Trump and Economics in the Gospels – Management (Repost)

​As we approach the election we thought we would complete this series on Trump and Economics in the Gospels first began in 2017.  

Would Jesus love capitalists?  This is a trick question - He loved everybody.  Furthermore, according to the Gospels He spent considerable time with friends in low places including the hated “tax collectors”, publicans, sinners, and other dregs of His society, so certainly capitalists would presumably have made the grade.

That being said, and unfortunately for an MBA holding, small business Capitalist like me, a review of the four books of the Gospels (Mathew, Mark, Luke and John) in the New Testament, present alarmingly meager support for capitalism, at least not in terms that a modern day business person, financier, entrepreneur, etc., can confidently hang their hat on.  There is nothing that can be attributed to Jesus saying anything along the lines of “build businesses and maximize profits” though there is the occasional hopeful passage such as:

For whoever has will be given more, but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”  Mark 4:25

On the other hand, as we’ll see in this chapter especially, Jesus is quoted as saying any number of things that are at odds with capitalist outcomes and doctrines such as:

Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide yourselves purses that do not wear out – a treasure in heaven that never decreases, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys.  Luke 12:23

So, when it comes to Donald Trump, we can assume that Jesus would love him just like anyone else and that His admonitions regarding the wealthy would likely apply. And given Trump’s fame as a TV star known for apprentices craving his management skills, this seems an especially appropriate chapter in the Trump and Economics in the Gospels study first posted in March 2018…

Management (Jesus’ Instructions)Probably the “toughest” section of this book for people to take is this one as it contains the unvarnished instructions of the boss of the Gospels.  It should be no surprise that the words are often difficult, even impossible for most of us, to live by. This includes Trump as it includes most everybody else.

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