Synopses & Reviews
Are Christians for or against the free market? Should we not think of ourselves as consumers? Are we for or against globalization? How to we live in a world of scare resources?
William Cavanaugh brings us a theological view and practice of everyday economic life with the use of Christian resources. He argues that we should not take the free market, consumer culture, globalization, and scarcity as givens, but change the terms of debate in each case. His consideration of the free market is not a question of for or against, but when exactly a market is truly free. He discusses consumption in light of the Eucharist, when God forms us to consume and be consumed rightly. He charges the church to know how to be both global and local, rather than one or the other. He reminds us that life in Christ is life abundant, not an existence of scarcity.
Being Consumed examines pathologies of desire in contemporary ???free market??? economies, and displays a positive vision of how the dynamics of desire in Christ can both form and be formed by alternative economic practices.
Synopsis
Should Christians be for or against the free market? For or against globalization? How are we to live in a world of scarcity? William Cavanaugh uses Christian resources to incisively address basic economic matters - the free market, consumer culture, globalization, and scarcity - arguing that we should not just accept these as givens but should instead change the terms of the debate.Among other things, Cavanaugh discusses how God, in the Eucharist, forms us to consume and be consumed rightly. Examining pathologies of desire in contemporary "free market" economies, Being Consumed puts forth a positive and inspiring vision of how the body of Christ can engage in economic alternatives. At every turn, Cavanaugh illustrates his theological analysis with concrete examples of Christian economic practices.
About the Author
William T. Cavanaugh is associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Table of Contents
Freedom and unfreedom -- Detachment and attachment -- The global and the local -- Scarcity and abundance.