Messiah College is a very interesting place. It is a Christian school with Anabaptist roots, which means that we do not fly a flag on campus (the “Kingdom of God” is more important than any symbol of nationalism–unless, of course, it is the flag in the school gymnasium that is required by the NCAA). We also have our share of liberal Christians concerned with social justice. The college sponsors programs and institutes that support social justice in the Anabaptist, Wesleyan, and Pietist traditions.
But there is also a very vibrant group of conservative students on campus. Many of them are quite bright. Most of them, it seems to me, are more free-market libertarian conservatives than more traditional, Burkean conservatives. (Of course, nearly all of them combine their libertarianism with beliefs in today’s “conservative” values such as the opposition to gay marriage and abortion). Few of them have thought deeply about the relationship between their libertarianism and Christian social ethics.
I thought about these students this morning as I read Hunter Baker‘s nice piece on the First Things website: “Evangelicals and Economics: Reflections of a Conservative Protestant.” Baker describes his intellectual journey from a free-market libertarianism of the Smith, Friedman, Hayek variety to a conservative who is more thoughtful about the ways in which libertarianism and Christian ethics may not “always be an obvious fit.”
I think I might pass this along to some of my students.
Thanks for linking to the First Things Post. Clearly, the market will lead to outcomes which are ungodly, even if they are efficient, but that does not mean that market liberalism is an inappropriate political commitment for a Christian to hold. Indeed, the ungodly outcomes produced by all political systems suggest that a believer’s political commitments (whatever variety) should be subordinated to her faith. The question seems to be what political comitment (in context) is most deeply resonate with the gospel. The apparent freedom that God gives to all to respond to his call is deeply resonate with much of classical liberalism. God’s hesitancy to give the Israelites a king in lieu of a decentralized system of judges resonates with libertarian governance. As a final point, I’ll call conservatism into question by pointing to the apolitical nature of Jesus ministry. Jesus’ counsel to give to Ceasar what is Ceasar’s and his refussal to take a political position before Pilate suggest that government is not a first order player in the kingdom Jesus came to bring. This not only challenges the conservative tendancy to mandate morality through government instruments, but it also resonates with the classical liberal’s distrust of the government as an arbiter of what people should believe and do. Best for the government to enforce negative liberties (“freedom from”) and thus clear the stage for communities, families, and congregations to work out exactly what it means to live as resident aliens in the earthly city even as they are citizens of the City of God.
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