Rethinking Christianity's support for Capitalism

It is good to have a blog, because one's views are always and constantly evolving. After some interaction with friends and introspection based on some thoughts expressed in my previous blog post on the American 2012 election, I have given some thought to my current ideology, paradigm and worldview. In my previous blog, I espoused views that endorse preference for a capitalist economy over a socialist one. After interaction, conversation and introspection, I reflected on views on socialism and asking the question are my views on socialism really Christian or are they inspired by the traditions of men?

So much of the New Testament is written about money and personal money management. Just take for example the book of Luke. Luke records many stories about money. Luke 18 - parable of tax collector and the story about the rich ruler, Luke 19 - parable of 10 pounds + Jesus cleansing the temple of the money changers; Luke 20, paying taxes and wicked tenants; Luke 21 - widow's offering. Consequently, in the scriptures one can find so many references, stories and parables about money. Yet does the scriptures either sanction socialism or capitalism? That is not as obvious.

I know that most of my views though on the relationship between capitalism and Protestant Christianity are inspired not by the Scriptures, but by the work of the German sociologist Max Weber. Weber (1930) wrote on The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (for more about this see this entry in Wikipedia), pointing out how much the Protestant ethic was compatible with and also aided the initiation of capitalism.

Weber's work is not the only one to point to the compatibility of capitalism. I have also read the biography of  John D. Rockerfeller and have seen in this evidence of such compatibility in action. Collier and Horowitz (1976) tells us how John D. Rockerfeller's worldview was influenced by his mother's Protestant teaching. Rockfeller learned how to relate to money and personal money management and accounting from his Christian Protestant Baptist beginning (Collier & Horowitz, 1976)

As such, I now question if capitalism is really compatible with true Christianity or is it only compatible with fallen or apostate Christianity? These are the questions that I now pose for others and myself, at the eve of a possibly new America, as the conservatives and the harbingers of the old American Protestant story of democracy have suffered defeat to the new America of minorities and youth.

In one regard the old story of American Protestant is not very applicable today. Protestant story works when there are stable families that care for each other. However, with America's new demographics of unstable (if it is not politically correct to say 'broken') families, poverty concerns are inevitable. There are no guarantees that families will take care of each other in the present or future. People "fall in and out" of love, and no longer decide to commit to and persevere in keeping the family together and caring for each other until death.


Within this context, the issue then is, should not the Christian support widows and orphans, with widows in this case being single parents? Our New Testament theology answers with a resounding yes (See for example, James 1:27). Hereby, it is Christian to support and help single parents and those in unstable family conditions or situations of distress. The question however arises: should that duty be done through compulsory tax deduction via the state or through philanthropy, charity and good works?


References:


Collier, Peter and David Horowitz. The Rockerfellers: An American Dynasty. New York: Holt, Rhineart and Winston, 1976.

Weber, Max. (1930). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Roxbury Publishing Company http://www.brynmawr.edu/socialwork/GSSW/schram/Weber1.pdf

The Purpose of Torah

As I walked yesterday evening, a man with a bicycle was riding up the walkway. I was unsure which path he would take, whether he would swerve to the left or to the right. So I stood still in the middle until the cyclist swerved to my left and passed me. Then I reflected on this situation that had now passed.

In Jamaica, the first rule of the road is to keep left unless overtaking (Hylton 2003, p. 58). From this rule, all motorists can expect that when driving on the road, that their fellow motorists that use the road will keep left under most conditions. What this does is to create expectations and predictability about the other driver's behaviour. It eliminates the uncertainty that I felt when walking on the walk way and seeing the cyclist coming straight at me. (Usually, a cyclist would ride on the road and not on the walk way).

A very profound spiritual lesson emerged as I pondered this experience and even the rules of the road. God revealed to me through this situation that laws are necessary to ensure that human beings know what to expect and that there is some level of predictability in social and spiritual life.

For those of us familiar with Torah, many of the laws given outlined people's obligations to other people as well as their obligation to G-d. The scriptures are full of instruction about human obligation to society.

G-d wants human beings to know that they are obligated to others and must conduct themselves in a manner that will ensure that society or social relations do not disintegrate.

Marital laws for instance speak to a man and woman's obligation to each other and the offspring that result from their sexual relations. Marital laws make a man obligated to a woman that he has sexual relations with, so that he does not just use her like soap to fill his need and leave her. Rather it obligates him to treat the woman that he desires to have sex with in a special way, obligating that he stays with her until death, helping her through life in good times and bad. Marital laws mandate that the man also helps the woman to raise the offspring of their sexual relations.

Rules and laws were made to ensure that people know that they cannot just live to please themselves, but in order to live in society or community, they must live in consideration of the rights of others and their responsibility and obligations to maintain as much as possible peaceful relations in society, through ensuring that they consider other persons as they consider themselves.