Adam Smith's Work Philosophy: A Biblical Perspective

The way that people work in an important aspect of life. People have many different perspectives of what is the most efficient and effective way to work. Some people think that doing everything on their own is the best. While others believe that letting someone else do all their work is the way to go. However, Christians must hold themselves to a different standard when they view any part of life, including work. They must carefully consider Biblical merits of every perspective before choosing one to include in their worldview. This can be a difficult task. However, there are some philosophies of work that closely match the principles laid out in the Bible. One such philosophy can be found in the writings Adam Smith, especially his views on

However, it is known that his baptism occurred on June, 1723 (Adam Smith: The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, 2008) (Adam Smith, 2014). Adam Smith was raised by his mother alone, because his father had died a few months before his birth. At the age of fourteen Smith attended the University of Glasgow and then went on to Oxford in 1740. After completing school he became a teacher and then a tutor. In 1759, while Smith was still teaching, he wrote The Theory of Moral Sentiments (Adam Smith: The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, 2008) (Adam Smith, 2014). Later in his life, Smith became a tutor for the young Duke of Buccleuch and travelled in France and Switzerland. In 1766 Adam Smith retired and returned to Scotland. While he was there, he wrote the book An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations which is also known as The Wealth of Nations (Adam Smith: The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, 2008). This book was not all of Adam Smith’s ideas. He was just the first person to get them all together and make them into a book (Smith, 2014). The book became influential in the United States. 1776 was not only the year that Adam Smith’s book was published, it is

However, from a Christian perspective, the most important of these is the idea of division of labor. Division of labor is separating tasks for people who will best be able to do them. Division of labor can be traced back to Biblical times when special roles were assigned for to certain people who were best able to perform them. For example, some people were kings, priests, prophets, farmers, merchants, . The division of labor can also be seen in great works such as the Pyramids in Egypt, the Great Wall in China, and the Brooklyn Bridge in the United States (Cafferky, 2012). The example Adam Smith uses in his book The Wealth of Nations is a pin factory. He talks about how if one person in this factory was to try and manufacture a pin without division of labor they might be able to make twenty to one pin a day. However, if ten people work together each one taking a different function of the manufacturing process they would be able to make 48,000 pins a day (Adam Smith: The Concise Encyclopedia of Economics, 2008). By dividing tasks among multiple parties people gain the ability to produce in ways they could not on their