The Christian priority of extending respect to ordinary persons—while taking into account human failings and shortcomings—can also be seen in the emergence in the West of new political institutions. These political institutions existed nowhere else in the world, and they did not exist in ancient Greece or Rome. Something changed within the West to give rise to them. That something is Christianity. Consider our modern concept of “rule of law” In his book Law and Revolution Harold Berman argues that the modern Western legal system is “a secular residue of religious attitudes and assumptions which historically first found expression in the liturgy and rituals and doctrine of the church, and thereafter in the institutions and concepts and values of the law” This is quite true, but there is much more to the story.
Plato says that the highest form of law is discretion. This sounds strange to us, but it is correct. The best form of justice is to give each person his appropriate deserts. In the family, for example, you don’t treat your children exactly alike by establishing “laws” for them. You adapt your instructions and requirements in keeping with their individual personalities and situations. So it is, according to Plato, in politics. The best form of government is a benign monarchy or aristocracy ruling by discretion and dispensing justice in each indi- vidual case.
But we don’t do this in the West. Consider the simple example of speeding on the highway. We establish fixed rules—such as a limit of seventy miles per hour—and then enforce them. This does not, however, seem like the best system. Some people drive safely at eighty miles per hour. Others are a danger to themselves and others at fifty miles per hour. So why don’t we let the authorities decide each case on its merits? The simple answer is that we don’t trust the policeman to do this. We consider him a fallible human being who may be guided by prejudices. We would rather all live under a uniform rule that applies to everyone.
This idea that power should be very cautiously entrusted to fallible human beings became the basis of the modern liberal idea of laws. The people choose the government, but the American system imposes “separation of powers” and “checks and balances” as internal mechanisms to keep the government honest and accountable. The American founders devised a structure that deliberately fostered economic and political rivalries in order to prevent unhealthy concentrations of power. In The Federalist 51, Publius describes such measures collectively as “supplying, by opposite and rival interests, the defect of better motives.” Moreover, in the West we insist that the people who make the laws be subject to them and to the recall of the people on whose behalf they are making them.Christianity enhanced the notion of political and social accountability by providing a new model: that of servant leadership. In ancient Greece and Rome no one would have dreamed of considering political leaders anyone’s servants. The job of the leader was to lead. But Christ invented the notion that the way to lead is by serving the needs of others, especially those who are the most needy. Mark 10:43 quotes Christ: “Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant … for even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve.” And in Luke 22:27 we hear Jesus say, “Who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.” In the new Christian framework, leaders are judged by how well they respond to the concerns and welfare of the people. Over time, people once known as “followers” or “subjects” become “customers” and “constituents.” As a consequence of the new ideal, the job of the political leader, the merchant, and the priest becomes serving the people by attending to their political, material, and spiritual needs.
The system of modern capitalism arose in the West. To some it is surprising that capitalism developed so easily in conjunction with a Christian ethic. But capitalism satisfied the Christian demand for an institution that channels selfish human desire toward the betterment of society. Some critics accuse capitalism of being a selfish system, but the selfishness is not in capitalism—it is in human nature. As Adam Smith put it in The Wealth of Nations, the desire to better our condition “comes with us from the womb, and never leaves us till we go into the grave.” Selfishness, like lust, is part of the human condition. It is hopeless to try to root it out, although some zealous utopians have certainly tried. Over the centuries, Christianity came up with a much better solution. The Bible is often quoted to say that money is the root of all evil, but the relevant passage actually says that “love of money is the root of all evil.” This is a condemnation of a certain human attitude to wealth, not a condemnation of either wealth or commerce.
