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Three Perspectives on Economics and Faith

Association of Christian Economists
25th Anniversary Conference

Thursday, April 16-Saturday, April 18, 2009

Featured Speakers

Rodney Stark: "New Religions: The Opium of the Privileged"

Rodney Stark is University Professor of the Social Sciences and Co-Director of the Institute for Studies of Religion at Baylor University. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Stark is past president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and of the Association for the Sociology of Religion. His books include Cities of God; Discovering God; The Victory of Reason: How Christianity Led to Freedom, Capitalism and Western Success; One True God: Historical Consequences of Monotheism; The Churching of America, 1776-1990: Winners and Losers in Our Religious Economy; and The Rise of Christianity. These award winning books have been translated into over a dozen languages.

Arthur C. Brooks: "What Do Markets Need to Work? Faith, Hope, and Charity"
Plenary address for "Faithful Economics" conference theme.

In July of 2008, Arthur C. Brooks was chosen to be the eleventh president of the American Enterprise Institute. Prior to this appointment, Brooks served as visiting scholar at AEI and the Louis Bantle Professor of Business and Government Policy at Syracuse University. Following a twelve-year career as a professional musician, Arthur Brooks earned his doctorate in Public Policy Analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School. Professor Brooks' scholarship has investigated the connections between culture, politics, and economic life in America. His relatively short academic career has brought a continuing stream of journal articles. His most recent books are Gross National Happiness: Why Happiness Matters for America--and How We Can Get More of It; Social Entrepreneurship: A Modern Guide to Social Value Creation; and Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth about Compassionate Conservatism.

Laurence R. Iannaccone: "The Economics of Religion: Invest Now, Repent Later"
Plenary address for "Economics of Religion" conference theme.

Laurence R. Iannaccone is the Koch Professor of Economics at George Mason University. Iannaccone earned his M.S. in Mathematics and Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Chicago. In numerous publications, Iannaccone has applied economic insights to study denominational growth, church attendance, religious giving, conversion, extremism, international trends, and many other aspects of religion and spirituality. Since coming to George Mason University in 2002, Iannaccone has established a yearly international conference on "Religion, Economics, and Culture," an interdisciplinary Association for the Study of Religion, Economics, and Culture (ASREC), and most recently the Consortium for the Economic Study of Religion (CESR).

John P. Tiemstra: "Notes from the Revolution: Principles of a New Economics"
Plenary address for "Heterodoxy" conference theme.

John P. Tiemstra is Professor of Economics at Calvin College. He received a Bachelor of Arts from Oberlin College and a Ph.D. in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to serving the Association of Christian Economists in a variety of capacities, Professor Tiemstra is the most recent past-president of the Association for Social Economics. Professor Tiemstra's research has focused on methodological issues surrounding the integration of Christianity and economics. His teaching responsibilities have included a "Christianity and Economics" course. Tiemstra is the author of many journal articles and also the books Reforming Economics: Calvinist Studies on Methods and Institution and Economics: A Developmental Approach. The latter is a one-semester economics textbook.

Please direct inquiries about the conference to:

Dr. John Pisciotta
Department of Economics
Baylor University
One Bear Place #98003
Waco, TX 76798-8003
(254) 710-6224
John_Pisciotta@baylor.edu