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 PrintableVersion Economic parablesThe monetary teachings of Jesus ChristHow did we get to here?ECONOMIC PARABLES The book is set out with each chapter posing a question — such as, ‘Do we envy our neighbour?’ or ‘The things we have, whose are they?’ Then follows one of Jesus’s parables and the author’s reflection. In some ways I wish I had read the end of the book right at the start, because the last chapter really explains what the author was aiming at when he wrote the book. Here he says: ‘The point that this book seeks to make is that the market system [i.e. Capitalism] is not contrary to Christianity, and its alternatives are not morally superior either’. This would be a good summary of what the author has written and he certainly makes this point well enough. Personally, I was left at the end of some of the chapters wondering, how did we get to this conclusion from this particular parable and often I wasn’t really any nearer knowing an answer to the initial question. The book does, however, seek to bring balance to some elements of Christian socialist ideals. He argues that the free market system, whilst open to abuse is no more open to abuse than any economic system, in fact it may be less so, certainly a view I would have some sympathy with. However, care needs to be taken when using ancillary details of Jesus’s parables to establish a point. That is not to say that the details are irrelevant and do not have something helpful to say to us from an economic view point, just that we need to tread carefully. Overall the book does make some interesting points, but if you are standing in the book shop considering the purchase don’t read the back cover, just read the last chapter and you will get a better flavour of what the book is about! Charlie Matthews, © Evangelicals Now - June 2008 |
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