My interest in Christian considerations of economics goes back decades. I studied economics at A level before I started university and have recently -in the last three or four years- been reacquainting myself with the discipline particularly as I got interested in the way that Keynsian economics had continued to be sidelined by Mrs Thatcher's handbag economics -now playing in governments near you as thinly disguised austerity. More recently, I've become well acquainted with modern monetary theory (#MMT) and I've been considering the labour theory of value. I spent a number of years thinking in odd moments (while life rushed me along) about how money works -as MMTers often say, contemporary mainstream economics teaching actually doesn't do much with money; merely noting it as a medium of exchange and sitting it in a demand-supply market framework in monetarist theory. This has had me puzzling over how money actually works as a human cultural artefact. I felt that, when I discovered MMT, here was something that made sense of the various things I had been seeing, considering and remembering. This is the reason why #FaithfulExchange looked interesting to me, and it gives me an 'angle' on understanding to evaluate the book.
My own approch to political economy is shaped heavily by understanding that there is a Divine option for the poor and that justice (an expression of neighbour-love) is a primary category for God's self-revelation within our social and cultural landscapes. I salute this book's author for taking the phrase 'political economy' seriously. I think it is an important framing rather than simply 'economics'.
Faithful Exchange sets off with an extended brisk walk through the whole of the Christian scriptures, a narrative approach to theology. It's an approach considering the contents and presentation of history and in doing so, paying more attention and highlighting those parts that bear more directly on the question of money and economy. It is good to have this and to see it done mindful of the work of biblical scholars. One of the things that comes through this is that there is a multiplicity of voices and concerns represented in the flow and eddies of what is now captured in the Bible. This takes time to work through but ultimately I found it helpful because it gives a good reminder of how differently various biblical texts are situated and reflect different historical and cultural developments and ideologies which impact on political economies in practice. -And so invites us to consider the ways that God and God's people have tried to live faithfully with differing political economies. I did also find helpful to take such a walk through the scriptures and to consider the different political-economic matters raised along the way. These are handled with good but not intrusive awareness of the critical conversations around the various texts and their backgrounds. It was good to be reminded of how many different approaches the NT shows to matters of money, sharing, common life, engagement in society and household.
A couple of times in the earliest parts of the book I had to do a double take when capitalism societies seemed to be uncomplicatedly presumed to be better in terms of human wellbeing than the so-called communist societies of the middle of the twentieth century. The reason for my double take is well summed up by a fellow Mastodonite, Geoff Cox:
"... depends on the frame of reference adopted for the comparison. My guess would be that if 'the manufactured famines, the repression, the deaths' within countries are compared, 'communist' regimes like the Soviet Union and China are worse; but if you compare whole systems, for instance the British Empire's responsibility for the slave trade, manufactured famines in Ireland, Bengal, etc...; or compare China's relatively benign foreign policy with America's military interventions and undermining of democracy and human rights all around the world - then capitalism looks far worse." https://climatejustice.social/@GeofCox/115388415806262523
These things are recognised in outline later on, but it did seem to this reader that it would have been better to have given something of that recognition at the very points where a comparison was made which gave the impression of "Communism bad, capitalism good". I mention this because it is vitally important that we recognise that the harms that have gone on and been justified or even excused by appeal to 'free markets' (which have rarely, if ever, existed) and 'choice' (which has usually been restricted but the restriction obfuscated by marketing). It's all very well to point at others and see them as dupes of propaganda or, worse, simply bad people and yet not to consider that our own attention may have been directed and that we may have accepted the spin offered by our own societies' dominant stories and slogans. The Christian faith has a stake in demolishing such strongholds of mis- and disinformation.
There's interesting consideration of the issue of slavery and recognising the different emphases of various biblical writers. I personally felt that the author cedes too much to acceptance of slavery without considering more weightedly that the NT writings point to a kind of ultimately-undermining approach (Philemon being the exemplary text in my view). There's a dialogue within scripture between, as I would see it, a tactical and safeguarding acceptance of the way things are and a push towards living in ways that undermine or circumvent a practice that denies the equality of all be before God and the shared siblinghood of all, especially intensively acknowledged among followers of Christ. But I understand why it is presented so, and it is important that we consider the face-value difficulties presented by the biblical texts. It's also important to note this is an example of both the narrative approach and also understanding the task to be about political economy not merely economics.
Once the biblical narrative and related content has been gone through, it's church history. Though I should, I feel, put down a marker here: church history from a western, Graeco-Roman perspective. It might be good to consider, for example, the Syrian churches, Armenian, Mar Thoma, Ethiopian. Though admittedly these have less influence on what we, western, readers actually inherit as Christians.
It is quite salutary, after the biblical narratives, to consider their reception by the earliest Christian communities and their thinkers and influencers.
This is a long-ish book covering quite a lot and I think needs time to absorb and think about.
Links to book:
Faithful Exchange on Fortress Press
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Comment on review for Faithful Exchange
This review is given for a book that I received in e-format for the purposes of review. I was not obliged thereby to treat the book any more favourably in my review. Part of the deal was, though, that I'd review it within a month of receiving it. Therefore, as it is a long book, at the point of first publishing this review, it had not been fully read. The review should be added to and further edited as the book is completed.
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