Covenant Economics: A Biblical Vision of Justice for All

Covenant economics, Jubilee justice economics, Kingdom economics, community/kiononia economics; there are viable alternative to corporate capitalism which usually puts corporation profits ahead of worker and the community welfare.

Biblically, justice is a spiritual/social/economic concept.  Justice is a part of God's character; God is just and he loves justice that is operationalized here on earth.

John Perkins asserts that justice is an economic/ownership/stewardship issue; justice has to do with equal access to the resources of God's creation.  If one puts oppression, justice and shalom on a continuum with oppression at one end and shalom at the opposite end, then justice should be placed in the middle of the continuum.

Oppression may be the worst word in human language; shalom may be the most beautiful.  For the oppressed, oppression is 'hell on earth.'  Shalom, by contrast, is 'heaven on earth.'


Biblical justice, Jubilee justice, not only liberates the oppressed; it also provides equal access to the resources of God's creation.  Jubilee justice cancels debt every seven years; frees slaves every seven years.  It also returns land to each family so each family can be self-sufficient.

The genius of Covenant Economics is that it spells all this out in great detail.  Horsley reveals the uniqueness of OT covenant economics and contrasts it with more oppressive economic systems both within Israel and in surrounding countries.

The strength of his book is how he shows covenant economics is central to Jesus' understanding of justice.  Though the Jews never lost sight of the ideal of covenant economics, they seldom practiced it consistently; but check out Nehemiah five.  But Jesus could appeal to their understanding of Jubilee justice as he presented the kingdom of God.

From time to time, Horsley makes penetrating critiques and applications to modern America.  He claims that our founders understood covenant economics, but seldom lived them out.  Instead they practiced Indian genocide and African enslavement.

But we could and should return to covenant economics in the U.S.; it could replace most of corporate capitalism.