Modern economic thought is humanistic to the core. All schools of thought begin with the presuppositions that man (not God) is the measure of all things and man's mind is capable, apart from biblical revelation, of interpreting the world correctly. This why modern economic theory is in the process of disintegration. North says that economics must begin with the doctrine of creation. He lays out what the Bible requires of men in the area of finance and business, as God established these at the foundation of the world. The Dominion Covenant: Genesis is the first of a unique multi-volume economic commentary on the Bible, offering a welcome, thoroughly scriptural antidote to current ideas about money and how to manage it.
It presents the case for a thoroughly Christians economics—not only the "baptized humanism" that passes for Christian economics in too many of our Christian college classrooms. It also provides biblical answers to these questions, and dozens more.
Have You Ever Wondered:
- Why Genesis 1:14-18 is more hated by humanists than Genesis 1:1?
- Why Darwin was successful in winning converts, when others had failed?
- Why God never intended that Adam should rest on the seventh day?
- Why Adam refused to rest on the first day as a principle of life?
- Why gold is money? (After all, you can't eat gold.)
- Why socialism increases pollution?
- Why pagan cultures have high interest rates?
- Why the Bible says that growth can be a blessing?
- Why the population explosion is morally required?
- Why Hong Kong is wealthy, and China isn't? (What is the key resource?)
- Why the Social Security System is going broke?
- How old Jacob really was when he left home? (You'll hardly believe it.)
- What the Bible teaches about personal financial planning?
Description from inside flap:
If the whole world were converted to faith in Jesus Christ tomorrow, would things be fundamentally different the day after tomorrow?
Most Christians would say yes, things would be different. So would most anti-Christians. Yet if the answer is yes, in what ways would things be different? And would they be radically different in ten years or a century?
Ideas have consequences. What a man believes about God, man, and the world will have an impact on how he acts in life. "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (II Corinthians 5:17). But if all men were transformed in this way, or even a significant minority, would we not also expect a society's institutions to become new? In short, would the transformation of men's hearts not produce a visible, measurable transformation of society as a whole?
Again, the answer is clearly yes. But if society would be transformed, what would it look like? What kinds of changes would we expect to see? Every institution would be affected: church, state, family, business, hospital, school, charitable institution, art, entertainment, technology, and so forth. In short, we are asking the wrong question when we ask: "Would we see significant changes?" The better question is this one: "Could anything remain the same?"
If the Christianization of society would change today's humanistic culture, then we have to ask ourselves: "What are the biblical guidelines by which Christians would reconstruct society? What are the standards of righteousness in any human relationship or in any institution?" If we say that Christianity, if applied, would make the world different, we must have some idea of what is wrong with today's society, and what the proper way of life should be.
"The Bible has the answers to men's problems!" Lots of Christians have announced this truth. But do they really mean it? Doe they really believe that the Bible has the answers for all of men's spiritual problems? Furthermore, can we really believe that men's spiritual problems are completely unrelated to their problems in business, education, health, politics, and so on? Can we legitimately restrict the word "spiritual" exclusively to people's inward feelings?
The Dominion Covenant: Genesis is the first volume of a multi-volume commentary on the Bible. It is specifically an economic commentary—the first one ever published. What does the Bible require of men in the area of economics and business? What does the Bible have to say about economic theory? Does it teach the free market, or socialism, or a mixture of the two, or something completely different? Is there rally an exclusively Christian approach to economics?
Modern economic thought is humanistic to the core, whether conservative, libertarian, Keynesian, Marxist, or whatever. All schools of thought begin with the presupposition that man is the measure of all things, and man's mind is capable, apart from biblical revelation to interpret the world correctly. This is why modern economic theory is in the process of disintegration.
The Dominion Covenant: Genesis sets forth the biblical foundations of economics. It offers the basis of total reconstruction of economic theory and practice. It specifically abandons the universal presupposition of all modern schools of economics: Darwinian evolution. Economics must begin with the doctrine of creation.
The Dominion Covenant: Genesis represents a self-conscious effort to rethink the oldest and most rigorous social science in terms of the doctrine of creation. Every social science requires such a reconstruction. The "baptized humanism" of the modern Christian college classroom must be abandoned by all those who take seriously God's command that Christians go forth and subdue the earth (Genesis 1:28).
We must begin with the doctrine of creation if we are not to end in total chaos. This is the central message of The Dominion Covenant: Genesis. God's curse of the ground (Genesis 3:17-19) made scarcity an inescapable aspect of man's existence. This is the specifically economic starting point for Christian economics. Apart from these fundamental presuppositions, economics is inescapably irrational and self-contradictory.
Did you find this review helpful?