(The Institute for Christian Economics, P.O. Box 8000, Tyler, Texas 75711 ) 1982 • 496 pages • $14.95 cloth
Gary North’s name is well known to readers of The Freeman as the author of a score of articles, lucidly written and well argued. His fortnightly newsletter, Remnant Review, contains brilliant analyses of current economic and political trends, and offers sound advice for those who are struggling to hold body and soul together during this trying period in the world’s history. His Institute for Christian Economics issues four publications, one monthly, three bimonthly. It also publishes books, tapes and home study courses. A Divinity School is on the drawing board.
Dr. North seems to get more things done than any two ordinary people, and all is done well. But central to his life’s purpose is the writing of a multi-volume economic commentary on the Bible. Of ordinary exegetical works there is a profusion, but no one, to my knowledge, has ever gone through the Bible book after book to see what the whole Bible has to say about the way our economic activities should be organized. Dr. North has dedicated himself to this task, and the formidable book before us is volume I.
Gary North’s doctoral thesis explored the economic thought of the New England Puritans. His theological convictions lie in this area, that is, within the orthodoxy laid down by John Calvin. Calvinism strikes some as a legalistic and cheerless creed. But that Calvin’s was a powerful mind no one can deny, and it is equally true that Calvinism has attracted minds of the highest caliber from its early days to the present time. Basing their theology on an infallible Book, Calvinist thinkers put modernity to the test and find it wanting; it is man-centered not God-centered and this causes everything to be more or less skewed.
Gary North starts at the beginning, with Genesis 1:1, and by the time he reaches Genesis 50:20 he has written a book of 496 pages and displayed a sure-footed understanding of Biblical theology, science, sociology, free market economics, Darwinism, Marxism, and sundry other issues. There is heavy stuff here, but the writing is lively and heavy does not mean dull. There will be readers who will find something to disagree with on every other page, but even the most skeptical—if they can think at all—will find much to ponder.
Readers who want a basic course in Austrian economics will find it here, supplied with Biblical reinforcement of key points. If it is light on the Creation vs. Evolution controversy, there is a 77-page appendix with 203 footnotes. There are strong opinions on almost every page, and a twenty-page index enables the reader to find his way around in the book.
Twentieth-century socialism has made deep inroad among the more liberal church bodies, and it has recently gained a foothold among Evangelicals. Which makes it appropriate to note here the appearance of a second edition of David Chilton’s fine polemic (Productive Christians in an Age of Guilt-Manipulators, I.C.E., Box 8000, Tyler, Texas 75711). The New Preface is by Dr. North.
