In this article, we examine the doctrine of providence to see if the market system used by the United States and many other industrial nations can be thought of as part of Gods providential care. The doctrine of providence concerns the preservation and direction of the universe. Theologians discussing providence sometimes refer to examples from the natural sciences but not from the social sciences. However, economists since Adam Smith have used the idea of spontaneous order to describe the orderly function of market systems even when no human agency is directly responsible for its operation. We suggest that this can be thought of as a part of Gods providential care of humanity.
John Lunn and Robin Klay, "The Relationship of God's Providence to Market Economics and Economic Theory," Journal of Markets & Morality 6, no. 2 (Fall 2003): 541-564