The task of human beings is to establish such good structures as mirror the original pur-pose and the ultimate aim of God

The biblical moments of revelation, moreover, convey the message, and this is a second aspect, that fellowships precede the individual. During the last few centuries a strong feeling for the value of the individual, and thereby freedom of individuals, has developed within the European culture. That was a reason-able reaction to the feudal system of earlier centuries with little or no room for individual freedom.

The highest value is in the biblical tradition attached to the in-dividual, and the divine call is an individual call. Democracy, as it has developed in the encounter with Christian faith, rests on the responsibility of the individual. The individual, though, reaches her or his fulfilment in fellowship, the family, the society, the people. As this is so, the goal of economic systems cannot be to guarantee the right of the individual to acquire and collect all what is in human power to win.

To God mankind is one single fellowship. This has been made particularly clear in the Gospel of a new and reconciled, worldwide fellowship in the name and blood of Christ. The goal is to let all have a place at the meal table of life. If so, fellowship can be built. Peoples and nations can come nearer to one another instead of widening and deepening the rifts between those who get their share of the good of life and those who do not. It is evident that we shall have to live with systems that deny such a vision, but they can never be justified, still less be looked upon as praiseworthy or be defended against criticism.

Planned stewardship

When Joseph due to his position of trust had the possibility of planning the stewardship of the assets of Egypt, his system was built on the concept of food for all. Not through growth, in view of the expected scarcity during the nearest future, but through sharing. During seven good years a fifth was set aside and put into store to be distributed fairly during the expected meagre years. This was planned economy, taking respons-ibil-ity for the total fellowship, and it saved the country in a situation when free market forces would have been disastrous for the majority, al-though certainly very profitable for some. Examples of the latter can be found in our own time as well as in earlier centuries.

A planned economy for the whole people made it possible to extend the generosity to surrounding countries. Jacob and his sons were allowed to come and buy when their stores were empty. Still, there is no romantic haze resting on the system that Joseph built up in Egypt. The risks of a planned economy are rather drastically described. When the sensitivity for long term consequences is lost, all land can come into one single hand and a whole people be enslaved.

It is told of Nehemiah that he left his high position at the court in Susan in order to take the lead in the rebuilding of the fallen walls of Jerusalem. He found that the uneven distribution of the economic assets among the people caused hindrances to unity in work. The task was almost superhuman and there were many hostile forces threatening the enterprise. What caused ill feelings, and therefore led to difficulties, was that the poor among the people had had to pawn their fields, vineyards and houses in order to get grain to assuage their hunger. Their sons and daugh-ters had had to be given in slavery and their fields and vineyards had fallen into the hands of others.

When Nehemiah had the analysis presented to him by those who were worst off, he was at first upset. Then he took time to reflect on the situation and the possibilities. This led to a con-frontation with the usurers, a demand for the release of the slaves and a decision to hand back fields, vineyards, olive plan-tations and houses and to remit the interest on loans, seed, wine and oil. After this thorough social reconstruction it became possible to carry on the common work of rebuilding with new strength.

The miracle ot the manna in the desert during the time of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt to Canaan, is no doubt the most fundamen-t-al biblical image for the relationship between fellowship and assets. Every day just enough manna fell to give each and every man what was needed for as many as he had in his tent, but no more. For those who tried to hoard, worms got into that which was over and above their daily need.

Justice and mercy in society

A third all embracing biblical perspective on the handling of eco-no-my and ownership is that it is for the societal fellowship to maintain justice and righteousness. Mica, the prophet, felt the divine call to remind the people, and particularly its leaders: "What else does the Lord ask of you but that you do what is just, strive after love and walk in humbleness in front of your God." Justice, mercy and an awareness of God's judgement, these three.

The challenge goes further than personal piety and individual acts of charity in order to soften the effects of poverty. Not that acts of charity would be less important, quite the opposite, but it is the society that has to be formed so as to prevent the lack of equality that creates suffering. The law of Moses, summed up in the ten commandments, stresses the respect for the rights and the needs of others within the community. The regulations are given as a help and a protection for those within society who will most easily become victims of injustice.

The prophet Jeremiah spoke of the judgement of God on employers who did not pay just salaries. "Woe unto the one who forces his neighbour to serve him for nothing, and does not give him his salary." These words obviously also apply to modern, multinational enterprises which choose to operate in countries where the low-est salaries are paid. The strongly individualistic tradition of interpretation that has developed in the Western cultural milieu, makes it easy to overlook this. In the poorest regions of the poorest countries many multinational firms pay salaries that are generally acknowledged to be insufficient for a family to stay above the mini-mum level of existence.

The question of justice in relation to debts and the repayment of debts gets a particular light shed on it in Jesus' parable about the unjust servant. He owed his lord and employer so much that he himself, his wife and children and all that he had would have had to be sold in order to repay. He pleaded for mercy and relief and was given it. Directly after that he himself went and took a strangle-hold on a co-servant who owed him a sum that com-para--tively was very small. The indebted co-servant pleaded for mercy but his plea was rejected and he was put into prison until the debt was paid. That, again, was seen to be unjust – and that is the point of the parable – that the first act of mercy was null-ified and the second debt was fully exacted. The parable sheds light on the debt relations be-tween the rich and the poor world,as it does on debt crises within the rich world. One has to reflect on such consequential relationships in the light of the debt that mankind as such has been relieved of by God.

A divine process of creation

A fourth all pervading biblical perspective is confidence in creation and the possibilities of creation. In the first scene of the creation human beings are authorized to make some of of the possibilities, to be co-workers with God. In the second, the one in the garden of Eden, it is made clear that human beings have the task of tending, forming and fulfilling the divine creation. What humankind inherits, generation after generation, is not a completed creation capable only of deterio-ration. It is a creation with immense possibilities for continuation and fulfil-ment.

The Bible begins with a story of creation. It also ends with a story of creation in the Book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible. In that new creation, with a new heaven and a new earth, there is no pain, no suffering and no scarcity. All that has been re-placed by an abundance which is shared evenly and in peace. The task of humankind is to establish structures in the world which as closely as possible mirror the original purpose of God and the ultimate aim of God. There are many good attempts at forming worthy and just societies. Technical progress for the extraction of more food for more of the poor of the earth is being made. Work goes on to re-gain environmental balance through irriga-tion of dry land, plant-ing new forests and detoxicating damaged nature. All such at--tempts should be encouraged as an essential part of the divine process of creation, the one about which it can be said: "and God saw that it was good".

Finally something has to be said about the fundamental bibli-cal ban on idolatry. An idol, eidolon, is that which is put inthe place of God. The commandment is: "You shall have no other gods beside me". "Other gods" are what human beings put their beliefs and confidence in, instead of in God. Jesus pointed out the one idol above all others, the very essence of being turned away from God: Mammon. All ideologies and societal systems, which are presented as absolute and hence able to determine the future, are idols. That goes for capitalism, so called scientific socialism, mercantilism, liberalism, nationalism and other such society-structuring systems, when they are accredited absolute values and a capacity for shaping the future.