About

About Apostles and Markets

Apostles & Markets, written by Stephen Haessler, Ph. D. presents a set of twelve lessons designed for use by Catholic and Christian educators in various subject areas including economics and theology. As the title implies, the lessons address the teaching of economics in a special way — in light of faith and reason, with reference to principles from Catholic social doctrine and to concepts from the economic way of thinking.

Apostles & Markets was originally published in 2007 by The Robert and Marie Hansen Foundation, an organization that seeks to unlock human potential by supporting freedom grounded by faith, a free economy, personal responsibility, and limited government. The Foundation offered important support for the writing of these lessons, through a generous grant to the author. It is to Robert and Marie Hansen that this work has been dedicated.

Currently, Apostles  & Markets has partnered with The Freedom and Prosperity Academy to offer new lessons, educational media, and teacher workshops for teachers of economics, social studies, ethics and theology.  The Freedom and Prosperity Academy will continue to support A & M and make new materials available online that continue the mission of combining an appreciation of economics and Catholic social teaching.

Message from the Author

I wrote Apostles & Markets with Catholic teachers in mind. For twenty years I held an endowed chair in economics at a Catholic college-preparatory high school in the Midwest. In my work I sought to develop the particular perspective and instructional materials that I knew I needed in order to teach well according to academic and normative standards.

At the same time, I became aware that other teachers, similarly situated, faced the same challenge. How might a teacher in a Catholic school frame the study of immigration, for example—or wage inequality, profits, the environment, or globalization—validly, according to relevant disciplinary principles, and according to principles of our faith? How do technical issues of monetary and fiscal policy come into view in a Catholic context?

I struggled with difficult questions of this sort for a long time, through study, discussion, and ongoing classroom practice. These efforts have now yielded Apostles & Markets. I offer it here in the hope that others will find uses for it and, in their work with it, contribute to the quest it represents.

-- Stephen J. Haessler