Monday, April 09, 2007
Markets and Morality
Joe Carter recently wrote a dynamite post at Evangelical Outpost on markets and morality. Exstensive quoting is needed to set up the point I want to make.
The first is that is defines the role of the church in society. The church's job is to shape the individual into one suitable to act as THE moral agent. It's interesting though because in a free society there will be pressure on the church to degrade with the society. The pressures are a natural result of the desire to survive and the "market" forces. But this is where Christ's example is ever so instructive. The church, if it is indeed Christ-like, should be willing to sacrifice its desire to survive for the sake of fulfilling its role. Is that not what Christ did when He went to the cross? More, if we truly believe in Christ, we believe in a resurrected Christ, we like Jesus, must say "Not my will, but Thine," and rely on God to resurrect His church, should we fail to survivie in pursuit of fulfilling our role.
The second ramification is particularly vital in the current political age. If we are shaping individuals as THE moral agent for society, when we act in society, we will have to make common cause with other agencies that share our morality, even if they do not share our means of shaping moral agents. In other words, the maintenance of the necessary freedom requires that in societal action, the morality be preminent over the theology, even if it is the theology that drives us personally to the morality. Thus we cannot ask of candidates and officials if they share our faith, only that they share our morality.
This is, as Joe demonstrates, the Christian view of society, markets and governance. Thus I think it is fair to say that regardless of the individual faith of the Founding Fathers, they did found the nation, as a free naton, on principles reflective of Christianity. In that sense, we are undoubtedly a Christian nation.
Related Tags: morality, moral agents, society, markets, societal action, Christian nation, church
Progressives, fearing that no one is in control and that powerful will take advantage of the weak, believe the state must step in to prevent inequitable and unjust outcomes. Conservatives (as we would define them today), by contrast, put their faith in the system itself and believe that left unhindered by the state, is sufficient to lead to the best possible end result. Libertarians, who view markets as morally neutral, contend that the individual, when allowed total liberty, will usher in the ideal end state. While all of these positions have some merit, they all ultimately fail when they leave out the most significant reason for putting our trust in the markets: because all control ultimately belongs to God.Joe's arguemnt here is one that says, in essence, "free individuals, are THE moral agents in the marketplace, and by extension, society in general." There are two immensely important ramifications from that statement.
Recognizing this fact, however, does not release homo economicus from all responsibility. A market is, after all, merely a mechanism for buying and selling goods and services. And while it is often viewed as highly individualistic and selfish, the fact remains that markets cannot exist without a network of humans in relationship with one another. As with all human interactions, though, our natural proclivity to sin can have a detrimental effect. Market forces and outcomes are prone to injustice and inequitable distribution precisely because man is by nature a sinful creature.
[...]
This raises an interesting question for Christians: Does God's sovereignty not extend to markets? If so, then why do we expect, as Morris says, for God to circumvent the institution he has created and provided for our well-being by providing a "miracle?" The primary reason, in my opinion, is that we no longer think theologically about economics. While we evangelicals often form our views on such institutions as marriage and the family from our theology, we acquire our understanding of markets from our politics. If we subscribe to a progressive politics, then we adopt the Left's criticism of markets. If we subscribe to conservative politics, then we embrace the Right's unquestioning allegiance to unfettered markets.
What we need is a third way. We need a clear Christian vision that understands that markets are a moral sphere (contra the libertarians). We need to promote the idea that free individuals rather than government force is necessary to carry out this task (as the left often contends). We need to realize that the "market" is not a mystical system that will miraculously provide for our neighbor (as many conservatives seem to think). What we need is develop a coherent Biblically-based conception of how the market as a human institution can be used for the redemptive purposes of our Creator. As with every institution, what the markets need is for Christians to act more like Christ. [emphasis added]
The first is that is defines the role of the church in society. The church's job is to shape the individual into one suitable to act as THE moral agent. It's interesting though because in a free society there will be pressure on the church to degrade with the society. The pressures are a natural result of the desire to survive and the "market" forces. But this is where Christ's example is ever so instructive. The church, if it is indeed Christ-like, should be willing to sacrifice its desire to survive for the sake of fulfilling its role. Is that not what Christ did when He went to the cross? More, if we truly believe in Christ, we believe in a resurrected Christ, we like Jesus, must say "Not my will, but Thine," and rely on God to resurrect His church, should we fail to survivie in pursuit of fulfilling our role.
The second ramification is particularly vital in the current political age. If we are shaping individuals as THE moral agent for society, when we act in society, we will have to make common cause with other agencies that share our morality, even if they do not share our means of shaping moral agents. In other words, the maintenance of the necessary freedom requires that in societal action, the morality be preminent over the theology, even if it is the theology that drives us personally to the morality. Thus we cannot ask of candidates and officials if they share our faith, only that they share our morality.
This is, as Joe demonstrates, the Christian view of society, markets and governance. Thus I think it is fair to say that regardless of the individual faith of the Founding Fathers, they did found the nation, as a free naton, on principles reflective of Christianity. In that sense, we are undoubtedly a Christian nation.
Related Tags: morality, moral agents, society, markets, societal action, Christian nation, church
