The Centre for Enterprise, Markets and Ethics (CEME) is pleased to announce the publication of God and Competition – Towards a Positive Theology of Competitive Behaviour by Edward Carter.
Abstract
Competition is a powerful force in economic life, sport, and human relationships — yet Christians have often instinctively regarded it as morally suspect. In this essay, Edward Carter asks whether competitiveness might in fact serve God’s purposes when held within the right framework.
Carter begins by surveying how competition functions in economic theory, from the neoclassical model of perfect competition through to the entrepreneurial disruption emphasised by Schumpeter and his successors. He acknowledges the destructive potential of unchecked rivalry — visible at its most extreme in war — while identifying a creative dimension: the mutual knowledge, proximity, and even solidarity that competitive relationships can foster.
Turning to Scripture, Carter offers extended readings of the Esau and Jacob narrative in Genesis and Paul’s “running the race” passage in 1 Corinthians. Both, he argues, reveal competitiveness operating within the larger arc of God’s grace, shaping human identity and enabling reconciliation rather than merely producing winners and losers. These theological insights are tested against a case study drawn from an interview with a Christian entrepreneur in the agricultural sector, whose account vividly illustrates the interplay of rivalry and mutual respect among competitors.
Carter concludes that competition, while never the leading Christian virtue, can be genuinely creative when situated within a context of solidarity, rootedness, and moral seriousness — and offers practical suggestions for how businesses and policymakers might foster these conditions.
A PDF copy can be found here. Alternatively, a hardcopy can be purchased by contacting CEME’s offices via email at: office@theceme.org