On Christianity and Socialism
It was wonderfully gratifying to see the response to this material from folks on Twitter, so thanks to everyone for their kind words.
And if you do have Twitter, you can access all this as a moment.
#TwitterSeminary founder and president @dwcongdon asked me to present a guest lecture on #Christianity and #socialism. I'm glad to oblige.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(1) We must begin by clarifying the terms "Christianity" and "Socialism."
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(2) "Christianity" is characterized by belief that a 1st century Jew from Palestine (Jesus) was the transcendent God living among humanity.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(3) Jesus's life was characterized by concern for the poor and oppressed. E.g., Lk 4:18-19 & 6:20; Mk 10:21; etc.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(4) In this, Jesus located himself at the center of the Jewish prophetic tradition. E.g., Is 1:17 & 10:1-3; Jr 22:13; Am 2:6-7; Ml 3:5; etc.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(5) Consequently, any Christianity worthy of the name will also prioritize care for the poor and oppressed.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(6) Furthermore, it will attempt to correct the sociopolitical and economic dynamics that produce poverty and oppression.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(7) In other words, it will concern itself to "establish justice in the gate" (Am 5:15) - that is, establish liberating social structures.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(8) "Socialism" is an economic system aimed at providing the material conditions necessary for democracy.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(9) Note, socialism is *not* a political system; various different political systems can be wed with socialism; same as capitalism.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(10) In each case, you can have socialist / capitalist authoritarianism, oligarchy, monarchy, fascism, etc.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(11) But, while capitalism tends to the authoritarian (because organized around individuals controlling disproportionate power, "capital"),
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(12) socialism tends toward the democratic (because organized around all citizens sharing in a society's wealth and deciding how to use it).
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(13) Thus, the socialism and democracy are a natural pair, and it is impossible to have true democracy without a socialist economic system.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(14) Christianity and socialism go together because both are concerned with removing unjust social structures.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(15) In that sense, true Christianity is socialist and socialism is what Christianity looks like when translated into economics.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(15a) This is not new: there have been many Christian socialists. Heath Carter discusses some American varieties: https://t.co/qKZXpdP4z7
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(15b) My own stance derives from the Christian socialism of Karl Barth and Helmut Gollwitzer: https://t.co/LPo6FRr2ho
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(16) To flip the tables a bit: the question is not whether socialism is compatible w/Christianity, but whether capitalism is. It is not.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(17) Marxism is a particular way of theorizing socialism that emphasizes social analysis with reference to material conditions.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(18) Marxism comes in both strong and weak forms.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(19) Weak Marxism functions simply as a mode of analysis aimed at understanding and changing society w/ref to material conditions.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(20) In essence, it tells you to "follow the money" if you want to understand how a society works.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(21) Strong Marxism develops a theory of history and gets deployed as an Ideology / Theory of Everything / etc. It can be like a religion.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(22) I doubt Marx intended his work to be taken in this strong sense. As Gollwitzer says, his thought was "a fighting doctrine."
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(23) In other words, Marx wanted to change the world not theorize the world or develop a comprehensive worldview.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(24) The payoff of this: Christianity need not reject "weak" Marxism; it's a very useful analytic tool.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(25) When it comes to "strong" Marxism, Christians should treat engagement as an exercise in interreligious dialogue (governed by love).
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(26) It's a question of divergent eschatologies and ways of articulating the meaning of human existence.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(27) Consequently, such dialogue can be quite fruitful in myriad ways. See this, for instance: https://t.co/TtkvRuhmXg
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(28) If we deploy Marxist analysis against so-called Christianity in the United States today, we get a textbook example of class-bondange.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(29) So-called Christianity has been coopted by capital and transformed into a propaganda campaign for the perpetuation of social privilege.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(30) These social privileges either directly legitimate capitalism (e.g., by casting the poor as somehow immoral and the rich as moral),
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(31) or they fragment the population to prevent overthrow of capital (e.g., racism, sexism, jingoism, etc.).
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(32) This constitutes a radical and thoroughgoing betrayal of the gospel.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(33) Now to address some common counter arguments.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(34) Counter argument #1: socialism requires theft (i.e., wealth redistribution) so Christians can’t be socialists.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(35) This falsely assumes that the unequal distribution that got us into this situation was just. It was not.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(36) Taking what person A has unjustly acquired from person B and giving it back to person B is justice, not theft.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(37) Counter argument #2: socialism requires violence / coercion so Christians can't be socialist.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(38) This is special pleading. Nearly all the folks who make this argument are fine with having Christian police officers, soldiers, etc.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(39) And again, socialist wealth redistribution is an exercise in justice and therefore simply a police action.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(40) Counter argument #3: Christianity is about spiritual things and not political things, so Christians can't be socialists.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(41) Again, special pleading. The vast majority of people who make this argument are nonetheless in favor of, e.g., outlawing abortion.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(42) Furthermore, Christianity has always been about politics from the beginning. Jesus was crucified for subversion.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(43) Finally, everything is political so it is impossible to avoid politics. One engages in politics either by omission or commission.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(44) So the only question is whether one will engage in politics self-consciously as a Christian called to resist oppression and injustice.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(45) Counter argument #4: Christianity values individual liberty, socialism doesn't, so Christians can't be socialists.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(46) Democratic versions of socialism do not undermine proper individual liberty any more than our current system does by outlawing murder.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(47) Freedom in Christianity is never only freedom *from* something but also *for* something. The former w/o the latter is sub-Christian.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(48) Christian socialism simply makes clear that Christian freedom is properly used *for* liberating the poor and oppressed.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(49) Counter argument #5: maybe the kingdom of God / heaven will have total equality but only God can make that happen, so no worries now.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(50) This view depends on a faulty pie-in-the-sky eschatology that leads to disgusting religious quietism.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(51) Letting actual living human beings suffer because you think you should wait on God to intervene is *not* loving your neighbor.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(52) It's also a symptom of a bad doctrine of providence. To put it tritely: what if the way God wants to intervene is through you?
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(53) Yes, human action will never bring about the kingdom of God. But, we *can* work to make our societies increasingly approximate it.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(54) And the neat thing about the KoG is that it’s a receding horizon - you can always get closer to it, no matter how long you try.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(55) In summary:
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(56) Jesus said the most important thing was love of God and love of neighbor. Love of neighbor means caring for the poor and oppressed.
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
(57) And caring for the poor and oppressed means changing society so that it stops producing people who are poor and oppressed. FIN
— W. Travis McMaken (@WTravisMcMaken) March 22, 2017
==================================
Follow @WTravisMcMaken
Subscribe to Die Evangelischen Theologen