Christians and the Economy

I haven't read it but it sounds interesting. Given the absurd political climate my country is going through with this staunch, hot and heavy anti-government anti-federalist, Tea Party radicalism, maybe Mitt Romney and his cronies need to read the book!

Did you see over at TAW where a poster pointed out that Romney is associated with Monsanto?

Has anyone read this book, Christians and the Economy?

Here is a review of it I just read, it sounds very interesting:

Somewhere Hilaire Belloc says that an economic system based on usury must always by its nature collapse.

That is what we are seeing on a worldwide scale now. The European and American governments are acting as if loan restructurings and currency manipulations will solve the problem, that “austerity measures” will save Greece and Italy and even the United States—but the spiral has begun and nothing can stop it. The system must by its nature break down because the system, by its nature, is opposed to nature. Usury is contrary to reality. .

cont.

I haven't read the particular book that MKJ talks about in the first post, but I have read and pondered quite a bit on what the Christian stance towards economic policy should be. To me it seems obvious that the world's current economic system is evil in every sense: sinful from a Christian perspective, destructive of human rights from a humanist perspective, and illogical even by its own standards. The central notion that if we all act based on "rational self interest", as it's often called, is destructive of any sond basis of human living and social organization, Christian or otherwise.

One book that I have read, which discusses these principles, is Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered, by E. F. Schumacher. I wrote about it only my blog here:

Day 24: A book that you wish more people would’ve read « The Blog that was Thursday

Somewhere Hilaire Belloc says that an economic system based on usury must always by its nature collapse.

That is what we are seeing on a worldwide scale now. The European and American governments are acting as if loan restructurings and currency manipulations will solve the problem, that “austerity measures” will save Greece and Italy and even the United States—but the spiral has begun and nothing can stop it. The system must by its nature break down because the system, by its nature, is opposed to nature

Usury is contrary to reality.

Belloc, along with G.K.Chesteron believed in Distributive Economics (Distributisim) which was loosely based upon two Papal encylicals from two long dead Pontiffs.

Unfortunately its never taken traction because the best example of it on a micro-scale, the Guild of St Dominic and St Joseph only lasted 80 years. I believe there was an obituary in The Times when it collapsed in 1992. Which ironically was not long after the collapse of communism/socialism.

The austerity measures you are talking about are nothing more than a recognition that those undertaking them have been living beyond their means and now have to take measures to correct this.

It's Greed, not usury thats the problem afoot here. The system is not contrary to nature, its a by-product of it.


Usury is reality, in many forms. If we consider the Islamic rejection of Usury in favour of Sharia based 'banking', where the contract between the parties is drawn firmly in favour of the person providing the cash.

As a lawyer, I see many instances where contracts favour one party or another with very different financial consequences for each.

It also doesn't sound like you know much about modern Distributist movements.