Shaping the Culture Through Christian Economics

I’ve spent the last 30 years of my life trying to free Texans from government oppression.

Given that Texas’ biennial budget has grown from $46.4 billion in 1990-91 to the present $235.2 billion (with the government/budget being under Republican control most of those years) and with it the regulatory, confiscatory, and prosecutorial state has also grown, one might say that I have failed miserably in my effort. I prefer, though, the optimistic perspective that there is less oppression today than there would have been in my absence.

For most of this time, I have been doing my work through a biblical lens. This has required, among other things, for me to develop theologies of government and economics. They are not perhaps the best developed theologies, but they are what I have to work with.

We are focusing on economics today, but both have a similar theme, liberty:

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” (Luke 4:18–19 ESV)

God created man to live in liberty under His rule. Once we blew it and placed ourselves into slavery under Satan, God sent His son to ” proclaim liberty to the captives” and set us free to serve Him once again. Any theory or theology of economics and government that fails to take account of Christian liberty–and man’s covenantal relationship with God–fails to capture the biblical perspective.

There is much more to be said, but my purpose today is not to lay out a complete theology of economics but to provide resources for those wishing to know more about how markets work from this biblical perspective.

In November I posted A Christian, Liberty-Minded Reader on Culture, Science, Governance, and Economics. Here I want to provide a brief guide to some of the best economic resources from that list.

If I had to recommend just one book for you to read to get a thorough yet accessible understanding of economics, I couldn’t do it; I’d have to make you choose between two: Economics for Real People by Gene Callahan or How an Economy Grows and Why it Crashes by Peter and Andrew Schiff.

Both are great. The Callahan book is a straightforward read, the Schiff book uses narrative and illustrations to help out; the early parts of the book are easily accessible as far down as middle school. Both would be worthwhile. Neither authors are Christian as far as I know, but they follow the Austrian economics school which does the best job of replicating Biblical economics as any economic school of thought around. Which is good because at the moment there is no robust “Biblical” school of economic thought. Though that school is developing, as we’ll see below.

An excellent explicit Christian economics textbook is Foundations of Economics: A Christian View by Shawn Ritenour. It is more academic, but still very understandable. It has great opening and closing chapters applying biblical thought to economics, particularly as it discusses the application of economics to fulfilling the cultural mandate.

No one in the history of mankind has done more exegetical work in Scripture to learn about biblical economics than Gary North; no one is even close. Perhaps no one ever will be. I believe his work will bear great fruit throughout human history, and the longer human history goes the more fruit his work will bear. From him and other Christians working in the Austrian school is where I think we will see the first fruits of a Christian economic school of thought. North’s collected writings on economics can be found here. 

There is a lot from North to choose from. I haven’t read any of them completely, but have sampled a number of them. Any of the four volumes of Christian Economics would be good. As would either Christian Economics in One Lesson. Covenantal Structure of Christian Economics would be great for those looking for the deep theological underpinnings of economics. Perhaps the books that intrigue me the most are the volumes in his Economic Commentary on the Bible. I started on the Genesis volume and found it very interesting. There is just so much I just haven’t been able to follow through on any of them. Maybe one day. The good news is that all his work is free and you can either read it online or download a pdf.

Bob Murphy is a Christian, so while his book Lessons for the Young Economist does not explicitly use scripture it still brings a Christian perspective. It is a textbook aimed at high schoolers but would be also well suited for adults who want to learn more about economics. I haven’t read Tom Woods The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy but I really value his work and am sure it is good as well.

Those are two economists (well, Woods is a historian) writing as Christians. Then there is a Christian writing about economics in R.C. Sproul Jr.’s Biblical Economics. His book is helpful to the discussion.

At the bottom of my page you’ll see links to audio from a number of lectures. All are good. Shawn Ritenour is one of them. Any of the lectures from Peter Klein would be great; he’s a very good economist and lecturer. It never hurts to learn about the mess our government and all other governments have made of money so you might try Modern Monetary Theory by Lucas Engelhardt, though I haven’t listened to that one. But all the lectures are good; you can’t go wrong with any of them on your morning commute.

I put together A Reader – Learning to Think Economically in Three Sessions. It is a collection of slides, quotes, and questions. It won’t be as easy to follow as a book, but it has some value for those who would persevere. Plus, it is free!

Finally, for those who are interested in investing, Cocktail Economics: Discovering Investment Truths from Everyday Conversations by Victor A. Canto is a must read for those who want to apply free market economics to investing in an effort to get an edge on the market.

Oppression is the natural state of fallen man. Yet God has provided a path that frees us from oppression, both spiritually and culturally. As the Spirit continues its work of applying the Gospel in the hearts and minds of humanity, we will see liberty continue to spread throughout creation.

These books and lectures provide a biblical perspective that the church can use to teach the culture about how civil society can mirror the liberty found in the hearts of those who have been saved by grace through Jesus Christ.