“The Other Journal” just posted a review of an interesting book by William Cavanaugh on consumerism and Christianity entitled, Being Consumed. Here’s a few lines that struck me:
“Transnational capitalism sells itself as the true catholic order that will bring all of the peoples of the world into a peaceful commercial unity while preserving diversity in the form of choice. This is yet another empty promise. The supposed diversity of global capitalism evacuates all significance from the communities of the world, trivializing their rich heritages, reducing them to the essentially interchangeable consumer choices of the market. In contrast, the church, in which a universal community exists in the form of diverse and specific Eucharistic gatherings, succeeds in bringing together diversity in genuine catholicity, as all are gathered into the Godhead.”
With the economy the way it is (new 11 year low on the Dow yesterday!), it’s a good time to consider what it means to be a Christian in a consumerist society. If this review is accurate, Cavanaugh does a good job of showing how consumerism offers a false eschaton.
If you are particularly sensitive to the words “Marxism” and “Capitalism” being tossed around, this review might needlessly rile you up, but in general, Frank Valdez, the reviewer, and Cavanaugh offer some challenging thoughts for believers.
Alan Noble (Co-Founder/Editor) is a graduate student at Baylor University pursuing his Ph.D. in Contemporary American Literature. To feed himself and his wife, he teaches Freshman Composition at the university. In 2006, he graduated from Cal. State Bakersfield with a Master’s degree in English. In addition to studying, teaching, and writing, Alan enjoys watching college basketball (Go Bears!) and NBA games with his wife and daughter, and loves Star Wars. While not particularly good at making art of any kind, Alan has an intense interest in the arts and culture and how believers ought to interact with them to the glory of God and edification of others. Alan lives in Waco, Texas with his Math-loving wife, owl-loving daughter, and their no-longer-able-to-skateboard-because-of-an-injury English Bulldog, Gertrude.
Email: noble.noneuclidean [at] gmail [dot] com
Excellent book. His book Theopolitical Imagination is very good/thought-provoking as well. I wish Torture and Eucharist wasn’t so expensive, I would love to read that book.