{"id":6102,"date":"2019-09-06T08:00:41","date_gmt":"2019-09-06T14:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/?p=6102"},"modified":"2019-08-23T14:27:49","modified_gmt":"2019-08-23T20:27:49","slug":"everything-you-need-to-know-before-you-think-about-economics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2019\/09\/everything-you-need-to-know-before-you-think-about-economics\/","title":{"rendered":"Everything you need to know before you think about Economics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

There are multiple<\/a> series<\/a> out there<\/a> of various kinds<\/a> of guides for people looking to learn more about X subject or Y thinker from a Christian perspective. Greg Forster\u2019s\u00a0Economics: A Student\u2019s Guide<\/em><\/a> is a solid addition to Crossway\u2019s series for those interested in beginning to think about economics.<\/p>\n

With that said, if you\u2019re looking for a book that gives the Christian defense of free markets, you\u2019ll have to look elsewhere. Ditto if you\u2019re looking for the Christian defense of government regulation of the marketplace.<\/p>\n

Instead, what you\u2019ll get is two chapters of theological foundation exploring the role of Scripture shaping our ideas about economics; three chapters of the history of how Christians have thought about economics (in the Ancient world, the Middle Ages, and the Modern world); and a chapter laying down broad outlines for thinking about economics in our own time.<\/p>\n

In each of these chapters, Forster repeatedly calls for charity (since much has been shown to us) and civility (since we have received unmerited grace), and encourages us to listen to what other believers have to say before speaking ourselves. Likewise he teaches us how to think in broad contexts\u2013both historical and current from multiple perspectives.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Image: Crossway<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All of which should tell you that this is a solid little book, and a good overview of the field. I suspect the part that will frustrate people is that Forster pulls back from drawing any conclusions, which leaves the book feeling a bit incomplete given the nature of the subject matter. It\u2019s certainly true that Christians should be civil and charitable\u2013our sins have been forgiven by the gracious atonement of Christ without any merit from us, the least we can do is not be jerks to others (and that is the very least, certainly not a stopping point).<\/p>\n

Still, at some point we do have to move beyond \u201clistening\u201d and \u201cbeing kind\u201d and actually make a real-world policy decision. That is, we must either (for example) have a minimum wage, or not have a minimum wage. We can\u2019t have half a minimum age (though of course we could have one that is too low or too high, but a\u00a0bad<\/em> minimum wage is still having one). At the end of the day someone is going to win and someone is going to lose, and the fact that we have listened to each other might soften the blow for whoever doesn\u2019t get their way in public policy but it won\u2019t change the fact that their approach has been excluded. The question we have to answer is: which course ought to be excluded? As a Christian, I need to know whether a minimum wage is more in line with Biblical questions of justice and mercy, or less in line than not having one.<\/p>\n

These are the kinds of points Forster steps back from making. Yes, Christians of good conscience can disagree with charity (and they should disagree in such a way, when disagreement is impossible to avoid!), but at some point votes must be cast.<\/p>\n

So as I said, this is a great place to\u00a0start<\/em> thinking about economics. But it is certainly not the place to\u00a0end<\/em> such thought (and I suspect Forster would agree with me).<\/p>\n

Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

Dr. Coyle Neal is co-host of the\u00a0City of Man Podcast<\/a>\u00a0and an Associate Professor of Political Science at\u00a0Southwest Baptist University<\/a>\u00a0in Bolivar, MO<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Review of “Economics: A Student’s Guide” by Greg Forster<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1469,"featured_media":6105,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5,114],"tags":[177],"class_list":["post-6102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-christian","category-non-fiction","tag-economics"],"yoast_head":"\nEverything you need to know before you think about Economics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Review of "Economics: A Student's Guide" by Greg Forster\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/schaeffersghost\/2019\/09\/everything-you-need-to-know-before-you-think-about-economics\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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