This article examines the roles of sin, property rights, and self-governance within market order from a Christian perspective. Human beings, created imago dei, are called to fulfill the creation mandate (Gen. 1:28–30) in their work, because it brings glory to God and has eternal significance. However, this becomes distorted and encumbered because of sin. Hence property rights are necessary for sinful people in a fallen world to engage in oikonomia—stewardship—of their human and physical capital, ordered to greater flourishing and the revelation of God’s glory. Markets serve as a means for people to engage in self-governance and fulfill the creation mandate, through their role as a space for creativity and innovation and for creating relationships and discerning moral action.
Matthew Owens and Anne Bradley, “Sin, Property Rights, and Self-Governance within the Market Order,” Journal of Markets & Morality 27, no. 2 (2024): 81–108.