"Puritan Economics": My Story of a Revolution in Publishing

Gary North - March 31, 2018

I want to illustrate the difference between academia in the 1970's versus academia today. Scholars with rival views today really do have a possibility of changing the opinions of other people who are interested in a particular topic. It was much more difficult prior to the World Wide Web.

I want to offer hope to some of you who have something to say, but who have not been willing to devote the time necessary to say it in ways that will persuade people.

I wrote my doctoral dissertation on this topic: "The Concept of Property in Puritan New England, 1630-1720." I wrote it under Edwin Scott Gaustad, who was one of the major historians in the history of American religion. Also on my committee was Robert Nisbet. The third reader was Mack Thompson, who shortly thereafter became the executive director of the American Historical Association. I received my doctorate in the summer of 1972.

Nisbet recommended to a friend of his, who was the head of a university book publishing operation, that he consider my dissertation for publication. The man contacted me and asked to see the dissertation. I just wasn't interested. In all honesty, I don't remember why. I had decided not to go into academia as a professor. In retrospect, that was not a wise decision. I should have sent him the dissertation.

I wrote three articles summarizing the dissertation. They were published in The Freeman in 1974.

"The Puritan Experiment in Common Ownership" (April 1974)

"The Puritan Experiment with Price Controls" (May 1974)

"The Puritan Experiment with Sumptuary Legislation" (June 1974)

I published a little book on this, Puritan Economic Experiments, in 1976 (I think) through my newly created Institute for Christian Economics. It was little more than photocopies of the original articles. The ICE published a typeset version in 1988.

I reprinted the first chapter of my dissertation as chapter 18 of my book, An Introduction to Christian Economics: "An Outline of Biblical Economic Thought."

I published the remaining chapters of my dissertation when I was editor of The Journal of Christian Reconstruction. That was a huge advantage for me personally. I got paid to publish my dissertation. I have never heard of any academic who has had this good a deal.

"Medieval Economics in Puritan New England, 1630-1660," Symposium on Puritanism and Law (1978-79)

"From Medieval Economics to Indecisive Pietism in New England, 1661-1690," Symposium on Puritanism and Progress (1979).

"From Covenant to Contract: Pietism and Secularism in Puritan New England, 1691-1720," Symposium on Puritanism and Society (1979-80)

I had already published the appendix, "Historiography: The 'Protestant Ethic' Hypothesis," Symposium on Christianity and the American Revolution (1976)

Today, anyone can access this information by searching for my name and the topics. I am hoping that this article will make it even easier for people to locate these publications. All they will need to search for is "Gary North" and "Puritan economics."

The world is a great place for writers today.

You can do this, too. Set up a free blog site with WordPress.com. Then start publishing.

The Left-wing critic Liebling is famous for this statement: "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only for those who own one." Statements like this had been made two decades earlier. It was clever in 1960. It is no longer quoted. Why not? Because anyone can gain access to lots of presses, free of charge.

Take advantage of this.