Giving to Caesar What is Caesar’s: The Ethics of Paying Taxes from a Christian Perspective Part Two: Tradition, Reason and Experience
Keywords:
Taxation / Tax resistance, Moral obligation / Christian ethics, Biblical authority, Christian tradition, Government oppression, Moral reasoningAbstract
This research investigates the question of when paying taxes is—or is not—a moral obligation from a Christian perspective. Serving as the second part of a two-part study on the moral dimensions of taxation, this article builds on Part One’s biblical analysis by examining tradition, reason, and human experience as additional sources of authority for Christian moral reflection. After establishing preliminary conclusions for this second phase, the article presents a unified conclusion for the broader study. Ultimately, it argues that while Christians have a general duty to pay taxes, resistance—including tax resistance—may be warranted under exceptional circumstances when a government becomes inherently oppressive.
Downloads
References
“Bambatha Rebellion of 1906.” South African History Online. Accessed February 22, 2014. http://www.sahistory.org.za/events-leading-bambatha-rebellion.
Boffey, Daniel. “British Sugar Giant Caught in Global Tax Scandal.” The Observer, February 9, 2013.
Botha, Jan. “Creation of New Meaning: Rhetorical Situations and the Reception of Romans 13:1-7.” Journal of Theology for Southern Africa 79 (1992): 24–37.
Burg, David F. A World History of Tax Rebellions: An Encyclopedia of Tax Rebels, Revolts, and Riots from Antiquity to the Present. London: Routledge, 2004.
Carter, Edward J. “Toll and Tribute: A Political Reading of Matthew 17.24–27.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 25, no. 4 (2003): 413–431.
Carter, Warren. “Paying the Tax to Rome as Subversive Praxis: Matthew 17:24–27.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 22, no. 76 (1999): 3–31.
Cavanaugh, William T. “If You Render Unto God What Is God’s, What Is Left for Caesar?” The Review of Politics 71, no. 4 (2009): 607–619.
Coleman, Gerald D. “Civil Disobedience: A Moral Critique.” Theological Studies 46, no. 1 (1985): 21–37.
Dickson, Theodore U., and Appolos N. Nwaobia. “Impact of Heavy Taxation on Israel During Solomonic Era: Implications for Nigerian Tax System.” Asian Economic and Financial Review 2, no. 2 (2012): 339–342.
Evans, Colin, and Ron Formica. “Jim Bakker Trial: 1989.” Great American Trials, edited by Edward W. Knappman. Gale, 2002. Accessed December 31, 2013. http://www.encyclopedia.com.
Forstater, Mathew. “Taxation: A Secret of Colonial Capitalist (So-Called) Primitive Accumulation.” Working Paper No. 25, Center for Full Employment and Price Stability, University of Missouri–Kansas City, 2003. Accessed February 22, 2014. http://www.cfeps.org/pubs/wp-pdf/wp25-forstater.pdf.
Franklin, Benjamin. Benjamin Franklin to Jean-Baptiste Le Roy, November 13, 1789. In The Works of Benjamin Franklin, edited by John Bigelow. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1904.
Gross, David M., ed. We Won’t Pay!: A Tax Resistance Reader. N.p.: David M. Gross, 2008.
Hagner, Donald A. Matthew 14–28. Word Biblical Commentary 33B. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1995.
Haskell, Rob. “Matthew 17:24–27: A Religio-Political Reading.” Evangelical Review of Theology 32, no. 2 (2008): 173–184.
Hays, Richard B. The Moral Vision of the New Testament: Community, Cross, New Creation—A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics. New York: HarperCollins, 1996.
Herzog, William R., II. “Dissembling, A Weapon of the Weak: The Case of Christ and Caesar in Mark 12:13–17 and Romans 13:1–7.” Perspectives in Religious Studies 21, no. 4 (1994): 339–360.
Hill, David. The Gospel of Matthew. The New Century Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1972.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2015 Rodney Reed (Author)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
