Abstract

There are obstacles to labeling any set of political or economic structures a Christian political economy, and especially the Christian political economy. First, Christ spoke mainly of things of the spirit, not of political or economic structures, nor of changing those structures. Second, things of the spirit may be gained or lost in any political economy. Third, with regard to the modem rivals, the common formulation that capitalism is based on greed and socialism on love fails the tests of both logic and experience. Fourth, neither the institutional structures of capitalism nor of socialism assure Christian outcomes. Christians do have normative standards by which to judge regimes, and wisdom to avoid certain errors. But all structures pose some difficulties, and none assure Christian results. Christ was, after all, wiser than those who would correct His teaching by stressing structures of political economy.