A review article on A Christian Approach to Economics and the Cultural Conditions, by Douglas Vickers. Published by Exposition Press, Smithtown, N.Y.1982

In the prevailing current concern with economic problems there is a need and opportunity for a book such as this which attempts to deal with these mat­ters from a consistently Christian point of view. Pro­fessor Vickers is a native of Australia, where he studied at the University of Queensland. He earned a Ph.D. degree in the history of economic thought at London University in England. He taught from 1957 to 1972 at the University of Pennsylvania, and from 1972 until 1977 at the University of Western Australia, and is now a professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts. He has served on the Australian government's Economic Advisory Panel.

Starting Point⤒🔗

The author defines his starting point in his work in the first chapter. Acknowledging his debt to Dr. Cornelius Van Til, he says,

The epistemological task ... is not that of man's interpreting the facts he discovers. For those facts have already been inter­preted by God who established them. As Van Til has put it, the task of human knowledge and in­vestigative processes is not to be 'creatively constructive' at all, but to be 'recreatively recon­structive' under God, who calls men to think His thoughts after Him.

But this does not mean that no validity or signi­ficance attaches to scientific work, in economics ... or in other natural and social sciences. For it is by the administration of His common grace that God permits and enables men, including unregenerate men and unbelievers, to make contributions to the edifice of human knowledge. He releases the forces of creative power inplanted in them, and they thereby make contributions to the human aware­ness of truth in spite of their own mistaken prin­ciples of autonomy and misguided ... stance. For the non-Christian thinker the discovery of truth is in a final sense accidental and casual, for the reality structures with which he deals are precisely the opposite of what he imagines them to be. They are in fact God's structures, and they consist and cohere in accordance with God's established relational laws. It is clearly at this point that the most impor­tant division in the entire range of philosophic presupposition exists between the Christian be­liever and the unbeliever. pp. 12, 13

Surveying the Field←⤒🔗

The writer first analyzes the increasing cultural confusion of the world since the Enlightenment along lines that will be familiar to those who have read Dr. Van Til. Christian teaching and the Chris­tian church no longer hold the domination or even influential position in the world which they once held. They have been replaced by confusion or, in some measure by "the new humanism" (p. 19). As in con­fused present theology, so also in the discipline of economics "the air of having lost its way, is all too clearly present" (p. 22).

"The main body of the work, that dealing with the relation between economics and Christian thought and belief, is contained in the final four chapters" (4 through 7). Chapter 4 recalls the history of economics and gives special attention to its relation­ship to Christian thought. In this history Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, as a virtual beginning, formulated "the doctrine that the consistent pur­suit of individual economic self-interest would lead automatically, via the interdependent market mechanism in the system, to the maximum benefit for society as a whole" (p. 52). This meant that the system functioned best when the state and govern­ment interfered as little as possible. Smith himself had doubts about whether the character of human nature would permit these benefits to be realized (p. 53). Although, in fact, a pure "hands-off" (or "laissez-faire") policy has never existed or been able to exist, this general idea (of automatic harmonies) became the classical or "orthodox" economic theory. In the 20th century John Maynard Keynes and others argued against this idea, especially when the U.S. depression brought the unemployment of 25% of the work force. Although Keynes' work did not have a confessedly Christian perspective, and we cannot agree with all that he said, the writer evidently agrees with his observation that the world is not so governed from above that private and social interests always coincide (p. 62). As the Ox­ford economist D.L. Munby observed, the ills and the jarring disharmonies of our culture are "the price of original sin" (p. 65). The author cites Jacob Viner's observation that Adam Smith "saw that self-interest and competition were sometimes treacherous to the public interest they were sup­posed to serve, and he was prepared to have govern­ment exercise some measure of control over them where the need could be shown and the competence of government for the task demonstrated" (pp. 69,70).

In the development of economic theory Christian thought has had little direct influence; economists, seeking to be "scientific" tended to rule out moral judgments. "Economics in both its individualist and collectivist expressions has deliberately set aside the possible relevance of Christian presupposi­tions to develop, as it imagines, a value-free and 'scientific' inquiry" (pp. 72, 73). The common assumptions came to be that "man's destiny was now in his own hands" and that "if conditions were not right, it was within human competence to put them right" (pp. 80, 81).

The Bible's Teachings about Economics←⤒🔗

The Scriptures teach that "The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein" (Psalm 24:1). Accordingly we must hold that property as well as power reside in God (p. 86), God has established "man as His responsible steward in the development of the environment in which he was placed" (p. 87) and "God Himself ... is the source and giver of wealth and of the reward for the development efforts that stewardship involves" (Deuteronomy 8:7ff.).This "is the beginning of economics in the biblical data." God promised to reward obedi­ence and punish disobedience. All wealth, rewards, wages, are to be regarded as gifts of God, held by the receivers as stewards responsible to Him. God cursed the ground because of man's sin and fall, but he obligated men to work, not because of sin but because He created them in His image to imitate Himself. The result of sin was that the work became more burdensome and frustrating. The Scriptures teach that God "by the operation of His common grace, so preserve(s) the established structure of the created order from the full decay and destruction of sin that genuine meaning and significance attach to the work and achievements even of sinful men" (p. 89). God permits the wealth and prosperity of sinful men in order to realize His purpose in the develop­ment of the universe and to vindicate His justice when He eventually judges them. All men are equal before God as creatures and sinners, but they are not equal in their assigned positions and responsibilities in society. He assigns to each his work as a duty and blessing (2 Thessalonians 3:10; Colossians 3:23, 24). "Society has not been redeemed" and we live in a fallen society, but "individual men have been redeemed" and as the "salt of the earth" must seek to reform society (p. 100). "It would be a mistake to assume that the Scripture is opposed to capitalism as a form of economic organization. In fact it would appear that the scriptural teaching on the right of private property accords directly with some form of capitalist economic order," but "scriptural teaching is opposed to the evils and injustices of which an un­inhibited capitalism is capable" (p. 101). "It is not the possession of money that is evil, but the 'love of money' which is the root of all evil" (p. 102; cf. 1 Timothy 6:10, 17ff). In this connection (as also elsewhere) the author cites John Murray's observa­tion in his Principles of Conduct that "Unequal distribution of wealth is indigenous to the order God has established and the natures with which He has endowed us" (p. 103; Murray, p. 92). "The evils of capitalism must be exposed and corrected, at the same time as the corrective mechanisms are not allowed to become oppressive to the point of de­stroying legitimate personal freedoms. Adequate scriptural evidence exists to support the conclusion that the Bible is regulative of both theory and prac­tice in our modern economic arrangements." The earlier abuse and tyranny of capital should not be allowed to give way to a tyranny of labor. The author suggests that the Lord's parables besides their spiritual lessons, incidentally established the legitimacy and propriety of return on business in­vestment and the economic right of freedom of con­tract in business activity (p.110). John Calvin understood the structure and functioning of eco­nomic relationships in this way. He had no con­fidence in the ability of an unfettered individualism to produce automatically an economic harmony, and he therefore understood the overall mission of the state to involve an intervention where necessary in economic affairs. It was "necessary for the state, be­ing ordained by God for the restraint and correction of evil, to take action when necessary to deal with the expression and fruits of sin, as much in economic as in other realms of society" (p. 111).

Although the author rejects the view of some con­servative economists that "that government governs best which governs least" in matters of economics, he rejects just as emphatically the notions of the new radicalism on the political and social left which seeks a structural revolution along socialist or communist lines. He refers to the Bible's prescriptions of Israel's Year of Jubilee involving the periodic return of property to the families of the original owners, observing that although we do not now live in a theocracy but in a fallen society, pro­perty rights as provided in the eighth and tenth commandments are a stewardship under God who is the real Owner. Marxism, as other forms of collec­tivism, fails to reckon with man's obligations to God and his sin, ascribing evil to the environment (p. 124ff). Although capitalism in its present forms (with their abuses) cannot be claimed as "necessari­ly the Christian economic system," "it can be said that historic capitalism", standing for the "decen­tralization of property ownership" and of the "pow­er that goes with it, does point in the direction of the biblical norm" (pp. 128,129). We do not ... live in a theocracy but "in a fallen society". "The God-ordained institution of the state" has "heavy responsibilities for the ordering of affairs in the economic as in other spheres of social life" (pp.130, 131). The author cites Edward Young's ob­servation that Israel's history, especially in the time of the Judges showed their need for a righteous king. From the Christian point of view the state should not usurp the right and responsibilities of in­dividuals, but it must curb abuses and exploitation.

The Christian economist now sees his high task and responsibility as that, not of participating in the redemption of society, but of continually contrib­uting to the reformation of it, in order that it might be brought from time to time to a clearer con­sonance with the preceptive law of God. Christ is King, and He will surely bring to pass the things that He has purposed from the foundation of the world.p. 181

Conclusions←⤒🔗

This is an important and needed book. We are deluged with a great variety of opinions almost all of which arise out of non-Christian, secularist assumptions. It is refreshing to study this de­liberate effort to outline a Christian view of economics. This is not to say that every Christian reader will agree with all of the opinions of the author. The difference between his opinion and that expressed by Professor Shook in another article in this OUTLOOK on the extent to which the state should be involved in the economy is evident. But one should not exaggerate the difference. It is clear that both recognize that there are limits to what we should expect the government to do. The average reader will find that it takes an effort for him to follow the intricacies of Professor Vickers' argu­ment, and that the organization of the material is somewhat repetitious, but if he wants to get a more consistently Christian view of the problems of eco­nomics he may find reading this book richly reward­ing.