Rebuilding Babel

From Genesis 11 we receive the story of the tower of Babel, in which the citizens of that city sought to build a tower for two reasons:

1. For their own renown: "Let us make a name for ourselves. . . " (v4)
   
2. To establish their security: " . . . lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." (v4)
   

At that time they had a common language, and when the LORD stooped low to look at their plan, He said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them" (v6). In order to restrict their power to achieve their ends, He said, "Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech" (v7).

Since that time, there have been a multitude of languages in the earth. Now, through the internet, there emerges the prospect again of a common language: html. Through it other languages can be parsed such that the many peoples share a common language. The ambitions that I observe in web businesses are not often far from those of the citizens of Babel: they seek a name for themselves (which we call 'branding') and their own security - in a multitude of ways. Our common language facilitates what was revealed to Daniel: "Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase." In the increase of knowledge, we see our own security - apart from Christ. We seek to conquer disease, to anticipate calamities, to destroy ignorance. But do we unwittingly rebuild Babel?

As one who is involved in an internet startup, I'm keenly aware of the temptation to rebuild Babel, and am constantly thinking about how to think and act in a way that is faithful to Christ and His gospel. How do we use this common language to challenge the assumptions of our fellow citizens about how health, peace and prosperity will come? How do we participate in this sphere without accepting its assumptions, but rather exposing them?

I don't claim to have the answers, but these are the questions with which I wrestle daily as I work on Tumblon.

The unprecedented, immensely challenging task

"We are in a new situation, and we cannot turn back the clock. It is certain that we cannot go back to the corpus Christianum. It is also certain - and this needs to be said sharply in view of the prevalence among Christians of a kind of anarchistic romanticism - that we cannot go back to a pre-Constantinian innocence. . . . We cannot go back on history. But perhaps we can learn from history. Perhaps we can learn how to embody in the life of the church a witness of the kingship of Christ over all of life - its political and economic no less than its personal and domestic morals - yet without falling into the Constantinian trap. This is the new, unprecedented, and immensely challenging task given to our generation. The resolute undertaking of its is fundamental to any genuinely missionary encounter of the gospel with our culture." (Lesslie Newbigin Foolishness to the Greeks p102).

As I get more involved in gospel entrepreneurship, I see how I am prone to the romanticism (although not the anarchist varieties). Yet I yearn to witness the kingship of Christ over economic life, which I do see as the immensely challenging task given to our generation. We have been told that Christian faith is a permissible private belief, but is not public truth. Consequently, any attempt to witness the kingship of Christ over economic life challenges our society at is very foundations. This, I believe, is where, as Newbigin says elsewhere, we must be very humble and very bold.

Market economics

In the past several weeks, all eyes (or at least many eyes) have been on the global financial markets. That focus, in conjunction with Newbigin's writings have caused me to think a lot about market economics. Newbigin observes:

In an earlier age, as in contemporary premodern societies, farming and the various skilled crafts were mainly for the use of the family or the local community. The market in which money operated as a means of exchange was only a minor and marginal part of the economy. But as the principle of division of labor gained ascendancy, the market moved into the central place as the mechanism that linked all the separate procedures with each other and with the consumers. The modern science of economics was born. Once again teleology [the study of purpose] was removed, because economics was no longer part of ethics. It was no longer concerned with the purpose of human life. It was no longer about the requirements of justice and the dangers of covetousness. It became the science of the working of the market as a self-operating mechanism modeled on the Newtonian universe. The difference was that the fundamental law governing its movements, corresponding to the law of gravitation in Newton, is the law of covetousness assumed as the basic drive of human nature. (Foolishness to the Greeks pp30-31)

As I have reflected upon it, I cannot see how a motive other than greed would drive a market economy. 'The market' does not add value in the way that individuals, cooperatives or businesses do. So the impulses of justice, love and mercy have no object on which to rest.

In contrast, an individual or group of people can work in ways that express justice, love and mercy. They can add value to a society through creativity and hard work - and in the process create wealth.

Based on this appraisal of the market economy (and I'm open to being challenged), it seems Christians are called to engage not in the financial markets, but in endeavors that employ creativity and hard work to show justice, love and mercy to one's neighbors. It is a call to Christian work, and Christian entrepreneurship.

The Samson economy

In the famous story of Samson, recorded in Judges 16, Samson possesses superhuman strength. When Delilah tries to elicit the source of his strength, he lies three times - about bowstrings, new rope, and weaving his hair - and when each is attempted, his strength remains. At last Samson confides in Delilah the source of his strength:

"A razor has never come upon my head, for I have been a Nazirite to God from my mother's womb. If my head is shaved, then my strength will leave me, and I shall become weak and be like any other man" (v17).

Yet he doesn't really believe that this is the source of his strength, for when his head is shorn, this is his response:

"And he awoke from his sleep and said, 'I will go out as at other times and shake myself free.' But he did not know that the Lord had left him" (v20)

Not long ago, when I was thinking of neither Samson nor the economy, the phrase "the Samson economy" entered my mind. Since it appeared not to have come from me, I weighed it, and as I considered it, I saw some significant parallels - not an exegesis of the text, but a sobering picture.

There have come upon the American economy many threats to its stability and endurance, and it has shaken them off like Samson discarded the bowstrings and new ropes. Such is our confidence in the human spirit and ingenuity (and the rate of growth over the past decades) that when we consider future economic crisis, we say, "We will go out as at other times and shake ourselves free."

When Samson went out that last time, he did not know that the Lord had left him. He presumed upon the great strength that he had received, and suddenly it was gone. So the contemporary American economy has received great strength. Yet what we do not recognize - certainly not in the public square - is that the One who sustains all things can withdraw His hand, and when He does we will be like the bald Samson.

It is hard for me to imagine that our economy is not the Samson economy.

Christ as the truth by which all truth is tested

"From the eighteenth century onward, Europe turned away from the Christian vision of man and his world, accepted a radically different vision for its public life, and relegated the Christian vision to the status of a permitted option for the private sector. But for the modern church to accept this status is to do exactly what the early church refused to do. It is, in effect, to deny the kingship of Christ over all of life - public and private. It is to deny that Christ is, simply and finally, the truth by which all other claims to truth are to be tested. It is to abandon its calling. (Lesslie Newbigin Foolishness to the Greeks p102)

Employment in the post-Enlightenment West is virtually synonymous with accepting that Christian faith is a permitted option for the private sector only - while denying the kingship of Christ over all of life. As a teacher in the public schools, signing a non-proselytism agreement was a condition of employment, and as an employee at a major financial services firm, I was reprimanded for sharing good news with my colleagues - precisely because they believe that belief is 'private' and not public. My experiences are anything but isolated.

In such a situation, I see little alternative but for Christians to have integrity by announcing the kingship of Christ over all of life. Some will be forced out the door of their current employment, while others will see their colleagues converted through their courage. I believe that the call of the gospel to entrepreneurship both proclaims the kingship of Christ over all of life and creates workplaces that are truly tolerant. As long as Christians accept the public/private division, I see little hope that the Spirit will be pleased to turn many to Christ through our witness.

Growth for the sake of growth

"Since Adam Smith, we have learned to assume that exponential growth is the basic law of economics and that no limits can be set to it. The result is that increased production has become an end in itself; products are designed to become rapidly obsolete so as to make room for more production; a minority is ceaselessly urged to multiply its wants in order to keep the process going while the majority lacks the basic necessities for existence; and the who ecosystem upon which human life depends is threatened with destruction. Growth is for the sake of growth and is not determined by any overarching social purpose. And that, of course, is an exact account of the phenomenon which, when it occurs in the human body, is called cancer." (Lesslie Newbigin Foolishness to the Greeks p115, emphasis mine)

In light of looming recession, Newbigin's words are extremely apropos. We have come to think that cancerous growth is normal, and even essential - even though we are aware that it is built on greed and exploitation of the poor and the environment. If we would embody the Good News of Christ, we must find ways to engage in sustainable, healthy economic growth.

No refuge in the ghetto

"Of course, as contemporary history proves, Christians can live and bear witness under any regime, whatever its ideology. But Christians can never seek refuge in a ghetto where their faith is not proclaimed as public truth for all. They can never agree that there is one law for themselves and another for the world. They can never admit that there are areas of human life where the writ of Christ does not run. They can never accept that there are orders of creation or powers or dominions that exist otherwise than to serve Christ." (Lesslie Newbigin Foolishness to the Greeks p115) [emphasis mine]

It is impossible for us to engage in the public sector without realizing that we have done exactly what Newbigin forbids. We have sought refuge in the ghetto of private, domestic faith - and have therefore denied the truth of it. The challenge for entrepreneurs (which I feel acutely) is to create opportunities in a way that announces Christ as King - rather than denying his Kingship.

Return from haitus

I've taken some time away from blogging here because I've been occupied with working on Tumblon and simply haven't had time. Now, however, my work at Tumblon is forcing me to think again about gospel entrepreneurship, and I have come across some excellent writers who are helping me think through it. So I'll be posting excerpts from their works over the next days and weeks (assuming I can keep my head above water).

I'll be posting business related stuff on the Tumblon blog.