He Became Poor: The Poverty of Christ and Aquinas's Economic Teachings

Drawing deeply on the views of Thomas Aquinas, He Became Poor challenges the modern economic tendency toward the "proprietary self" and calls for a renewed appreciation of the virtues of trusting receptivity and humble awareness of our membership in a larger benevolent order. Christopher Franks reveals how the summons to become poor bestows a new intelligibility on formerly obscure economic teachings. In the course of his discussion Franks juxtaposes Aquinas with Aristotle, John Locke, and Alasdair MacIntyre.

This book makes a provocative case for taking Aquinas's thoughts on economics more seriously and illustrates how the very market conditions of the modern world cloud any attempt to fully understand Aquinas. Franks offers a convincing argument that questioning market-formed assumptions can actually help us recover the evangelical character of Aquinas's ethics.