Friday, September 18, 2015

Biblical View of Economics 1

I'm speaking this morning in Michigan on "Biblical Foundations for Faith, Work, and Economics: Human Flourishing and the Kingdom of God."

I start off with the basics of a Biblical Worldview, using some material I developed to present to a graduate class of Orthopedic Therapists at IWU. Here is the basic worldview piece of my presentation:

1. God exists and is involved in the world.
2. All human beings have intrinsic worth.
3. The world is not as it should be.
4. God has fixed, is fixing, and will fix the world through Christ--history has a direction.
5. In Scripture, God has revealed two foundational ethical absolutes.

My second slide then emphasizes that we should not think of worldviews here as ideas in a weak sense. By "views" I mean perspectives that are expressions of deep seated values and drives, what Jesus calls the "heart" in Mark 7. James 2 indicates how "dead" mere ideas are, even ideas about God. "Faith without works is dead" or we might say, "Belief that doesn't come from the heart is dead."

Our behaviors and habits flow from our loves, which we often try to express in words and ideas. There are also other very significant components to our view of the world--the way we tell our stories and the stories of others, as well as the key symbols and "rituals" of our lives.

I'll post more later...

6 comments:

Paul Tillman said...

"5. In Scripture, God has revealed two foundational ethical absolutes." Referring to: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and Love your neighbor as yourself, I take it.

Unknown said...

I think between 4 and 5 should be this statement.

God's "fixing" (aka.- reconciliation of all things) is done in concert with and sometimes in spite of His called out people, the Church. (Just a note, why are you not using the term "reconciliation" instead of "fixing"?)

Economics is social and communal event, especially since household (oikos) of God implies an economy as the Sabbath implies an economy...but then again maybe I am getting ahead of your presentation.

Ken Schenck said...

Bingo!

Ken Schenck said...

Good stuff!

Paul Tillman said...

One reason we need that ethical foundation . . .
“When morality comes up against profit, it is seldom that profit loses.” ― Shirley Chisholm

Martin LaBar said...

Thanks. I was hoping you'd post your version of the two ethical absolutes, but I guess Mr. Tillman has done that.