Christian high school Economics textbooks reviewed

Art thou a
master of Israel,
and knowest not
these things?
John 3:10

Christian school Social Studies textbooks that are merely theistic are not distinctively Christian. They must be Christocentric, must interpret data to affirm the deity of Christ. The more Christocentric they are, the more trinitarian they must be, for the absolute Content of truth ("I am … the truth" – John 14:6) in Scripture is also its absolute Source in the second Person of the Trinity. Intensity of trinitarian Christocentricity is the infallible litmus of all really Biblical Social Studies education.

And the Lord
said … they have
rejected me, that
I should not reign
over them.
I Samuel 8:7

Specific Biblical economic principles deny human sovereignty over property, taxation, money (see pages 6, 7, and 8 inside). This reflects a pessimistic view of human nature – a Christocentric corollary of the deity of Christ, for Christ's necessary divinity to atone for sin means man cannot self-redeem. Such negation of human economic sovereignty shows the divine inspiration of Scripture, for humanistic ideologies would never so strip man of ultimate autonomy and self-determination.

Thou believest
that there is one
God; thou doest
well: the devils
also believe,
and tremble.
James 2:19

Merely theistic Social Studies textbooks are weak on specific Biblical principles, are non-Christocentric, are functionally humanistic. Many theists are humanists. God is their Source of truth ("all truth is God's truth"), but man defines what that truth is (which thus lacks absolute content). Humanistic claims to human sovereignty over property, taxation, and money enshrine an optimistic view of human nature, whose rejection of Christ's deity is anathema to the Incarnation.

I will instruct thee
and teach thee
in the way which
thou shalt go:
I will guide thee
with mine eye.
Psalm 32:8

In Christian education, "critical thinking" means bringing every thought into captivity to Christ. Independent Social Studies research projects do that poorly, because teachers cannot monitor closely enough how discerningly students use their sources, to grade them fairly by specific Biblical principles. Yet if teachers ask the right questions, students will get the right answers. Better that teachers craft Christocentric study guides on assigned student readings (as on pages 8, 9 and 10 here).