HG Brennan Lecture in Economics and Theology

Michael Brennan — Invisible hands and divided hearts: seeking order from imperfection

6.00pm, 29 January 2026

Tickets now available on Humanitix.

Economics and Christianity are often perceived to be in tension – the tension between efficiency and morality, or self-interest and compassion. But Economics and Christianity have significant common ground: both are rooted in a sober view of human imperfection and frailty. Both take human actors as they find them, eschewing naïve assumptions that societies can be built on perfect altruism or a morally perfect citizenry. Yet neither the economist nor the Christian despair at this reality – both offer practical ways forward to achieve social cooperation and moral progress. This lecture will explore aspects of the economic and Christian approach to dealing with human frailty, and explore scope for synthesis between these approaches, with some focus on the workshop’s key theme of inequality. The talk  will also discuss alternative worldviews – from moral utopianism and technocratic benevolence through to cynical realism – and highlight the relative strengths of the economic and Christian starting point.

About Michael Brennan

Michael Brennan is an experienced Australian public policy economist. He is currently CEO of the e61 Institute – a non-partisan, not for profit economic research institute bringing frontier research insights to the Australian public policy debate.

He was previously the Chair of Australia’s Productivity Commission for 5 years, overseeing reports on a broad range of economic and social policy issues, including the 5-yearly Productivity report Advancing Prosperity, and the PC’s inaugural report into progress under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.

Before that was Deputy Secretary in the Commonwealth Treasury with responsibility for the Fiscal Group. He has also been a Deputy Secretary of the Victorian Treasury, and worked as a senior adviser and Chief of Staff to Treasurers and Ministers for Finance at the State and Federal level.  He has also worked as an Associate Director at PwC.

He is an Anglican and past member of vestry and churchwarden of St Mary’s Anglican Church, North Melbourne.

Event details

• Date: Commencing Jan 29, 2026 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
• Location: 15 Blackall Street, Barton, ACT
• Address: The Chapel, Australian Centre for Christianity and Culture
• Event flyer: Download flyer
• Registration: Register for this event

Tickets are free, but please register via Humanitix.