For most of us, the proverbial war between science and religion ended long ago, either in a stalemate or a truce. Nonetheless, the conflict between religion and economics goes on, apparently for good reasons. After all, didn’t Jesus throw the money traders out of the temple? Economics, you know, isn’t called the “dismal science” for no reason. What could be more dreary than the “economic man” put forward by classical economics – a creature motivated by nothing more than material self-interest? Economics refers to the way that people relate to each other over resources. What a contrast with
the “Christian man,” who aspires to love God by serving others with hope and charity. To make matters worse, classical economic theory assumes a world of scarce resources in which individuals have no choice but to compete with each other in order to survive. Our Christian faith, on the other hand, teaches us that in God’s world, there is more than enough to go around. Therefore, the goal of God’s economy is always a shared prosperity, and never the prosperity of one social group over and against another.
The great Old Testament prophets focused on the way wealth was shared, which is a matter of justice (Isaiah 58, Amos 5, etc). To the attentive and concerned observer, it is clear that the victory of capitalism over communism has not delivered the promised increase in freedom and prosperity for the citizens of the globe. This include Structural Adjustment Programmes (IMF), privatisation, unemployment, intellectual property rights and cost-sharing for the poor in health and education. This has a clear impact upon the life and livelihood of the people who come to church on a Sunday. How, then does the church respond? Sadly, to a very large extent, the church is silent, mainly because we feel that the sphere of economics lies outside our competence.
By looking again at the Greek word, oikos (household), which is the common root for the English words economics, ecology and ecumenical, we began to see some deep connections between these things – the church, creation and economic justice. The word economy comes from two Greek words, oikos – nomos, meaning the law or rules of the household. The household is the place where ordinary people, old and young, male and female, healthy and sick, pursue their livelihoods. It is here that the effects of economics are felt most deeply, and it is the livelihoods of these ordinary people – rather than stock markets, inflation targets and the GDP – that should be the key concern of economics.
In some ways, the dramatic demands for justice from prophets like Amos and Isaiah seem most relevant to the economic situation today. But we should think also of the technicalities of the Torah as representing God’s concern for the real households in which his people would live. At heart, the Torah seeks to order the world in which people rather than profit will be the central concern of economics.
The English word ecology comes from the Greek oikos-logos, meaning the studies of the wider “house” in which all living things reside. “House” can mean much more than just the residence of a family. It has a wider meaning that includes a community or nation; it can also mean the whole world, the “house of God.” The contemporary word ecology reminds us that God’s house is made up of all living things, not just human beings. The word ecology makes also a fundamental connection between economics and the environment. For a long time, there has been a divide between those people concerned about the environment and those concerned about poverty. Yet, in the past few years, these groups have begun to draw closer together as the two-way connections between these concerns have become obvious.
A third work that comes from oikos – ecumenical – is drawn directly from the idea of the house or household of God, referring to the church. The picture of the oikumene helps us see the positive side to global networks of people, and a wider conclusion of all people in the affairs of the world. But it does so by recognising them as human beings with dignity and special cultures, rather than by counting them as labourers or consumers to serve the interests of multinational companies. A theological perspective on economy will, therefore, pit the dream of the oikumene against the nightmare of globalisation.
God’s sovereignty goes beyond the church. It embraces political, economic, ecological and social arenas. As church, we have to be withdrawn from secular society and be handed over authority, acknowledging that secular society, not God, sets its parameters. While the church has normally regarded the economy as part of the non-spiritual agenda, reformed theology has long recognised the context of faith within which economics falls.
For a church struggling to engage in economic matters, the word oikos opens some creative connections to think theologically about economics, and to conceive the way that God may be brought back into economic debates. The calling of the church is to hold up the radical inclusivity of the household of God, in which all are invited to sit at the family table as equals. In this way, the church is a sign community for the wider household of earth, and should be a constant witness against the economics of exclusion – preserve only for a select few.
Martin Luther, the 16th Century Reformer, made the point that one’s god can be anything that one loves above everything else, that one fears above everything else, and that one trusts above everything else. Such a god, or idol, is therefore that which has ultimate claim over one’s life. Power, wealth and control over others has become one of the greatest idols of our time. Whether the perpetrator is a politician, a government, or a business person, the cause and effect are the same, and one of the unfortunate consequences of the unjust and excessive exercise of power, wealth and control over people’s lives is abject poverty and hardship. The question, then, for us as Namibians and God’s people remains an urgent one: Are we, collectively and individually, as fully engaged as we should be in the contemporary struggle against poverty, inequality and unemployment?
Let’s put our house in order!
*Reverend Jan. A. Scholtz is the former Chairperson of ||Kharas Regional and former !Nami#nus Constituency Regional Councillor and is a holder of Diploma in Theology, B-Theo (SA), a Diploma in Youth Work and Development from the University of Zambia (UNZA), Diploma in Education III (KOK) BA (HED) from UNISA