Freedom and Capitalism. Essays on Christian Politics and Economics.

John Robbins died exactly a month ago. Many have commented that his legacy is little more than reprinting Gordon Clark; I would disagree. In _Freedom and Capitalism_ we see Robbins come alive in all of his tenacity and perspicuity. Say what you want about his scripturalism, John Robbins forte is economics and political theory. And he shines. The book is a collection of essays. Consequently, there is a lot of overlap in his discussion. The first part of the book focuses on political theory and the second part focuses on economics. Some of the theses presented: Political Theory -The Bible regards the individual, and individual liberty, as more important than the group (individualism versus collectivism) -The Protestant Reformation provided the foundation for Western Civilization and the success of America -Biblical revelation alone is the foundation of freedom -Austrian economics is the most biblical form of economics, though it by itself cannot defend freedom -Natural law is an inadequate defense of law, only revelation can furnish man with law -American foreign policy can be described as "political messianism," which is entirely unbiblical -1 Samuel 8 and Romans 13 describe the only appropriate form of government -Military drafts are unbiblical -"Compassionate conservatism" is merely an outworking of social justice and pluralism; it is not biblical -Reconstructionism is an assault on biblically-based freedom (liberty of conscience) -Roman Catholicism's political theory can more or less be summarized as totalitarianism -Christians have unwittingly surrendered themselves in the abortion debate by adopting the terms of the enemy (since Christians refuse to argue against abortion on scriptural grounds) -The church and the state should operate independently of one another -Government-provided health care is immoral and a failure Economics -Secular economics is a failure, being unable to ground any of their theory -The Bible alone furnishes us with axioms for economic theory -Neo-evangelicalism and Roman Catholicism are largely socialist and anti-capitalist -Roman Catholicism paved the way for socialism in America -Taxation beyond the terms of Romans 13 and 1 Samuel 8 is legalized theft (violating the 8th commandment) -The government should not be involved in the printing of money -Ecology is a religion that worships the creation and not the Creator Obviously, many if not all of these theses will offend modern day Christians and liberals. But that is Robbins' point---most who call themselves Christians are socialist to the core, having bought into the lie of social justice. And social justice is rooted in greed. Robbins points out that the common strand of thought running through neo-evangelicalism, Roman Catholicism, and secularism is a hatred of biblical Christianity. He spares no offense in presenting his case, as one can imagine. Though I entered _Freedom and Capitalism_ a non-interventionist, his essays on political messianism and "compassio