Home ›
Programs ›
Ansari Institute Book Prize ›
Second Symposium: "Cathonomics: How Catholic Tradition Can Create a More Just Economy"

Second Symposium: "Cathonomics: How Catholic Tradition Can Create a More Just Economy"

The Ansari Institute is pleased to announce a special issue of the Journal of Economics, Management and Religion on Faith-Based Economic Theories (06, 02). The publication is a culmination of the Ansari Institute’s 2024 Book Prize and Multifaith Symposium featuring Anthony Annett’s Cathonomics: How Catholic Tradition Can Create a More Just Economy. With an introduction by the Institute;s Executive Director Mahan Mirza, who also served as its Guest Editor, the issue includes articles submitted from conference interlocutors from a variety of faith perspectives: Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Catholic, Sikh, Neo-Calvinist, Bahá'í, and secular/scientific wisdom traditions.

The Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion was pleased to host the second annual Nasr Book Prize Symposium on the campus of the University of Notre Dame in February 2024.

We honored Dr. Anthony Annett, author of Cathonomics: How Catholic Tradition Can Create a More Just Economy. The book links Catholic social thought and economic insights, addressing global inequality through a new paradigm that prioritizes the common good rather than economic gain for an elite few.

Cathonomics, which begins with a foreword by renowned economist Jeffrey Sachs, draws from the work of Pope Leo XIII, Pope Benedict XVI, Pope Francis, Thomas Aquinas, and Aristotle, demonstrating how both ancient and contemporary wisdom can be deployed in the service of contemporary economic problems. Though Annett’s book prioritizes Catholic thought, he also aims to address an audience outside the boundaries of Catholicism and even organized religion. “When I was writing, I had two audiences in mind: a Catholic audience, but also people of all faiths and no faith who are interested in a new economic paradigm that gets past the neoliberalism of the past four decades,” Annett said.

We are grateful for the generosity of Drs. Sherif Nasr and Randa Nasr, co-founders of siParidigm Diagnostic Informatics in Pine Brook, N.J., whose support made this symposium possible.

The Ansari Book Prize Symposium invites scholars from different faith traditions to respond to the provocative ideas in Cathonomics through the lens of their own scholarly interest and faith traditions. These are organized in a series of panels.