Niebuhr's economic thought are a unique value theory, a holistic conception of the individual and society, an understanding of the moral ambiguities associated with technological innovation, and recognition that balances of power are necessary to preserve social organicism and the Christian conception of personality.

Market capitalism requires absolute private property, and both institutions appeared at about the same time in history. The morality of the market rests on the morality of property, which may be argued both from Scripture and secular perspectives. Both approaches yield a theory of property that supports private ownership conditional on obligations to the community. Apparent contradictions in Scripture regarding property are resolved by this approach. Property ownership confers economic power on its holder. Modernity assumes that this power must be controlled by external forces-either by the market, or the state-but both limit freedom. True moral action must be free. The moral opportunity of the market is to avoid using economic power to exploit others, especially the weak and needy. Christian thought supplies the outline principles for moral guidance for ethical market action that revolve about self-restraint.

Discussions about economics and politics often generate more heat than light. What do the dictates of Scripture and insights from the field of political economy bring to the table? Of greatest importance, in a world of sinful people, economic markets have the ability to constrain immoral behavior by connecting moral behavior with financial and social reward. Yet, freedom still allows the possibility of unjust actions in economic markets. Thus, some potential role for government obtains. From there, the tension is between the Utopian desire for government to constrain justly and the practical realities of government in a fallen world. At the end of the day, the Christian cannot be fully content with either economic or political markets. They are left with the clear Biblical call to act with righteousness and justice in their own spheres of influence and the possibility of defending the rights of others through politics in the limited occasions when government policy is an ethical, appropriate, and practical means to godly ends.