Ep 429: Politics, Economics, and New Testament Interpretation, with Alex Bernardo

Doug Stuart welcomes Alex Bernardo—host of The Protestant Libertarian Podcast—to unpack his book-in-progress on politics, economics, and New Testament interpretation. Alex argues that modern readers (and many New Testament scholars) import post-Enlightenment categories—“politics,” capitalism, socialism—into the first century and then draw conclusions the biblical writers never intended. His remedy starts before exegesis: nail down stable definitions and widen “politics” beyond elections to how humans relate, wield authority, and organize life together.

They zero in on Luke–Acts. From Caesar’s census pushing Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem to Paul proclaiming the kingdom “unhindered” in Rome, Luke traces the reign of the crucified, risen, and ascended Son of David. In that frame, the Gospel is unavoidably political—not because it tells you how to vote, but because Jesus already reigns. The early church engages authorities without revolutionary violence, trusting the Spirit’s power while keeping allegiance to Christ above every rival.

Bernardo outlines his method-first opening: concrete definitions of capitalism and socialism; a spectrum framed by liberty versus authority and violence versus nonviolence; and the needed context of Greco-Roman and Second Temple Jewish history. He previews work-by-work studies—Acts 2 and 4 on sharing, the rich young ruler, the widow’s mites, Romans 13, and 1 Peter 2—and explains why academic readings often lean left: institutional incentives, limited engagement with primary economic sources, and reliance on secondhand caricatures of economists and traditions (e.g., Hayek, the Austrians). The conversation ranges into theology too: recovering Jesus’s concrete Davidic kingship, refusing to sever messianic identity from divine ontology, and practicing interpretive humility that lets the text correct us. Expect a big, careful book (roughly 450–500 pages) that raises the bar for Christians who care about Scripture, history, economics, and real-world power—and a discussion that resists anachronism while inviting principled, peaceable political discipleship today.