About E. Calvin Beisner

E. Calvin Besiner is Founder and National Spokesman of The Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation and author of "Prosperity and Poverty: The Compassionate Use of Resources in a World of Scarcity" and "Prospects For Growth: A Biblical View of Population, Resources, and the Future" (Crossway Books, 1988 and 1990), as well as other books and articles.

Godly Stewardship versus Environmentalism

October 17, 2012 By 1 Comment

In the last twenty years, the American evangelical church has jumped on the “green” bandwagon and embraced environmental stewardship as an ethical responsibility. In principle, this is good.

Yet, the new evangelical movement frequently embraces the broad themes and specific claims of the wider Environmental movement. Often those themes are unbiblical and its claims false.

What is the basic problem? Most of the Environmental movement desires nature to be left as free of human influence as possible. This inevitably leads to opposition to economic development and population growth, since both require using resources. The movement’s goal is to preserve untamed wilderness at any cost.

But that goal is patently unbiblical. It runs contrary to the Bible’s teaching in Genesis 1:27 concerning man’s essence (being made in the image of God, male and female). And it directly contradicts Genesis 1:28 on man’s mission (to fill and rule the Earth and everything in it).

It may be worthwhile to put all this in context by looking at the history of creation. [Read more...]

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How Do We Recover the Moral Foundations of Economics? [Part 2]

October 4, 2012 By 1 Comment

[Continued from Part 1]

Moral Criteria of Economics

But these are not the only criteria. A moral economy must look also at the moral quality of work.

In Christian ethics, two virtues stand supreme: justice (or righteousness) and love (or grace). The moral economy will take both of these into account. It will not reward injustice or hate, but will reward justice and love.

There are, of course, many expressions of these two things.

Love expresses itself chiefly in service to others, especially self-sacrificial service (Christ “loved me and gave Himself for me,” Galatians 2:20). It is not enough that I do something brilliant or difficult or time consuming; I should not be rewarded unless what I do benefits others. And the chief practical indicator of that is someone’s willingness to pay for it in the marketplace. [Read more...]

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How Do We Recover the Moral Foundations of Economics?

October 3, 2012 By 2 Comments

Not long after I graduated from college with a degree in religion and philosophy, I met weekly for breakfast with a minister friend of mine. A warm-hearted, intelligent man, he kept challenging me to broaden my interest from Biblical studies, theology, and apologetics – which were my great loves –  to include social concerns.

One week, he told me of a book he’d just read: Ronald J. Sider’s Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger. “Cal,” he said, “you’ve simply got to read this book. It’ll change your life.”

“Who, me? Read a book on economics and poverty?” I thought. “No interest.” But he shamed me into reading it, insisting that I learn to demonstrate the love I professed.

And, yes, reading Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger changed my life. As I read it, I kept thinking, “I know nothing about economics, but I do know about logic, theology, and Biblical interpretation. If what this author does to economics is anything like what he does to those, following his prescriptions means disaster. We’ll all be equal, all right; equally poor.”

So I took on the task of learning economics. I read textbooks, journal articles, and major treatises, all with the intent of exploring what the Bible, Christian theology, and sound economic study can teach us about how to help the poor. My hope was to offer the Christian public an alternative to Sider’s vision. [Read more...]

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