by Professor Brad Stamm

Most economists, or for that matter, most academicians, errantly think they are doing their analyses in a theologically amoral vacuum. However, each one—either explicitly or implicitly—is enrolled in a teleological school of thought that sits on a continuum somewhere between love of self and love of God. The same could be said for journalists who think their reporting is objective. And while that might even be the case for a particular article, the decision regarding what to report on, how to report it, the headline itself, and the story’s placement, all reflect the values of those responsible. Some have gone so far to say that all ‘facts’ are value-laden in that when, how, and where we speak a ‘truth’ imply that there is also a ‘why.’

 Christian economists must certainly incorporate an integration of their faith with their economics, but also must have the conviction that telos, that is, our purpose, our goals, and our ends, are everything. Our chief end in life directly affects the means by which we approach the economics discipline. Thus, a Christian life that is correctly ordered will produce results and embrace economics that are glorifying to God.

An economist whose heart is set on pleasing the Lord and whose mind is under spiritual reconstruction will be enlightened regarding certain unjust economic means of distribution such as the marketplace of adoption and the market for bodily organs. Cost/benefit analysis and even present value become irrelevant in light of a teleological ordering with God as the ultimate end.

Christian economists need to consider adding a theology grounded in biblical truth concerning Christ and the Trinity to their abilities in sophisticated economic analysis, all within an ecclesiology centered on pleasing God the Father. If they cannot gain that knowledge, they must consider working in tandem with those who have it already. The potential benefit to the economist will be a new or revised orientation away from the secular and temporal economic emphases on consumerism, profit maximization, market solutions, and scarcity, toward a telos that glorifies the Lord and works itself out in love through acts of goodness and policies that promote goodness in remembrance of God’s gift to us through Christ Jesus.

Thus, the more we learn to think like Him within the boundaries of what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy, while simultaneously avoiding the vain philosophies from the world around us, the better conduits we become for his Kingdom principles to be made manifest where we live and His divine will to be accomplished on earth (Colossians 3:2; Philippians 4:8; Matthew 6:10). And as we gain the mind of Christ, what prior seemed to be an amoral vacuum, now becomes separated into darkness and light.