the beginning, and why

I went out to eat with a friend the other night at a local restaurant, where their specialty is beefsteak. I observed my friend smother his filet mignon with an ample supply of Heinz Tomato Ketchup. In my mind, he had just ruined a perfectly good dinner! Now don’t get me wrong, I love both steak and ketchup; however, combined? My friend assured me that this was a common practice. Not willing to accept my friend’s proposal, I started thinking of commonly accepted combinations: peanut butter and jelly, watching football and eating nachos, and dogs and frisbees. Having recently graduated from college with a degree in Economics, I searched deep in my mind for an acceptable companion to the study of economics… the Bible? --my mind teased at the idea.

I’ve never studied The Holy Bible with an economics textbook in hand; however, I have studied the Bible and noticed some pretty cool economic principles. Do these principles classify the study of economics and The Holy Bible a commonly acceptable pair? Probably not, and truth be told, I’m probably not breaking new ground either. Nevertheless, I thought the idea was worth an investigation.

I threw the idea at a friend of mine who also happened to study Economics as an undergrad. My question was: “What does the Bible have to do with economics?” We both realized that the Bible does teach many economic principles, which might deserve a more thorough investigation. The founding father of economics, Adam Smith, wrote a book many years ago called The Wealth of Nations. This book was, in essence, an explanation of why some countries were rich while others were poor. Anyone familiar with the Bible has most likely picked up on the prominent pattern of the rise and fall of entire civilizations. My friend and I were both excited to look back on our personal study of the Bible with the intent to uncover some economic gems.

This blog is basically a journal of what we find. We go through the Bible, in no particular order, seeking to find key economic principles. We thought this was something worth sharing and we really hope you have something to gain here. We’re going to avoid catering to just one Economic school of thought, and intend to look for widely acknowledged principles. This should be fun and hopefully no one gets offended. Throw us a comment if you think it’s worth sharing. Thanks guys!