Here at The Hipster Conservative, we are working on a series to see if there is an Anglican answer to the question of liberalism in society. Our own Rev. Crawley opened up the conversation with a delightful introductory essay. We will have more in the coming year, however reading through the Book of Homilies, there is a terrific microcosm of the Anglican doctrine of the market:

And therefore by this Commandment, we ought to have a time, as one day in a week, wherein we ought to rest, yea, from our lawful and needful works. For, like as it appeareth by this Commandment, that no man in the six days ought to be slothful or idle, but diligently to labor in that state wherein God hath set him, even so, God hath given express charge to all men, that upon the Sabbath day, which is now our Sunday, ‘they should cease from all weekly and workday labor; to the’ intent that, like as God himself wrought six days, and rested the seventh, and blessed and sanctified it, and consecrated it to quietness and rest from labor, even so God’s obedient people should use the Sunday holily, and rest from their common and daily business, and also give themselves wholly to heavenly exercises of God’s true religion and service…But, alas, all these notwithstanding, it is lamentable to see the wicked boldness of those that will be counted God’s people, who pass nothing at all of keeping and hallowing the Sunday. And these people are of two sorts. The one sort, if they have any business to do, though there be no extreme need, they must not spare for the Sunday ; they must ride and journey on the Sunday ; they must drive and carry on the Sunday ; they must row and ferry on the Sunday they must buy and sell on the Sunday ; they must keep markets and fairs on the Sunday : finally, they use all days alike ; workdays and holy days are all one.

I must admit I was a bit surprised to see a 16th-century functional endorsement of blue laws in the midst of what amounts to an anthology of Reformed sermons. Thanks to Max Weber and some Roman Catholic commentary, Protestantism often gets associated with unbridled free market capitalism. Looking back to the Anglican formularies, it seems that this common view is mistaken.

While largely a remnant of a by-gone era, there do remain some blue laws in the United States. The objection to them is a common one in our liberal world: Our liberty is being infringed and restrictions of said liberty are unjust. A good example of this rhetoric surrounding the debate over blue laws is found over at Reason‘s August 2017 piece on North Dakota’s blue laws. In their essay, blue laws are labeled “arcane,” “frivolous,” “insane,” and “creepy.” While never explicitly stated, the underlying reason for this characterization is shared by Branden Medenwald, chairman of North Dakota Open on Sundays, who they quote:

North Dakota doesn’t dictate to farmers when to farm, hospitals when to practice medicine, or restaurants when to feed people. We are simply asking that all businesses, not just a chosen few, be allowed that same freedom.

The teleological tensions here are hard to miss. If freedom is sacrosanct and is the primary goal of society, then any societal restrictions on that freedom are clearly outdated impediments to our well being.

However, these ostensible benefits are often fleeing and unrealized. The promised economic benefits of repealing blue laws are at best mixed. Balance this supposed GDP gain with the external costs as published in the May 2008 edition of The Quarterly Journal of Economics:



Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY) on consumption of alcohol and illegal drugs, the economists found that repealing the blue laws did lead to an increase in drinking and drug use. What’s more, they found that individuals who had attended church and stopped after the blue laws were repealed showed the greatest increase in substance abuse, Gruber notes. Those effects have significant economic and social implications, the authors say.

Conservatives and in particular Christians will have to realize that the enthronement of the market and the functional worship of freedom in our society is completely at odds with our vision of human flourishing. Economist Lyman Stone, a Lutheran Christian and conservative, has a terrific piece on the legacy of the blue laws and their effect of sanctifying our time outside of work.

Which leaves us to the central question of this series: does Anglicanism specifically have anything to say on this subject? Looking through the Book of Homilies it seems that there is. Freedom is not the central or even primary good of human society. A truly humane vision of the common good is one where the market is kept in its rightful place and where the temporal and spiritual well being of humanity is kept in balance. The primary purpose of the market is not itself, or some abstract freedom but rather human flourishing, which must take into account our created and spiritual nature.

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