Conclusion to Part 2: Redemption. Introduction to Part 3: Covenantal Reform.

Christian Economics: Student’s Edition
Conclusion to Part 2: RedemptionPart 1 introduced you to the five points of the biblical covenant as it applied to economics prior to the fall of man. These points were applications of what I have called the dominion covenant. The dominion covenant encompasses all of life and all of creation, while economics relates to the issues of resource allocation.
Part 2 introduced you to the five points of the biblical covenant as it applies to economics after the fall of man. The fundamental economic categories did not change, but their applications did. This was the result of Adam’s sin and God’s negative sanctions on Adam’s body and the ground. The earth is now under a curse.
Part of the requirements associated with the dominion covenant is to reduce the impact of God’s curses on the ground and his curses on Adam’s body. This has to do with medical science. It has to do with agronomy. It has to do with chemistry. But it obviously has to do with economics. As we work out the implications of the economic aspects of the dominion covenant, we should expect relief from the curses.
Let me give an obvious example. One of the curses on Adam was sweat. Residents in the economically developed world now live in temperature-controlled comfort because of air conditioning. Air conditioning was an invention of the early 20th century. It was first used commercially to cool large movie theaters. It is now in most homes. This has made our leisure time more comfortable in summer, but it has also made us more productive in the heat of the day. In other words, air conditioning should be regarded as a consumer good, but it should also be regarded as a producer good. It is a blessing of God, but it is also a tool of production. I think it is representative of all of God’s economic blessings. It is also easy to understand.
You have now read those sections of this book that deal with Christian economic theory. In Part 3, I deal with applications of the theory. But this is only the beginning. I intend to follow this book with three supplemental books, much longer and much more detailed. This book is designed to get you started.
I have not covered the bulk of the topics that you find in any college-level economics textbook. I have not dealt with monetary theory and monetary policy. I have not dealt with the issue of cartels. What about pollution? What about labor policy? What about the stock market? All of these topics are institutional applications of market pricing and government policy. They all can be explained in terms of a handful–actually, two handfuls–of fundamental principles of economic analysis. They began with the dominion covenant (one hand), as revised by God after the fall of man (another hand).

This post was published at Gary North on May 20, 2017.