Be Good Bankers - by Michael Pakaluk (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Discover the inherent connections between commerce, the Christian faith, and the divine economy through this groundbreaking interpretation of Matthew's Gospel.

Suppose that the author of the Gospel of Matthew was an ambitious tax collector who was intricately familiar with the best practices of Roman banking, accounting, and contract law. As a result, wouldn't we expect to see a unique account of Jesus's life, death, and resurrection that was suffused with business principles and economic rationality?

This, argues Michael Pakaluk, is exactly what we find in the Gospel according to Matthew.

In Be Good Bankers: The Economic Interpretation of Matthew's Gospel, with a Fresh Translation, Pakaluk reconciles the tension often felt between business and economics on the one hand, and the Christian faith on the other, revealing how the gospel message is inherently infused with economic principles. Pakaluk illuminates the economic undertones in Matthew's Gospel and reveals that our very nature is designed for business, a fact that God uses to teach us about himself.

Be Good Bankers delves into the idea that we are all bankers in the divine economy established by the Incarnation of Jesus--the ultimate exchange of divinity for human nature--and his Passion, Resurrection, and Ascension. Through exploring the use of debts, receipts, ledgers, deposits, withdrawals, payments, and exchanges in Matthew's Gospel, Pakaluk provides a compelling framework for understanding how Christians can live and work with our own debts of justice, gratitude, and love.

This book is an essential guide for anyone seeking to navigate the intersection of faith and commerce and find their place in the divine economy.

Review Quotes

Praise for Be Good Bankers:

"To plumb the depths of the Holy Scriptures--and, in a preeminent manner, the Gospels--is to deepen our knowledge and love of God, who has most perfectly revealed himself to us by the redemptive Incarnation of God the Son. By pondering the Gospel according to Saint Matthew deeply, while translating it anew from the original text, Professor Michael Pakaluk helps us to receive the Word of God through the lens of the good banker--the good householder who dedicates himself to safeguarding and fostering our greatest treasure, our life in Christ in his holy Church. The fruit of his study is a most worthy instrument for our daily conversion to Christ and our growth in him along the way of our earthly pilgrimage to our lasting home--eternal life with him."
--Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke

"Few things are more opposed in the popular mind than commerce and Christianity. Investment, gain, loss, debt, payment, receipts, ledgers--what have these to do with salvation? Quite a lot, it turns out. In Be Good Bankers, Michael Pakaluk shows how Matthew the tax collector reveals the economy of salvation by way of what is most immediately familiar to most of us--the material economy. Pakaluk thus deepens our understanding of and gratitude for redemption. And along the way, he brings a new appreciation for the goodness of the economy that points to it."
--The Reverend Paul D. Scalia, Episcopal Vicar for Clergy at the Diocese of Arlington and Pastor at Saint James Catholic Church

"Be Good Bankers is one of those books that will challenge everything you thought you knew about the Gospel of Matthew. Thanks to Michael Pakaluk's deep knowledge of Scripture, ancient languages, and the economic way of thinking, you will see Christ through the eyes of Saint Matthew himself. Tolle lege!"
--Samuel Gregg, Friedrich Hayek Chair in Economics and Economic History at the American Institute for Economic Research

"If a conservationist, an engineer, a physician, and an abstract artist were all asked to write the same story, while the substance may be the same, the narrative would differ markedly in approach, style, emphasis, and the use of metaphor. In what may be his most creative work yet, Michael Pakaluk convincingly demonstrates that the erstwhile tax collector's commercial background profoundly influenced the manner in which he narrates his Gospel, thus opening for the earnest reader a new and profitable dimension of an ancient story, especially with this wonderful new translation of the Gospel."
--Henry T. Edmondson III, Carl Vinson Professor of Political Science and Public Administration (Emeritus) at Georgia College and State University

"The Keynesian obsession with 'econometricizing' every aspect of the economy takes human action out of our understanding of economic life and opens the door to central planning as the dominant force in the exchange of goods and services. Likewise, the modern obsession with sentimentalizing the Christian life renders a cogent understanding of our spiritual walk and journey impossible and closes the door on vital theological and practical truths. Dr. Pakaluk's work in Matthew doesn't just rediscover missing economic messages in the Bible; it illuminates missing instructions for the properly ordered Christian life."
--David L. Bahnsen, Founder and Managing Partner at the Bahnsen Group

"This is a bold and insightful analysis of the Gospel according to Matthew. Michael Pakaluk demonstrates that commercial and banking practices help understand why Matthew, a former tax collector, organized his account of Christ's public ministry the way he did. The worldly and divine economies come to life in this important contribution to New Testament studies."
--Alexander William Salter, Georgie G. Snyder Associate Professor of Economics at Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University and Comparative Economics Research Fellow at the Free Market Institute

"This book will surprise you. With his typically direct and inquisitive style, Michael Pakaluk once again takes us deep into the heart of Matthew's Gospel by 'an economic way of thinking' which is as illuminative as it is unexpected. His economic interpretation is neither reductively materialist, nor trapped by historicism, but rather his interpretive path penetrates to the core of what it means to become wise--to discern what is right and just amidst all the exigencies of our everyday trade. Exemplary!"
--C.C. Pecknold, Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at The Catholic University

About the Author

MICHAEL PAKALUK (Ph.D. Harvard, philosophy) is Professor of Political Economy in the Busch School of Business at the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. He was appointed an Ordinarius of the Pontifical Academy of St. Thomas Aquinas by Pope Benedict XVI. He is the author of several books, including The Memoirs of St. Peter and Mary's Voice in the Gospel According to John. He lives with his wife, Catherine Pakaluk, a professor of economics, and their children in Hyattsville, Maryland.