The Maker vs. the Takers really stands out among the books I read this year as one of the most interesting with a profoundly compelling thesis. The book is short and written in a simple style, but it contains much to ponder on in the face of the various ideologies that compete for space in our public square.
Theologians tend to ignore economic commentary on the gospel. Unfortunately, that leaves that field wide open. It ends up dominated by the socialist version of Jesus. And Jesus’ words often seem to support the socialist agenda. What we, too often, ignore is the context of the gospels. Jerry Bowyer seeks to fill that hole by writing an economic history of Jesus.
Jerry Bowyer seeks to prove that Jesus’ primary critique of wealth is in the context of those who take wealth. While in Galilee, Jesus tends not to focus on the problem of wealth in the same way. However, as he comes closer to Jerusalem, Jesus’ emphasizes the abuses of the wealthy.
Bowyer argues that this is because of the way the different areas are organized politically. The centralized, highly-taxed Judea is a place where the poor are ground into the dust. The wealthy are wealthy through taking from others. The decentralized entrepreneurial Galilee is where there is a burgeoning middle class. The wealthy are wealthy through producing goods for the market. Galileans have their own sins, but they are not accused of robbing widow’s houses as the Judeans are.
Bowyer seeks to prove this through a careful reading of the gospels themselves. He constantly notes where Jesus is speaking when he condemns wealth. One of his primary examples is Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount in Matthew vs. the Sermon on the Plain in Luke. These sermons, he argues, are probably two different versions of the stock material that Jesus used to teach people during his life. Jesus gives the Sermon on the Mount in Galilee. Here he has much less to say about wealth than the Sermon on the Plain, which he gives in Judea.
He backs this up with research in archeology and history. Archeology presents a compelling case that Galilee was surprisingly well off in the first century A.D. It was home to a great deal of entrepreneurship and industry that made it what we would call middle class. Jesus himself probably grew up in that context. The carpentry of his father Joseph was likely in great demand because of a building boom in a town close to Nazareth. The entrepreneurial and productive Galilee is in contrast to Jerusalem, which though much more wealthy than Galilee, also exhibited far more significant disparity between wealth and poverty.
Bowyer also pays attention to the history books, pointing out how the Judean elite used certain systemic practices in temple worship to plunder a population in Judea that was already highly taxed. Perhaps most interesting is how he demonstrates the economic aspect of the crucifixion of Christ. He points out that there was a financial crash that probably happened shortly before Christ’s crucifixion. A friend of Pontius Pilate’s was held responsible for that economic crash. Therefore the Jews are able to convince the usually anti-Semitic Pilate to do their dirty work of killing Jesus.
The book is well-researched and full of information. Although it would be nice to see more footnotes, just for the sake of digging into the various sources that Jerry Bowyer is using. However, Bowyer does aim the book at a popular audience. Some could question a couple of claims and I’ve seen certain claims challenged in other sources, but the book’s effect is cumulative. Bowyer is able to bring a wide swathe of evidence from the gospels to support the picture he paints of Jesus.
I highly recommend “The Makers vs. the Takers.” It is a book for everybody. As a Pastor, I enjoy how it brings a fresh and concrete reality to the gospels. Jesus is not just concerned about the next world, but he is very concerned about the abuse of power and the treatment of his children in this world.