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Basic Income Based on Luther and Calvin’s Economic Thoughts: Focusing on the Jubilee Thought

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Basic Income in Korea and Beyond

Part of the book series: Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee ((BIG))

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to study the concept of basic income from the economic thoughts of Martin Luther and John Calvin, focusing on the Jubilee thought. Luther and Calvin’s economic thought inherited the Jubilee thought, which guarantees basic human rights and protects the socially disadvantaged based on fairness and justice. Based on a survey on Christian perceptions and funding for basic income, which has recently become an issue in Korean society due to COVID-19, I searched for the foundation and lessons of church history through the economic thought of Luther and Calvin.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Such a cry for reform can be clearly confirmed in the economic thought of the early church fathers. You-Joon Kim, “A Study on the Economic Thought of Ambrosius,” Journal of the Church History Society in Korea 44 (2016), 37–65; “A Study on the Economic Thought of Basilius of Caesarea,” Journal of the Church History Society in Korea 30 (2011), 7–34.

  2. 2.

    Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, tr. Talcott Parsons (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1978), 81.

  3. 3.

    Although Luther demanded to live in the world according to fundamentally Christian standards in Christian ethics, as Catholic theologians did not overcome the duality of ethics, a compromise between the worldly ethics and the ethics of grace was inevitable. Ernst Tröltsch, The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches, 2 vols. tr. Olive Wyon (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1931), 2:506–511.

  4. 4.

    Max Stackhouse, Creeds, Society, and Human Rights: A Study in Three Cultures (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1984), 54–55.

  5. 5.

    W. Fred Graham, The Constructive Revolutionary: John Calvin and His Socio-Economic Impact (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1978), 78–79.

  6. 6.

    Ronald S. Wallace, Calvin, Geneva and the Reformation (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1988), 85–86.

  7. 7.

    Ibid.

  8. 8.

    Richard H. Tawney, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism (London, New York: Verso, 1926, 2015), 89–139.

  9. 9.

    Ernst Tröltsch, The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches, 2:641–650.

  10. 10.

    Carter Lindberg, Beyond Charity: Reformation Initiatives for the Poor (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), 162.

  11. 11.

    Ibid.

  12. 12.

    Martin Luther, Trade and Usury in Luther’s Works vol. 45, American Edition. ed. Jaroslav Pelikan & Helmut Lehmann. 55 vols. (Philadelphia and St. Louis: Fortress Press and Concordia Publishing House, 1955ff), 233–243 (hereinafter referred to as LW 45:233–243).

  13. 13.

    Kim Joo-Han, “Calvin and His Theological Perspective on Poverty: Theoretical Basics of His Social Welfare Policy,” Journal of the Church History Society in Korea 24 (2009), 123–124.

  14. 14.

    Kurt Aland, Four Reformers: Luther, Melanchthon, Calvin, Zwingli (Minneapolis: Augsburg Publishing House, 1979), 1–174.

  15. 15.

    Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 79ff.

  16. 16.

    Ibid., 98ff.

  17. 17.

    Ernst Tröltsch, The Social Teaching of the Christian Churches, 2:647ff.

  18. 18.

    André Biéler, The Social Humanism of Calvin, tr. Paul T. Fuhrmann (Richmond: John Knox Press, 1964), 62.

  19. 19.

    W. Fred Graham, The Constructive Revolutionary: John Calvin and His Socio-Economic Impact, 196.

  20. 20.

    W. Stanford Reid, “John Calvin: the Father of Capitalism,” Themelios 8/2 (1983), 19ff.

  21. 21.

    Ronald S. Wallace, Calvin, Geneva and the Reformation, 94.

  22. 22.

    William J. Bouwsma, John Calvin: A Sixteenth-Century Portrait (New York: Oxford University Press, 1988), 191ff.

  23. 23.

    Lee Yang-Ho, Calvin: Life and Thought (Seoul: Korea Theological Study Institute, 1997), 259.

  24. 24.

    Lee Oh-Gap, Calvin, Taking the Reins of Capitalism: His Economic Ideas and Capitalism (Siheung: Handongnae, 2019); Song Yong-Won, Calvin and the Common Good: Theological Foundations of Protestant Social Ethics (Seoul: IVP, 2017).

  25. 25.

    Yoo Eun-Ju, “The Contents of Jubilee Education for Jubilee Justice,” Journal of Christian Education in Korea 62 (2020), 291–294.

  26. 26.

    Sohn Kyu-Tae, Theological Thoughts and Ethics of Martin Luther (Seoul: The Christian Literature Society of Korea, 2004), 245.

  27. 27.

    You-Joon Kim, “The History of the Relationship between the Roman Empire and the Early Church,” University and Mission 35 (2017), 186.

  28. 28.

    Martin Luther, Trade and Usury, LW 45:233–234.

  29. 29.

    Ibid., 250–251.

  30. 30.

    Ibid.

  31. 31.

    Paul Althaus, Die Ethik Martin Luthers (Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1965), 71f.

  32. 32.

    Martin Luther, D. Martin Luthers Werke: Kritische Gesamtausgabe (Weimar: Hermann Böhlaus Nachfolger, 1883f), band. 39, 39–40 (hereinafter referred to as WA 39:39–40).

  33. 33.

    Luther, WA 12:14, 7f.

  34. 34.

    Ibid.

  35. 35.

    Luther, Exposition of Psalm 127, for the Christians at Riga in Livonia, LW 45:317–337.

  36. 36.

    Luther, Trade and Usury, LW 45:246–247.

  37. 37.

    Ibid.

  38. 38.

    Ibid.

  39. 39.

    Zwingli and Calvin emphasized the positive aspects of commercial activity and Luther emphasized the negative aspects. Luther’s economic thoughts are not different from Zwingli’s economic thoughts, which he developed on the premise that man’s relative justice toward God’s absolute justice is always modifiable. Luther’s economic thought is also consistent with Calvin’s economic thought, which positively evaluated the growth of interest within a certain range.

  40. 40.

    Luther, Trade and Usury, LW 45:246–247.

  41. 41.

    Ibid.

  42. 42.

    Luther, (Großer) Sermon von dem Wucher, WA 6:51–60.

  43. 43.

    Luther wrote this article in German. In the original text, Luther used ‘zinß’ (zinss, rent) and ‘intereffe’ (interesse, interest) in Latin. In the fourteenth century, zinss was used in the sense of rent (tenancy) and is now translated as tax or interest in Germany. I have translated this term as ‘rent’ in the main text. In the original text, this transaction of zinss is used as ‘zinßkauff,’ but in today’s terminology, it is an act of pursuing unearned income aimed at profit from rent, which corresponds to ‘land speculation.’ Luther was very strongly opposed to this. Interesse, on the other hand, describes the interest allowed on the basis of the loss of the victim’s side in the transaction due to the fault of the party that caused the loss.

  44. 44.

    For a detailed discussion of Luther’s zinßkauff, see Sean Doherty, Theology and Economic Ethics: Martin Luther and Arthur Rich in Dialogue (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 55–59.

  45. 45.

    Luther, (Großer) Sermon von dem Wucher, WA 6:51–52.

  46. 46.

    Ibid.

  47. 47.

    Ibid., 57–60.

  48. 48.

    Luther, How Christians Should Regard Moses, LW 35:166–167.

  49. 49.

    Ibid., 167.

  50. 50.

    Ibid.

  51. 51.

    Luther, (Großer) Sermon von dem Wucher, WA 6:57–60.

  52. 52.

    Ibid.

  53. 53.

    Ibid.

  54. 54.

    Ibid.

  55. 55.

    Luther, Trade and Usury, LW 45:307–310.

  56. 56.

    Ibid., 309–310.

  57. 57.

    Ibid.

  58. 58.

    Ibid.

  59. 59.

    Henry George, Progress and Poverty (New York: Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, 1981); Kim Yun-Sang, Easy Public Concept of Land: A Commentary on Geoism (Daegu: Kyungpook National University Press, 2006).

  60. 60.

    Herbert D. Foster, “Calvin’s Program for a Puritan State in Geneva, 1536–1546,” Harvard Theological Review 1 (1908), 426–429.

  61. 61.

    John Calvin, Sermon on Deuteronomy, 15:1–15.

  62. 62.

    John Calvin, Calvin: Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, tr. Ford Lewis Battles, 1–2 Vols., The Library of Christian Classics (Ichthus Edition; Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1960), IV.iv.6 (hereinafter referred to as Inst.).

  63. 63.

    Calvin, Inst. IV.iv.7.

  64. 64.

    Calvin, Inst. IV.iv.8.

  65. 65.

    Calvin, Inst. IV.v.16.

  66. 66.

    Basilius, Homilia in illud Lucae, Greek Patrologiae Cursus Completus 31:276.

  67. 67.

    Charles Avila, Ownership: Early Christian Teaching (Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1983), 134–146.

  68. 68.

    John Chrysostom, In Epistolam ad Timoteum 12, 4, Greek Patrologiae Cursus Completus 62:562–563.

  69. 69.

    John Calvin, Calvin’s Commentaries, tr. A. W. Morrison. ed. D. W. Torrance and T. F. Torrance. 12 Vols. (Edinburgh: The Saint Andrew Press, 1972), Psalms 41:1.

  70. 70.

    Calvin, Commentary on 2 Corinthians, 8:13.

  71. 71.

    Calvin, Sermon on Deuteronomy, 15:11–15.

  72. 72.

    Augustinus, Epistola CLIII 26, Latin Patrologiae Cursus Completus, 23:665.

  73. 73.

    You-Joon Kim, “A Geoistic Study on Calvin’s Economic Thought,” Korea Journal of Christian Studies 67 (2010), 161.

  74. 74.

    Luther, Trade and Usury, LW 45:238f.

  75. 75.

    According to the percentile of attributable combined income based on data from the National Tax Service in 2018, the total annual combined income of 23.25 million individual income earners is $670.7 billion (824 trillion won), which is an average of $28,855 (35.45 million won) per person. Integrated income refers to the sum of personal income that reflects both earned income and the rest of the global income (interest, dividend, business, pension, and other income). Assuming that there are 100 Koreans, the 50th median income was found to be $19,625 (24.11 million won) per year as of 2018. The annual combined income of 23,246 people in the top 0.1 % was $27.8 billion (34.2 trillion won), or $1.2 million (1.47 billion won) per person. Individual income earners in the top 0.1% earned 61 times the median income and 42 times the average income. https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20200928194200002 (last accessed on April 26, 2022).

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  1. College of Theology, Yonsei University, 50 Yonsei-ro, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    You-Joon Kim

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    Mee-Hyun Chung

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Kim, YJ. (2023). Basic Income Based on Luther and Calvin’s Economic Thoughts: Focusing on the Jubilee Thought. In: Chung, MH. (eds) Basic Income in Korea and Beyond. Exploring the Basic Income Guarantee. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09202-2_4

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