Arbo, Matthew2020-03-052020-03-052014-11-122014-050953-946810.1177/0953946813514007http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12424/3871918Recent theological treatments of political economy have tended to ignore the early-modern origins from which the capital market system arose. An effort is made here to trace a specific conceptual development from the theodicies of G. W. Leibniz and Bishop William King to the economic theory of David Hume and Adam Smith, a development that implies certain theological transmutations. Both the theodicist and economist claim, for different reasons, that nature itself is capable of redeeming evils. Two theoretical shifts contributed to this development: rational optimism and conjectural historiography. Scrutinizing the mechanistic backdrop for this historical narrative discloses acute theological compromises.Magazine/JournalengSAGE PublicationsEconomyevilnatural lawnaturerationalismredemptiontheodicyReligious ethicsSpirituality and ethicsMethods of ethicsTheological ethicsPhilosophical ethicsArticle