Not surprisingly, borrowing and lending are well represented in the Gospels, and would put the world economic order on its head if followed to the letter. 

Matthew 5:42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not reject the one who wants to borrow from you.

Trump supporters generally point to the economy as one of his top accomplishments over the past four years and why they voted for him to begin with. They point to his China policy, deregulation, manufacturing, jobs, and commerce in general. Unfortunately for Trump apologists GDP growth, employment, deficits, and the national debt, have all taken big hits under his term; much caused by the pandemic, some not.

Of course, modern economic policy and tools didn’t exist in Roman times - no printing presses printing trillions of drachmas in Caesar’s basement - though taxation and debt certainly did.

Without credit and debt, the modern economic system would be unrecognizable. So much more debt to foster so much more commerce. 2.000 years later can we see the derivative effects on our ecology from these passages? Commerce and the environment rarely seem to benefit harmoniously.

Forgiveness seems like a rather quaint concept that has little reality in a business or economic context.  But forgiveness of debts is commonplace. Just declare bankruptcy, accept the drop in your credit rating, and move on, as many are today. It is also normal for countries and large economic enterprises to turn the other cheek, so long as there are economic payoffs in doing so.

Luke 6:35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to ungrateful and evil people.

Lend and expect nothing back? In many ways our laws actually inculcate these Gospel teachings…and Trump has taken full advantage. As a real estate developer, he certainly borrows lots of money, at least through his companies. And his business failures have shown that the legal system often allows debts to be excused – and forgiven nonpayers to come out smelling like roses – and still rich. In fact, Trump’s experience with bankruptcy law was sighted as a good reason to vote for him in the first place by many.

​6:12 and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors. ​

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.

​In addition to housing, there was a lot of other building going on back in the day of the Gospels.  Synagogues, tombs, prisons, barns – there’s quite a list.

Along with agriculture, textiles, and, what we might term today, light industry, it appears that construction was the chief component of economic activity.

Again, not so different from today.

One might think Trump would be well represented in these passages given his profession as a builder – and indeed he is...

​The Gospels are full of houses.  They are mentioned seemingly at all times and in all books.  The disciples had them.  Jesus’ friends had them, as did his enemies.  Everyone but Jesus himself seemed to have one.

Donald Trump certainly is famous for his dwellings – and achieved much of his wealth through their building. He currently lives in perhaps the most famous house of them all: The White House. Building homes is the family business, though the Trumps have certainly diversified. This particular section of the Trump and the Gospels study seems, therefore, particularly prescient somehow.

From an economics standpoint it would seem pretty obvious that homebuilding, like today, was a cornerstone of economic activity.  As is seen in the chapters on labor and produced goods it is also apparent that tools and jobs were abundant in the home building sector, if you will.

​This chapter looks at a subject closely related to last month's "Commerce and Banking" installment: Forgiveness. While Christianity's general philosophy lies on this bedrock principle, to see forgiveness in an economic context is intriguing. Modern bankruptcy law institutionalizes forgiveness of loans  for instance, as does the practice of forgiving the loans of nations, forgiveness of credit card loans, etc.
​
Trump himself has benefited greatly from such practices going way back, including the forgiveness of his $500,000,000 to the bondholders of his Atlantic City casino in the 1980's. He has even bragged about his numerous bankruptcies and their qualifying nature for his presidency. That's what this series tries to do; to see Trump in light of the economic lessons of the Gospels.

On a more personal level, Trump has famously stated that he doesn't think he has asked God for forgiveness though he is a Presbyterian and practices holy communion.
​(https://www.cnn.com/2015/07/18/politics/trump-has-never-sought-forgiveness/index.html) 

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.

The economic lessons are sometimes difficult to discern though each passage has some basis in an economic axiom, and may be at odds with modern economic practice.  This is where the “rubber meets the road” in terms of the metaphysical/philosophical meeting the physical realties of economics.

​This section of the book breaks from the counting of words and tries instead to discuss categories of instructions.

The Gospels contain a rich assortment of various professions with close to fifty counted, ranging from the most recognized, like fishermen, to the most despised, the Pharisees, to the lowest on the ladder, slaves, to the top, governors, rulers and the like.

Where is Trump found in these passages? Seemingly everywhere from the standpoint that it is easy to see many of these jobs as either a metaphor, a foil, or other contextual roles for him. What job would he have held, or been ascribed to him, is interesting to try to discern. Perhaps it is Governor (Pilate), King (Herod), Caesar, Hired Hand, Shepherd, Ruler, the list goes on. Perhaps some of each. Trump and the Presidency are multi-faceted and not easily found in the Gospels, nor in Roman Times, nor in Jesus’ space and time. There was no democracy in the Gospels.

​For the most part in this book the spiritual/metaphysical is given back seat status.  Economics is largely on the opposite end of the spectrum in that it deals with the physical world of factors of production, goods and services, capital, labor, rent, etc.  That being said, Adam Smith referred to the “invisible hand” as a manifestation of market forces, in and of itself, a kind of nod to an unseen, if not metaphysical, force.  Kingdoms in the Gospels exist in both contexts.

Nothing is more basic to modern economics than money - so too apparently in Jesus’ time.