Freedom and Capitalism: Essays on Christian Politics and Economics by John W. Robbins (The Trinity Foundation, Unicoi Tennessee, 650 pages, 2006), $29.95 (E-Book $10.00).
“Brevity, clarity, and profundity are three virtues missing from the modern world,” wrote John Robbins in the introduction to his commentary on Philemon, (Christianity & Slavery, 7). But while these admirable qualities are missing from the works of most contemporary writers, such is not the case with Robbins’ work.
This reviewer has long been of the opinion that one can get more sound theology and philosophy from reading a single short essay by the late Dr John Robbins that he can get from entire shelves full of books by other authors. In Freedom and Capitalism, Robbins once again displays his remarkable talent for presenting profound ideas in a compact and readable package.
Robbins, who is likely well known to followers of this blog as the founder and former president of The Trinity Foundation, held a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy from The Johns Hopkins University and worked on the staff of Congressman Ron Paul of Texas, serving as Paul’s Chief of Staff from 1981-1985.
He was also an active lecturer and writer. Concerning the latter, Robbins commented in his introduction to Capitalism and Freedom that, “Over the past 40 years, as a student (high shcool, college, and graduate) and adult, I have written hundreds of essays, articles, and letters-to-the-editor” (9). This book represents a collection of thirty-one of articles, all but four by Robbins, on the subjects of politics and economics.
The essays presented in Freedom and Capitalism concern a variety of topics within the broad fields of politics and economics and were written over a period of thirty-four years. But for all that, there is a common theme that runs through them, the Scripturalism of Gordon Clark. Robbins nicely summarizes Clark’s Christian system of thought as follows:
Epistemology: The Bible tells me so.
Soteriology: Justification is by belief alone.
Metaphysics: In Him we live and move and have our being.
Ethics: We ought to obey God rather than men.
Politics: Proclaim liberty throughout the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof.
Economics: Laissez-faire capitalism: Have I not the right to do what I will with my own? (9)
Following Clark, Robbins laid special importance on philosophic discipline of epistemology, the theory of knowledge. Epistemology answers the question, How do you know? Whenever someone makes an assertion – e.g. socialism is the best economic system – it is fair to ask that person, How do you know? If a man cannot provide a coherent answer to this question, there is no reason to accept his claim as true. Because of this, epistemology logically stands first among all philosophic disciplines.
One’s theory of knowledge, even if one has not articulated it in systematic form, governs all the rest of one’s theology, philosophy, and worldview. Most persons and philosophies/theologies go wrong right from the start. Their premises are false, and those false premises taint all that follows (10).
Understanding the critical role a writer’s epistemology plays in his system of thought makes it relatively easy for a Christian to judge the quality of a man’s writing. The Bible has a monopoly on truth. Sound thinkers will construct their arguments on the express statements of the 66 books of the Bible and the necessary inferences that follow from them (revelation alone). Unsound authors start their thinking apart from Scripture, grounding their epistemology either in empiricism (sense experience alone) or rationalism (reason alone).
As the title of the book would suggest, the essays in this book are arranged in two groups. Part One is called “Freedom”. The essays in this portion focus on what the Bible teaches about politics. Part Two, “Capitalism” is about economics.
The first essay to appear in Part One has the interesting title “The Founder of Western Civilization.” Were you to rearrange it as a question, Who is the founder of Western Civilization?, and ask around, it is very likely you would receive quizzical looks. After all, many people would be puzzled at the term “Western Civilization.” Further, even if someone has a definition of the “West” in mind, he likely would struggle with naming a single individual.
But while many would stumble here, Robbins provides direct answers. “Western Civilization” is the political and economic system that grew out of the 16th century Protestant Reformation. And the founder of that movement? That would be Martin Luther.
Robbins lists the following as, “the principle political and economic effects” of the Reformation:
Republican (representative) government – “Prior to Luther,” Robbins tells us, “authority in both the church and state flowed downward, from either king or pope. Luther revived the Biblical idea of the priesthood of all believers, which gradually eliminated the hierarchies and aristocracies that existed in both church and state” (22).
Constitutional Government – Robbins argues that the Christian idea of the Bible alone as the written constitution of the church, and that out of this notion developed the idea that civil rulers also ought to be limited by a written constitution.
Religious liberty – Both Greece and pagan Rome persecuted those whose religious views failed to line up with those of the state. Later papal Rome would adopt this practice. But, “Luther opposed the use of force in religious matters” (23), leading to the gradual separation of church and state.
Universal literacy – Because each person is responsible for his own beliefs and practices, men have the right to read the Bible for themselves. This was the impetus behind universal education, a movement that followed from the Reformation.
Capitalism – In opposition to the statists among us, the Bible consistently defends individual property rights.
Most people in the West would be shocked to learn that, far from opposing freedom, Christianity is the sole guarantor of it.
Dr. John W. Robbins
One aspect of Robbins’ work that has long impressed this reviewer is his ability to avoid mistakes that plague most other writers. His essay “Money, Freedom, and the Bible” is a case in point.
Written in 1989, this piece looks at what the Bible has to say about money, using as a foil Gary North’s 1986 book Honest Money: The Biblical Blueprint for Money and Banking. In this essay, Robbins makes three assertions that likely would shock the sensibilities of most economists, even those who consider themselves free market types.
First, money originated in the free market; it is not a creature of government. On this point, Robbins and North both agree.
Second, government has no moral authority to be involved in the manufacture of money. Robbins supports his position by citing the thirteenth chapter of Romans where Paul lists the sole purpose of government as the punishment of evildoers. The authority to coin money is not included in the apostle’s remarks.
Outside of Ron Paul and a few others, almost no one, including those whose views on money and banking are generally sound, would advocate the government’s getting out of the business of manufacturing money. Certainly not Gary North, who in his book wants to see the government get into the gold coin business in a big way.
Third, Robbins argues that there is nothing immoral about fractional reserve banking, and further, that governments have no place in setting bank reserve requirements. Robbins bases his views on an appeal to the Scriptures, which nowhere condemns fractional reserve banking or grants governments the power to regulate banks.
As someone who has long been interested in the subjects of money and banking, this reviewer can attest that even among libertarians, even those really hard-core types who like to describe themselves as anarcho-capitalists, it is almost impossible to find anyone who believes in free banking, that is, the idea that the marketplace, not the government, should regulate banking practices.
Gary North certainly doesn’t believe in free banking. Robbins quotes him as advocating, “the re-establishment of honest, one hundred percent reserve banking” (515). In this, North is following Murray Rothbard who held that financial institutions that fail to follow the practice of one hundred percent reserve banking, “are counterfeiters of fake warehouse-receipts…This sort of swindling or counterfeiting is dignified by the term ‘fractional-reserve banking.’ ”
Contra North and Rothbard, Robbins correctly concludes, “the Biblical blueprint for money and banking does not include any condemnation of fractional-reserve banking” (515). Robbins’ analysis of money and banking represents a brilliant application of the doctrine of sola scriptura to some of the most fundamental questions in economics.
Consistency is another virtue of Robbins’ work that shines through in Capitalism and Freedom. Over time, many authors undergo significant shifts in their basic assumptions. As a result, their writings tend to drift, with their later works writings contradicting ideas they set forth in earlier decades.
But in Robbins’ case, one finds nothing of the sort. “Ecology: The Abolition of Man” from 1972 is the earliest essay in this collection. Written during the author’s time as a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins, it is a mature work that shows the author reasoning from the Scriptures to refute the ecologers, people we would now call “greens” or “environmentalists”, with the same approach he used at the very end of his career. The final paragraph of the essay is representative of the whole,
I find it quite difficult to believe that human beings, and a fortiori, Christians, are entirely sane when they choose to crusade in behalf of birds and fish and ignore the terror and slaughter of human beings that surrounds us and is abetted by our government. Human beings are of more value than many sparrows.
Robbins consistency is very much to his credit. Not only does it show him to be a competent thinker, but it also allows the reader to approach his writing with confidence, knowing that, unlike many authors, Robbins will not take away on one page what he had granted on the previous one. With Robbins, “yes” is “yes” and “no” is “no”.
In this reviewer’s opinion, to call John Robbins one of the finest Christian writers of recent times is true but insufficient. It would be more accurate to say that he is among the clearest, most profound and logically consistent Christian thinkers of any era. Freedom and Capitalism belongs on the shelf of any Christian interested in learning about what the Bible has to say about politics and economics, two philosophic disciplines that affect all of us on a daily basis.
Lux Lucet 
[…] This list is a combination of the summaries found in Robbins’ article “An introduction to Gordon H. Clark” and from page nine of his book Freedom and Capitalism (For a fine treatment of the book, see Steve Matthews’ review). […]
After 35 years as a “Christian”, it was only after reading Dr Robbins that I understood what faith was and justification through faith alone. The same was true for my wife.
After such a long period and all the church camps and seminars and sermons and books neither of us could have told you what faith was nor justification by faith alone. Sad, so sad. We wanted to learn but the anti intellectual, or lack of intellectual, teaching kept us in the dark. And this was in professing Reformed churches.
It was so liberating to come across Dr Robbins and see that the Scriptures made sense and the Reformers got it right.
The experience you and your wife had parallels my own. I spent a lot of years in church and, as it turns out, learned very little. In my case, I was not raised Reformed. So that’s part of it. But even after I came to a better understanding of Scripture, it was only after reading the work of Drs. Clark and Robbins that I really started to understand basic concepts such as what faith is. I’ve learned more sound philosophy and theology from John Robbins and Gordon Clark than from everyone else I’ve ever read put together.