The Economy of Jesus: A New Direction

In my original post, I intended to undergo a quite ambitious project (and maybe it’s day will come), where I look at least the most prevalent economic systems in human history and compare them with the practices of Jesus and the Judaism he came out of.  I think this task would call for several hundred blog posts (just kidding), or in other words, I do not believe a blog post for each system would suffice to give each economy a fair shake.

But fear not, I have changed the direction of this project. After several discussions via text message, I am still going to focus on economics; yet, I would like to do a more contemporary analysis of theology and economics and how they relate to each other.  My starting point, I believe, has to be Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the New Deal.  I want to see the religious influences and rhetoric behind FDR‘s ideas (if there are any), and compare them with the economic preferences and religion of the modern day Tea Party movement. FDR’s progressivism is a target for the Economic right, but how fair is the criticism? Also, let us not presuppose the FDR’s policies went unchallenged. I also want to look at the counter-narrative undergirding those who opposed FDR, along with their theological perspective as well. I believe this is the direction I wish to go in, exploring libertarianism, Keynsian economics while trying to be fair to all sides.  There may also be something to how economics and race interplay in US politics, and it would be wise if somehow I included Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the discussion.  At the rate I am going, this may end up as a paper proposal for a conference.

RodtRDH

Formerly known as Rod of Alexandria, Rod the Rogue Demon Hunter Preacher of Hope | Black Scholar of Patristics | Writer for Nonviolent Politics. Destroyer of Trolls. It must be that angry puppy.

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