Our best economist thus far has been Augustine. This, in effect, is the argument of John D. Mueller's contrarian and groundbreakingRedeeming Economics, which posits that economic theory has since Adam Smith mistakenly discarded from its analyses basic elements of economic behavior. Through numerous examples and arguments, Mueller argues for the renewal of a "neoscholastic" economics that not only incorporates a theory of personal, social and politicalgifts,but also recognizes Augustine's "divine trace of equity" as a key source of market order.