This blog post, originally published in 2009 and now updated in light of yet again another devastating earthquake in Haiti, is as relevant as ever.
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Gary Moore, widely known for his writings on faith and economics, once pointed out that the ancient Greeks are the forerunners of modern socialism, the ancient Romans the forerunners of conservative capitalism, and Judaism is the forerunner of what he calls Stewardism, the idea that God owns everything and we manage on God’s behalf.
How do you think about these matters? In the middle of all the economic debates over bailouts, stimulus packages, cap and trade, and nationalized health care, it seems people are much more Greek or Roman in their understandings rather than Jewish. This Jewish notion that I work on God’s behalf carries over to those of us who take Christianity seriously. Read the opening chapters of Acts and you quickly discover that the early church is not into private enterprise, nor against it. Instead, it is into using what it has to care for the least of these.
