Editorial introduction

Welcome to the Review & Expositor issue on “Economic enslavement”. Articles in this issue engage deeply with Christian theological teachings, mining this wisdom for insights on the economy, as well as engagements with Scripture on economics. Additionally, exegetical and pastoral engagements from pastors and thinkers offer insights on how to engage these thorny topics with congregations. We hope you find these articles and expository pieces helpful.

Economics is, at one level, the science that studies systems of production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services, of supplies and demand, of values and measures. At another level, however, economics implicates how we think about creation itself, reveals our desires and fears, tugs on our most visceral impulses, and exposes the limits of our moral imagination. How we think about and share our resources reveals what we believe about the nature of God, what God has called us to do, and how much hold our possessions and professions has on our lives.

Long ago, Max Weber, in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, showed how a preoccupation with good works bore itself out in wealth accumulation and industriousness, such that, for Protestants, the link between capitalism and Christianity now seems almost intuitive. ¹ Though Weber points most directly to Lutherans and Reformed Christians in his work, the “Baptist sects” also receive their fair share of criticism. Pointing to the Baptist emphasis on conscience, Weber writes, “The immense importance which was attributed by the Baptist doctrine of salvation to the role of the conscience as the revelation of God to the individual gave their conduct in worldly callings a character which was of the greatest significance for the development of capitalism.” ² Whether Weber is correct in his link between conscience and soteriology is a matter of historical debate, but for Weber the point is this: the strong place of conscience within Baptist thinking renders issues of material wealth largely immune from public criticism, insofar as Baptists link together certainty of salvation with the conscience’s witness. Put differently, however pure one’s economic dealings are is of little concern if one’s conscience attests that one’s salvation is secure.

At one level, Baptist doctrines of salvation—that a person is saved by Christ’s work in a way which is irreversible and secure—sidestep the issues which undergird Weber’s criticism of Protestant thinking: if we are continually worried about our works bearing out the truth of salvation, in Weber’s thinking, we would be incredibly industrious. For Baptists, our “works” have rarely been a major soteriological issue. Yet, Weber’s suggestion about the structure of Baptist life is a troubling one. Is Baptist theology structured in such a way that Baptists are unable to care about economics well? If our conscience is secure, what does it matter how we engage in economic exchange? And how can we engage in economic critique without once again saying that our works save us?

Reintroducing economics into Baptist life can happen in numerous ways, but the most direct manner (and the one most theologically true) is to reread the Scriptures related to economic life. Throughout the law, teaching on the people’s economic life is interwoven with instructions about worship. In the prophets and the wisdom literature, we find critique and caution about how we engage with material possessions. More than any other topic, Jesus speaks on our material goods and our economic life. The New Testament epistles likewise point us to the ways in which our shared economic life is intrinsic to our discipleship, whether framed in the fiery language of James or the gentle entreaties of Paul. Recovering a fulsome vision of economic life, when tied into how we worship, witness, and pray, will inevitably begin with recovering the vision of the Scriptures.

In this issue focused on the topic of “Economic enslavement”, James E. Brenneman begins his reflection, “A word about … Abolitionist mamas and a new emancipation proclamation,” with a discussion of the interconnectedness between economics and enslavement that has been part of the US from its beginning. Brenneman links the oppression of enslaved people in the US with the enslaved Israelites in Exodus through an analysis of the Hebrew text, putting forward the translations “tax masters” over the more familiar “taskmasters,” and “tortured” over the more familiar “afflicted”. He furthers the connection between Exodus and the US with a discussion of the “large space” women, ancient and modern, have occupied in efforts to liberate victims of all forms of enslavement. In conclusion, Brenneman calls upon “jubilee economics” (Lev 25) as a guide and inspiration for a new emancipation proclamation.

The thematic articles that comprise the next section deal with both the scriptural and theological ways in which economics implicates our discipleship. In his essay, “Grinding the face of the poor,” Mikael Broadway recovers the prophet Isaiah’s work as a lively contemporary critic on economic practices which are as common to us now as they were to Isaiah. In D. Glenn Butner, Jr’s essay, “Impossibility and gradualism in labor markets: Theological reflections on the working poor,” the author engages with Acts 2, arguing for a scriptural warrant for a living wage, while refuting that either the impossibility or gradualism objection is relevant for the response of the church. Emilio di Somma, in “The mystery and economy: God’s theological economy and the world of money,” uses the recent work of philosopher Giorgio Agamben, and brings together the divine administration of creation with our economic life, to illuminate what an economy in line with God’s administration of created life might look like. Randy Ridenouer discusses the jubilee law of Leviticus 25, in his article, “Abandoning jubilee: The structural causes of poverty,” asking what light the biblical practice of jubilee sheds on American economic life and what it means for Christians to recover its teaching. In “The cost of cheap freedom and the liberation of discipleship,” Daniel P. Rhodes examines the role that the “cheap freedom” of markets plays in our economic framework, contrasting this “freedom” to the liberation found in the book of Acts. And in “Enslaved imaginations: The [Pelagian] heresy of market fundamentalism and Christian moral discernment,” Richard Crane interrogates what he calls the “Pelagian” underpinnings of our economic imagination, to ask if the Christian imagination is governed by a way of thinking found in fifth-century battles over free will.

As always, the thematic articles are accompanied by expository and pastoral reflections. Three sermons explore aspects of economic enslavement and reflect on implications for the church. In “The cost of Christian unity,” Myles Werntz contributes a sermon that brings together passages from Acts 2, John 17, and 2 Corinthians 8, and illuminates the way in which economic sharing leads to ecumenical unity. Matthew Vandagriff’s sermon, “A modern rendering of Naboth’s vineyard,” describes how the story of Naboth’s vineyard in 1 Kings 21 informs his pastoral work and speaks to his congregation and community in Kirkwood, Missouri. Finally, in his sermon, “Payday lending and the case of Proverbs 22:7: Wisdom for the borrower and warning to the lender,” Eric Howell interrogates the practices of the payday lending industry and, focusing on the proverb, “The borrower is the slave of the lender,” delves into implications for the Christian life.

We, the editors, hope you find these articles of value as you explore the question of how our material sharing and our worship of God are interrelated. In a world increasingly divided by class, fraught with economic disparity, and rankled by economic grievances, we hope these articles and pastoral reflections provide light and inspiration for your own labors.