There is one bit of advice given to use by the ancient heathen Greeks, and the the Jews in the Old Testament, and by the great Christian teachers of the Middle Ages, which the modern economic system has completely disobeyed. All these people told us not to lend money at interest; and lending money at interest – what we call investment- is the basis of our whole system.
Now it may not absolutely follow that we are wrong. Some people say that when Moses and Aristotle and the Christians agreed in forbidding interest (or ‘usury’ as they called it), they could not foresee the joint stock company, and were only thinking of the private money lender, and that, therefore, we need not bother about that they said. That is a question I cannot decide on. I am not an economist and I simply do not know whether the investment system is responsible for the state we are in or not. This is where we want the Christian economist. But I should not have been honest if I had not told you that three great civilizations had agreed (or so it seems at first sight) in condemning the very thing on which we have based out whole life.
-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
By providence I was re-reading some of Mere Christianity last week, and this section is a good place to start a discussion on Christians and the current economic crisis. Christian responses to what has happened are just beginning to appear. The most notable being The Archbishop of Canterbury . Although the ABC throwing Marx into the mix is bound to stir up some controversy, it is encouraging to see discussion on the issue that goes to actual discussion of how the economy should be set up.
I firmly believe that any response Christians give to a crisis must have both an immediate action attached, and a long term consideration of the situation. Often the Church does the first, but leaves the second.
What do I mean by an immediate action in response to a crisis? I think the end of It’s A Wonderful Life is a great example. A need is discovered, people rally around and do what they can to bring the person out of the immediate situation. I’ve heard that this has happened in this case with some churches offering counseling to people hit by this, and I have no doubt that when people loose their jobs the church will be there to offer financial support and friendship (If it does not drop the name church please). Even Starbucks understands the importance of this when right after they were offering free coffee in the morning to people who worked on Wall Street.
What the church likely won’t be as good at, is offering comment on the economic system as a whole. I don’t mind the church waiting a bit to do this, deal with the immediate concern first, but I fear it just won’t come. I’m glad the ABC has begun this, but where are the other voices? The ABC may be an intelligent man, but he is not an economist. Where are the economists to answer Lewis’ questions? Where are those from within the Church that can offer comment on how the economic system works? Where are they advising Christians how far to enter into it? How much of a role is the sin of greed at fault here and how much was poor decision making?
I think this is yet another example of a place where the church could step up to it’s calling and be involved in bringing God’s kingdom to the world, but instead will choose to continue in irrelevant pursuits (I’m building a growing list). I believe I’ve bemoaned the fact that the church has embraced a dichotomy that separates it from every “non-religious” concern enough that I don’t need to get into why it’s happening or why it’s wrong again, but it still saddens me when I see such an opportunity go to waste.
Actually jews were not forbidden usury to strangers.
“Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money; usury of victuals; usury of anything that is lent upon usury.
Unto a stranger thou mayest lend upon usury; but unto thy brother thou shalt not lend upon usury, that the Lord thy God may bless thee in all that thou settest thine hand to in the land whither thou goest to possess it.”
Deuteronomy 23:19–20
For christians the New Testament does not condemn usury explicitly, but it makes clear that one’s moral duty is to help those in need. Thus to give to others one’s own money or goods without the expectation of anything in return.
This is why Jews have been moneylenders throughout history. Not that there weren’t many christians that engaged in the practice.
I generally agree with Lawrence M Vance’s take on Christians and economics:
http://mises.org/story/2918
Really good article. The only reservation I have about laissez faire is the issue of fraud. As recent events have pointed out, the currently popular business model of defrauding stockholders and creditors to maximize executive compensation is clearly not sustainable or even ethical. Laissez faire and free market supporters never seem to address how to deal with this issue. Let the buyer beware doesn’t cut it when there is carefully formulated fraud involved (as per freddy/fanny for example). At this point many financial institutions balance sheets don’t even come up to being fraud at this point.
Disclosure. This is academic for me not sour grapes. I got out of real estate and stocks long before the spam hit the fan. It’s never different this time.