Christian Economics: Student's Edition
This is the first book in a series. It targets students of all ages. The typeset, indexed book is here.
I have written a second volume: Teacher's Edition. It is here. The third volume, Activist's Edition is here. The fourth volume, Scholar's Edition, is here.
I began investigating the relationship between the Bible and economics in the spring of 1960. I was 18 years old. I was in my freshman year of college.
For about a year, I had occasionally read a fortnightly tabloid, Christian Economics. It was sent free of charge to pastors. It was funded by J. Howard Pew, who owned Sun Oil. There was a major problem with it. There was not much that was Christian about it. The writers all favored the free market, but I knew that some of them were not Christians. None of the articles offered detailed articles on verses in the Bible.
I continued to study this issue as an undergraduate. I attended Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, 1963-64. I returned to graduate school the next year. I majored in history. I had no interest in studying economics under Keynesians. I received my Ph.D. in 1972. At that time, I was on the senior staff of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE).
I began writing a verse-by-verse economic commentary on the Bible in the spring of 1973, immediately after I left FEE. Nothing like this project had ever been attempted before. I completed it in early 2012. It is 31 volumes. You can access them here. I also wrote support volumes: Honest Money (1986), Inherit the Earth (1987), Dominion and Common Grace (1987), Liberating Planet Earth (1987), Is the World Running Down (1988), Millennialism and Social Theory (1990), Tithing and the Church (1994), The Five Pillars of Biblical Success (2008), The Covenantal Tithe (2011), and The Covenantal Structure of Christian Economics (2015).
This book is the initial presentation of what I learned in writing my commentary. There is a separate discipline of Christian economics. The conclusions are similar to secular free market economics, especially Austrian School economics, but not identical. The philosophical foundation is radically different. Austrian School economics begins with the axiom of purposeful action. Christian economics begins with God's purpose.
I occasionally update a chapter when I find something that is not clear. I re-date the chapter. You can see the date of the latest posting. I first began posting on May 6, 2017. I posted one chapter per day. I ended on May 26. In the original, I did not include what is now Part 2: Fall. So, in the updates, I have changed the chapter numbers after Chapter 5.
Part 1: Creation
Introduction to Part 1
Chapter 1: Ownership
Chapter 2: Stewardship
Chapter 3: Property
Chapter 4: Imputation
Chapter 5: Inheritance
Conclusion to Part 1Part 2: Fall
Introduction to Part 2
Chapter 6: Chance
Chapter 7: Autonomy
Chapter 8: Theft
Chapter 9: Bureaucratization
Chapter 10: Disinheritance
Conclusion to Part 2Part 3: Redemption
Introduction to Part 3
Chapter 11: Providence
Chapter 12: Service
Chapter 13: Leasehold Chapter 14: Entrepreneurship
Chapter 15: Compounding
Conclusion to Part 3Part 4: Covenantal Reform
Introduction to Part 4
Chapter 16: Individual Covenant
Chapter 17: Family Covenant
Chapter 18: Church Covenant
Chapter 19: Civil Covenant
Conclusion to Part 4