An Economic Interpretation of the Gospel, by Phil Lawler

By Phil Lawler, Catholic Culture, Apr 10, 2025

 Phil Lawler has been a Catholic journalist for more than 30 years. He has edited several Catholic magazines and written eight books. Founder of Catholic World News, he is the news director and lead analyst at CatholicCulture.org.

In his teaching, relayed to us through the Gospel, Jesus uses images that would have been especially familiar to the people living in the Holy Land at that time; He speaks of fish and vineyards and sheep, to listeners who were fishermen and vintners and shepherds. But he also uses the language of economic transactions—of calculating costs and making investments and recognizing the value of pearls—that speak to people of any time or place.

In a new book, , Michael Pakaluk—a philosopher professor now teaching at the Busch School of Business at Catholic University—offers an economic interpretation of the Gospel of St. Matthew, accompanied by his own new translation. In previous books he has given the same treatment to the gospels of St. Mark and St. John, each time finding one key to a new interpretation of the text (the influence of St. Peter in Mark, of the Virgin Mary in John). Now he looks at St. Matthew’s account, and finds therein the distinct approach of a man familiar with trade and commerce and the shrewd appraisal of value: a tax collector.  …

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