Filed under: The Church and Society
Placing things in perspective:
Too often, arguments over economic orders give us a false set of choices. Often, the tired debates present a continuum running from socialism to capitalism, and then require us to pick a spot somewhere on that continuum as being the “most Christian.” This argument is now, of course, irrelevant, becuase of the late-twentieth-century downfall of socialist orders. But this way of putting the question misses the point anyway. If there is a significant distinction to be made between “church” (as the community that proclaims and embodies the lordship of Jesus) and “world” (as community that refuses to accept his lordship and lives in rebellion to the Creator’s intention for the creation), then Christians cannot pick and choose among unredeemed economic orders and then ascribe God’s favor to one particular unredeemed economic system. (Lee C. Camp, Mere Discipleship. pp. 197-198)
