Michael Kruse is well-known to the Jesus Creed blog, and here he plies his trade once again in a book review.
A variety of anthropological lenses have been used to examine the New Testament world but one lens remains relatively neglected ... an economic lens. Scholars like Bruce Malina, K. C. Hanson, Douglas Oakman, and Justo Gonzalez are but a few that I've read that are trying to understand the economic world of the New Testament from the inside out. Now enters Engaging Economics: New Testament Scenarios and Early Christian Reception
, edited by Bruce W. Longenecker and Kelly D. Liebengood.
Engaging Economics is a thirteen essay collection examining the economic dimensions New Testament theology. (Most of the essays came from the Bibilcial Studies Seminar at the University of St. Andrews in the spring of 2008.) Half of the essays examine the role of economics in the New Testament and the other half examine how Christians in the era immediately following the New Testament handled economic issues. Particularly noteworthy is that none of the contributors or editors is receiving any royalties from the book. All proceeds will be donated to World Vision.
Peter Oakes offers an opening essay that explores what is meant by economics and discusses the sources of economic evidence. One of the big challenges is the temptation to project our twenty-first century experience with a market economy back into the biblical context. What we would typically refer to as economic factors ... supply and demand, utility, markets, etc. ... were not categories through which the New Testament folks interpreted their world. There was no semi-distinct sphere known as the economy. Oakes writes:
Folks Michael Kruse finishes off this wonderful series today, and I hope you express your appreciation to him. We need education like this, and to that end David Opderbeck will begin a series next week on "Law" -- David's a Law professor. So, here's Michael's last post...
Today we come to the final post is this series on basic economics. Over the last nine weeks we've reviewed several economic issues: scarcity vs. abundance, supply and demand, positive vs. normative economics, opportunity costs and tradeoffs, markets and trade, division of labor, self-interest, wealth, utility, profit, face-to face community vs. commercial society, and capitalism, to name just a few. Any of these topics are book length material. As I noted in the first post, I'm not an economist and I'm certain I haven't done justice to each issue. Nevertheless, I hope the discussion has illustrated the lens through which economics views the world. I want to conclude this series with thoughts on why I think economic thinking so critical for Christians today.
Why should we care about basic economics?
Many people have noted that material possessions are addressed in the Bible more often than any other topic. Passages like Genesis 1 and Psalm 8 make clear that, in addition to being in relationship with God, our function is to exercise dominion over the created order. Dominion includes the formation of human civilization to carry out our mandate. So in light of our present circumstances, we might ask, "Is capitalism Christian?" There is little doubt in my mind that the answer is, "No "... but neither is any other economic system. There is no economic system presented in the Bible.
A few of questions. I hammer theologians and Christian leaders pretty hard at the end of this post. Is it justified? Do you agree that we need more venues for this dialog to happen? In what venues do you see dialog that draws on both mainstream economics and scholarly theological insight?
Eighteen years ago, Pope John Paul II wrote in Centesimus Annus:
"Can it perhaps be said that, after the failure of Communism, capitalism is the victorious social system, and that capitalism should be the goal of the countries now making efforts to rebuild their economy and society? Is this model which ought to be proposed to the countries of the Third World which are searching for the path of true economic and civil progress?
The answer is obviously complex. If by "capitalism" is meant an economic system which recognizes the fundamental and positive role of business, the market, private property, and the resulting responsibility for the means of production, as well as free human creativity in the economic sector, then the answer is certainly in the affirmative, even though it would perhaps be more appropriate to speak of a "business economy", "market economy" or simply "free economy." But if by "capitalism" is meant a system in which freedom in the economic sector is not circumscribed within a strong juridical framework which places it at the service of human freedom in its totality and which sees it as a particular aspect of that freedom, the core of which is ethical and religious, then the reply is certainly negative." (Centesimus Annus, 42)
This quote highlights a frequent difficulty in discussing economic systems: What is capitalism?
What do you think about how I've described capitalism? What is missing from the discussion? How do you respond to the quote by John Paul II?
Today I'm departing some from offering basic economic concepts and interjecting a sociological element into our discussion.
There is considerable energy to today around the idea that Christians need to resist impersonal capitalism and Western individualism. The most common characterization of relationships in the church in the New Testament is family so the conclusion is made that we need to function more like family. As long as we understand the New Testament family in context I'm inclined to agree.
Is family a useful metaphor in thinking about economics systems? Is the Christian critique of capitalism, on the basis of family, a sustainable critique?
I don't think it is and what follows tells why. I'm interested to know what you think.
ON the Origin of Economics.... It might be surprising to learn that "economics" gets its name the world of the Greco-Roman household ... the New Testament context. The Greek word oikonomia meant "household management." The household was headed by the paterfamilias. There are three elements to his authority according to M. I. Finley in "The Ancient Economy":
Today's post promises to be "profitic." :-) We are exploring the concept of profit. What is profit? What is its role in business and the economy?
Unlike most economies of the past, most of us earn income by engaging in a narrow range of work that contributes to the production of goods and services. We use our income in exchange for goods and services others provide. Exchange is central to market economies. But let's look closely at the nature exchange.
I go to the store and pay $3.00 for a gallon of milk. What is really happening? I surrender $3.00 for the milk because I value it more than keeping my $3.00. The store values my $3.00 more than keeping the milk. We both win ... we both walk away with something of greater value. When both parties exchange without coercion, they each intend to achieve a benefit from the transaction (though either party can be mistaken due to poor information or deception.)
Because the store ends up with more money and the buyer ends up with less, some falsely conclude the store has increased its wealth at the buyer's expense. Wealth is falsely equated with cash. Cash is just a medium of exchange while wealth is the economic value of all the assets we possess ... which now includes a gallon of milk. Each party increases their wealth because each party now has something they value more than they offered in exchange. It is a win-win game, not a win-lose game.
Today we turn to the topic of wealth. Let's start with a simple question: What is wealth? The answer may not be as obvious as it seems. Consider the following. The Nature of Wealth How much would you say a diamond is...
"Love your neighbor as yourself." This injunction is mentioned once in the Old Testament (Lev. 19:18) and seven times in the New Testament (Matt. 19:19, 22:39; Mark 12:31; Luke 10:27; Rom. 13:9; Gal. 5:14; James 2:8) It is the core...
This series is by Michael Kruse and it concerns economics -- a basics in economics. Most of us, and I include myself, no next to nothing about how economics work and so this series is here for the education of...
The third installment in a series by Michael Kruse about Christians and economics. I think many of us make remarks about economics on the basis of the Bible, but do we understand the economic theory at work in our statements...
Last week I wrote that the driving question behind economics is this: Given scarce (i.e., limited) resources, what should each of us do today and how will we coordinate billions of projects? Today we identify two modes of economic analysis:...
Michael Kruse, who blogs at the Kruse Kronicle, is one of our most faithful conversation partners on the Jesus Creed blog. He has over and over instructed us about economics and so we asked him to do a series for...
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