Journeying from Economic Violence toward Justice

This paper takes the two fundamental issues identified by Pope Francis in Evangelii Guadium (EG) and developed in Laudato Si’ (LS), “the inclusion of the poor in society, and …peace and social dialogue” (EG 185) as the central concerns to be addressed. Pope Francis’ writings invite inquiry into the nature and potentials of states and markets, structural dimensions of justice, global systems and economic violence. This study explores the nature of economic violence and how economic systems might be organized to promote or reduce violence. Following Charles Clark’s account of Francis’ characterization of poverty and economy in terms of exclusion and their linkage to violence, we here explore the deeper meaning of economic violence and how inclusion, peace, and dialogue may address these evils. In so doing, we ground Francis’ view of the economy in the Catholic anthropology that undergirds it. We show that an analysis of liberation theology will serve to illuminate some of Francis’ approaches to economic violence. We highlight some of the insights from the economics discipline that develops possible responses to problems of global injustice and economic violence. These insights invite questions about the relevance of CST to real world problems pertaining to economy, violence and justice. Yet, when economic paradigms of justice are viewed carefully through the lens of CST, certain tensions continue to loom large, particularly regarding assumptions of freedom and anthropology. These tensions are particularly salient in the Latin American context, especially when liberation theology is brought to bear on an analysis of libertarian economics. At the same time, we will suggest that the methodologies of liberation theology may serve to enrich CST in a direction that serves to make these tensions more productive