Economics, Career, and Calling

Gary North recently gave a lunchtime seminar on "Careers for Austrians" at Mises University 2014.

Creation Economics

Recently Peter Leithart plays sounding board for Pastor Rich Lusk, who "points out that in the feeding of the five thousand, the disciples gather up more food than they started with. They spend resources, but their reserves increase rather than decrease." Leithart briefly reflects on the implications of the economy of the kingdom of Heaven, suggesting -- "This is the economy of the kingdom: The Father rewards generous service, so that our expenditures of time, energy, and resources don’t deplete but add. We find more time, energy, and resources to expend on further generous service." Leithart continues with the conclusion that "The economy of the kingdom is magical because creation is magical."

In the final analysis, the kingdom is not limited by economic's norm-of-thought, i.e., the (heretical?) doctrine of "limited resources." God's resources are abundant. How do we know? God is the omnipotent Creator. And Miracles are for reals, duh. Also, if you want to be a Christian economists, how about reading 1 Kings 17 everyday for a decade. God feeds the prophet with bread from ravens. That is cool. However, I am well aware that it is difficult to quantify that sort of thing, but if your economic theory doesn't take it into consideration . . . well, what can I say--if that is the case, then your theory is as broken as a kitten pet-to-death. It is cute, but, alas, d.e.a.d.

Thus, fecundity: the economy of the kingdom.

The Economic Future

Three cheers for the division of labor.

LOL: Restraint

"Once you have a cache of consumables, you'll have to show some restraint to avoid increasing your rate of consumption. My first adventure into stockpiling came when I bought what I thought would be a two- to three-year supply of wine. The convenience of having it on hand each time we had a nice meal turned it into a one-year supply. It's easy to use something that is handy, especially when you have a great quantity of it. Like the child who eats the whole shopping bag full of Halloween candy, you may get sick when you realize your cost of living has risen due to the convenience of your stockpile" (John A. Pugsley, The Alpha Strategy, 62).

On Price and Demand, and on Oil and Whale-Oil

Social Collateral: A Great and Power Thing

Here is a thoughtful article by Peter Leithart; he is commenting on Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956, and his closing thoughts are quite compelling: social collateral (the matrix and benefits created by social institutions) is greater and more powerful than raw free enterprise (the market).

Leithart says that the former, not the latter, serves as a better bulwark to tyranny. Surely, for some, this is a controversial statement.

Lordship of Christ and the Christian Future

Philip Schaff reflecting on God's hand of providence in the midst of Heathenism:

Greece gave the apostles the most copious and beautiful language to express the divine truths of the Gospel, and Providence had long before so ordered political movements as to spread that language over the world and to make it the organ of civilization and international intercourse, as the Latin was in the middle ages, as the French was in the eighteenth century, and as the English is coming to be in the nineteenth (History of the Christian Church, vol. 1, 77).

Before Christ (BC)

God providentially used heathen empires and languages of olden times to prepare man for Jesus Christ. All of Western history and culture, i.e., Mesopotamia, Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Sparta and Athens; Grecian epics, lyrical poetry, and dramas; the rise of Rome, etc., was a tool in the hand of God, preparing the sons of Adam for Jesus Christ. Schaff says, "In Judaism the true religion is prepared for man; in heathenism man is prepared for the true religion" (58).

Anno Domini (AD)

Christ came. Christ ascended and now rules at the right hand of the Father. And Christ used the events of AD history, i.e., fall of Rome and Romish and Byzantium schism; 7th-10th century Islamic growth and development of medieval civilization; economic, technological, and political European transformations and the Renaissance; Protestant reformation and Western expansion; etc. and etc., for , as Schaff said, the "gradual diffusion of his spirit and progress of his kingdom."

Christian Approach to the Future

So, if we want to craft a Christian approach to the future, then we need to remember that Christ is King and is using the events of AD history to push his Kingdom into the corners and the shadows of this world. But how do you think and live if that is the approach you are trying to take? Well, here are a couple examples:

1) International Economies

Christ is using international economies to subdue the world, even when the captains of those international economies are tyrants. Eventually those tyrants are going to be overthrown, but in the meantime Christ is using them as a tool to cultivate the world, and from those figurative fields the Lord will grow and feed his Church.

2) Internet

The Internet is an incredible vehicle for delivering stuff. The glorious thing about the Internet is that it is an infrastructure that is both ubiquitous and flexible, e.g., you can get nearly everything (audio, video, text) anywhere (via wireline, WiFi, Satellite, etc., communication channels). The Internet is a powerful tool that Christ is leveraging for expanding his Kingdom, e.g., with the click of a finger you can send the entire writings of the Ante-Nicene, Nicene, and Post-Nicene Fathers to a village in middle of the Congo. And parallel to the Internet is technology in general: you can smuggle all the Western Christian classics and multiple translations of the Bible into Communistic countries on itty-bitty SD cards. Boom Shakalaka!!!

3) Cities

Cities are growing and growing and growing and growing, and even though lots of cities are bastions for sin (read: NY, LA, etc.), have faith that God is shoving people into cities for a reason. I thinks that when God begins to pour out his Spirit of revival and renewal there is going to be a lot of (positive) collateral damage, merely because of the fact that God has shoved a whole lot of humans into cities. My best guess is that it will look like the revolution that took place when the early church grew in the midst of Roman paganism: back then there was a lot of "positive" collateral damages, e.g., God's common grace was dispersed through the mercy ministries of the church: through the creation of orphanages, and care and dignity was given to the sick and infirm; also, a great many abandoned babies were saved and given homes, etc. On the front-end, all of that revival and renewal requires sustained prayer, so that the church is prepared and made-ready. That way when the moment comes all of us are ready to roll-up-our-sleeves and jump in! But on the back-end, it is going to be so cool to see God's Spirit poured out that we're going to want to crack a beer and just bask in the enjoyment of watching the glory of widespread-revival. But I digress.

The thing to remember in the midst of all this optimism is that Christ does not convert the nations at the edge of a sword. Christ uses AD history for the "gradual diffusion of his spirit and expansion of his kingdom,"  but he uses it after the specific pattern exemplified by himself and his Church: it is the pattern of peaceful martyr and witness. Christ didn't march into Jerusalem armed to the teeth, rather he peacefully rode into that city, all the while knowing he would be crucified as a martyr. God raised Christ from the dead, so the church follows the example of Christ. The church knows that God brings life out of death, therefore, the church has always been an optimistic witness of the efficaciousness of martyrdom.