約瑟夫．霍福納樞機（Kardinal Joseph Höffner）是一位學識淵博，頗有遠見的學者和教會領袖。他的思想不但對二戰後德國的社會和經濟的發展起著積極的促進作用，而且對梵二《牧職憲章》（Gaudium et Spes）的編寫也做出了重大的貢獻。 本文首先對霍福納的生平作一個簡介，然後對他的基督宗教社會學，特別是「社會市場經濟理論」（Soziale Marktwirtschft）做一剖析。當然，社會市場經濟理論的首要提出者是他的導師奧伊肯（W. Eucken），可是在霍福納的積極影響下，教會基本接受了「社會市場經濟」這一理論。在宗教社會學領域，作為最有影響力的專業代表，霍福納將基督宗教社會學發展成為一門學科並將其推廣到整個德語區國家，甚至推向了全球，以便使它普及化。霍福納的基督宗教社會學不但對德國社會的發展具有非凡的影響力，而且對歐洲，亞洲及拉丁美洲國家社會的發展都起到了啟發性的作用，因此我們可以直言不諱的說，他的基督宗教社會學思想讓我們獲益非淺，同時對於推動社會發展而所做的貢獻是有目共睹的。 由於三十多年來中國實行改革開放，它的社會，經濟，政治和文化都發生了重大的變化。這種情形與二十世紀60年代的西德有著相似性，因此在本文的最後，筆者想嘗試著指出霍福納思想對今日中國社會倫理與經濟發展有何前瞻力，以便使二十一世紀的中國不管在社會，經濟和文化等方面都能夠健康發展，並能建立一個康樂的社會。

Cardinal Joseph Höffner is very famous for the Christian Sociology in Germany. In his early years, he studied Philosophy and Theology in Rome and got two Doctoral Degrees. He then studied National Economics in the University of Freiburg and got another Doctoral Degree. Then he taught Pastoral Theology in the Seminary of Trier. Afterwards, he moved to the University of Münster as a Professor of Christian Sociology. He continued teaching there for ten years. He took part in the Second Vatican Council. He was one of the important Theologians in the elaboration of the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et spes. After the Second World War, the Germans faced many difficulties because of poverty, non-employment, lack of food, and so on. In 1949, Konrad Adenauer – selected as the Prime Minister (First Chancellor) of West Germany – proposed a new economic plan for West Germany. Adenauer appointed Ludwig Erhard as ‘Minister of Economy’. Erhard suggested that the German Economy could be saved through the “Social Market Economy” (soziale Marktwirtschaft). The German Economy reached its top in the ten years of the struggle. Germany became one of the richest countries in Europe. In this paper, I wish to study the vision of Joseph Höffner about the relationship among economy, social life and ethics. Joseph Höffner welcomed the theory of the soziale Marktwirtschaft. He asked the Catholic Church to accept this economic theory. His idea on economy, social life and ethics was indeed a prophecy. This theory of economics was very useful, not only for Germany, but also for the many developing countries. China is also one of the developing countries in the world. Since 1980, Chinese economy developed very fast. But although the economy in China developed and the standard of the people were raised, still many Chinese lived in poverty. On one hand, economic progress of China brought light to the country, but on the other hand, it brought down the morality of the people because for many, earning money became their prime motive. As a result, they worked very hard, in order to get more money. But other aspects of life were neglected. They became the very materialistic. In fact, the money could not serve the people to live peacefully. Thus, many Chinese felt the need for a spiritual life as their primary concern, rather than material progress. They felt that only religion can give the spiritual nourishment. Thus Christianity became very important for Chinese people. Joseph Höffner’s idea inspired me. So, I wish to analyze some problems of social life of the Chinese people and to present some proposals to alleviate them. I also hope that economy and social life in China can together progressively develop with a healthy atmosphere in the twenty-first century.