Tax Law, Religion, and Justice:An Exploration of Theological Reflections on Taxation
IntroductionPurpose and approach of the bookLimits of the bookOutline of the bookNotesReferencesEquity and efficiency(Re)distributive taxationThe role of “side constraints”Politics and economicsThe demise of equityProperty rightsNotesReferencesA society within a societyTaxation in the Roman Empire in the fourth and fifth centuriesThe Christian narrative of late Roman taxation“The template for an experiment”Economic theologyNotesReferencesThomas AquinasProperty and taxation in the SummaNatural law, positive law, and material necessityThe measure of indebtednessBetween feudalism and sovereigntyTax justice as equilibriumJustice and liberalityNotesReferencesWilliam of OckhamOckham’s An princeps and other political writingsOckham and political theologyFour justifications of taxationThe law of evangelical libertyDominium revisitedOckham and the tax narrativeNotesReferencesMartin Luther’s redistributive theology of the Lord’s Supper“Preface to the Ordinance of a Common Chest”The redistributive logic of Luther’s theologyThe communicatio idiomatumSign and sacramentThe Lutheran systematization of taxationNotesReferencesJohn Calvin and the challenge of inequalityTaxation and poor relief in Calvin’s GenevaThe diaconate and the two kingdomsCalvin’s economic visionEschatology, providence, and commandOikonomiaCalvin’s explicit teaching on taxationNotesReferencesTriumph of the economyThe Enlightenment inversion of Calvin’s doctrine of providenceIndividualism and altruismConclusionNotesReferences
