Cavanaugh's Being Consumed: Economics And Christian Desire

Our third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, had great intentions when he was elected into the presidency. The actions that took place during his eight years in office reflect the principles that Jefferson believed in, and that is what he wanted to achieve.

Many Americans love shopping, especially during the holidays, with its captivating discounts and sales, which lead to uncontrollable splurges on irrelevant things. According to Quindlen, this is an example of America’s crazed consumerism and it is absolutely absurd. In her article, “Honestly, You Shouldn’t Have”, she states that there is currently an assumption that purchasing American merchandises symbolize an act of patriotism and at the same time, build a strong economy. She also states that we, as Americans, need to acknowledge important spiritual values such as friends and family rather than material goods.

John Edwards Religious Affections discusses the two kinds of exercise of religion. The first exercise he talks about is trials. Trials benefit religion as proof. No true religion is trial-less, but has plenty of rewards at the same time. Edwards wrote “ Hereby the truth of it is manifested, and appears indeed true religion; they above all other things, have a tendency to distinguish between true religion and false.” He is telling true religion the people that trials shine true light on religion and that is a beautiful thing about Christianity; it can withstand all trials. The biggest trial was showing restraint when Jesus was killed. The religion continued to be pure, even with the Son of God no longer being on Earth. The second is being

These principles can be seen throughout the writings of the political thinkers of the 1890’s and illuminate how this category of thought is familiar to the American life.

William T Cavanaugh (2008), wrote Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire which is a philosophical book, which focus on four (4) economic life matters that addresses the consumer culture within society. These four economic life matters are free market, consumerism, globalization and economic scarcity. In order for this topic to be discussed on a theological point of view, the author draws the reader’s attention to human life, the ends of life in God. The key question in every process is whether or not the transaction contributes to the flourishing of each person involved. In order to address these questions the author points to concrete examples of alternative economic practices in which Christians participate-: business, co-operatives, credit union, practices of consumption which marks the vision for Christian economic life. Cavanaugh (2008) calls the church to create and cultivate her own alternative culture informed

William T Cavanaugh (2008), wrote Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire which is a philosophical book, which focus on four (4) economic life matters that addresses the consumer culture within society. These four economic life matters are free market, consumerism, globalization and economic scarcity. In order for this topic to be discussed on a theological point of view, the author draws the reader’s attention to human life, the ends of life in God. The key question in every process is whether or not the transaction contributes to the flourishing of each person involved. In order to address these questions the author points to concrete examples of alternative economic practices in which Christians participate-: business, co-operatives, credit union, practices of consumption which marks the vision for Christian economic life. Cavanaugh (2008) calls the church to create and cultivate her own alternative culture informed by the riches of the faith, rather than taking economic marching orders from the world.

In Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”, the concepts of consumerism and utopia are continuously compared and discussed in tandem with one another to decide if any correlation between them is present. Although people may argue that the humans belonging to the World State are happy, their lack of simple human pleasures such as love, religion, intellect, free will, etc, denies the people of actual joy. Since the government is what controls these pleasures by glorifying consumption, the World State’s culture and consumerism must interrelate.

An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States was written by Charles Beard in 1913 and describes Beards opinion on the Constitution of the United States at an economic standpoint. Beard believes the constitution was written by rich landholders who wanted their land to be protected. In order for their land to be protected, the lower class would be expensed. He found out that many land owners had “personalty” which is extra land to the West, trading stocks and other money related items. Beard claimed the slaveholders or higher class were not influenced by philosophy, instead just wanting money for themselves and not thinking of the classes below them. Beard was not surprised at all by any of his findings.

In his most famous publication, Weber studies the relationship between the ethics of ascetic Protestantism and the emergence of contemporary capitalism. He accounts bureaucracy as a key feature in modern society. This is in no way a detailed account of Protestantism itself but instead an introduction to his later studies such as “The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism” or “The Religion of India: The Sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism”. Weber argues that the “spirit” that defines capitalist ideas originates in the Protestant Reformation. The Reformation largely influences his work and he noted the shift in Europe’s economic centre following this, away from Catholic countries, for example France, towards protestant countries, for

Statistics show that today there are over 1.7 billion members of the “consumer class”- half of them being in the developing world (2011, the World Watch Institute). Being part of the consumer class myself, I believe it is crucial to dispense a great deal of money on goods and services to improve the economy here in Canada. Does this mean I’m considered to be a consumer as a result of my views on world consumption? Yes, I fit into the category of a consumer due to the fact that I’m part of the endless cycle of supply and demand. From the moment I leave my house and walk the two minutes to the bus stop I’m already thinking about what I’m going to buy. When I embark on the crowded bus I’m immediately surrounded by other consumers that I share

The Bible says, “For the love of money is the root of all evil.” However, why would we desire the luxurious lifestyle of the billionaires if we perceive money as “the root of all evil” and believe that “money can’t buy happiness”? To William Hazlitt, the pursuit for money is neither the source of evil nor the corrupter of one’s soul. In his essay “On the Want of Money,” Hazlitt advocates that money is the essential ingredient of a prosperous and comfortable life through parallel structure of “it is,” “or to,” “to be,” depressive tone, and sarcasm towards the end of the passage.

In Ronald Wright's book, "A Short History of Progress", he talks about many historical examples of "progress traps". He describes the term "progress trap" as an idea or technology that generates splendid results at first, but leads to a deadly, impossible end [1]. In other terms, a "progress trap" is a problem that inadvertently creates conditions that are worse than what existed prior to the innovation.

Very few books in the history of economic thought still render an accurate portrayal of society today. Written 115 years ago, Thorstein Veblen’s The Theory of the Social Class (1899) describes a materialistic society obsessed with reputation and social status, echoing a portrayal of the modern capitalistic consumer culture that defines us today. As Roger Mason (1998), professor of consumer theory states: “Consuming for status has, in fact, become a defining element of the new consumer societies” (p.vii). In his treatise, Veblen’s discusses such a society, in order to portray the ‘leisure class’, the 19th century society that characterized the upper class that formed as a consequence of the Second Industrial Revolution. Such a society uses the consumption of goods and leisure as means of climbing up the social ladder. Veblen calls such types of consumption ‘conspicuous consumption’ and ‘conspicuous leisure’.

In chapter two of “Christianity with Power,” Charles H. Kraft discusses the two types of realities: reality and REALITY. He describes “reality” as a human’s view of reality and “REALITY” as what is actually there (as God sees it). Kraft explains that our view of reality is fuzzy and partial compared to God’s view of REALITY. He uses the well-known story of the blind men and the elephant to prove that one’s perspective of the world differs from another. Kraft presents four alternative views of reality. The first view, which is described as dogmatic, is the denial that there is any difference between reality and REALITY. The second view is described as the opposite of the first view. As described by Kraft, those who take this approach recognize that the way one person or one group understands things is not necessarily totally right, while the

A consumerism makes the community and economy stable which is the goal of the society. In Brave New World, the motto of the government is “community, identity, and stability” (6). Claim: A consumer economy makes the society of Brave New World which is when the most important in the economy is buying and selling of goods and services overall. Establish Evidence: In the Western civilization, Huxley would realize that consumers still make up most of the economy. Consumers can be from working and upper social class. Although in the book, the lower caste is conditioned to consume more of society. Evidence: “The idea was to make them want to be going out into the country and every available opportunity, and so compel them to consume transport” (22). Analysis: The author’s use of parallel, he wants the society “to be out going into the country” contradicts how he wants to “abolish the love if nature” (6). The use of punctuation makes it feel to the readers to be continuous and not much to pause. This reinforces that society was continuing to be consumers and that makes the economy stronger and more stable. Evidence: “Beauty’s attractive, we don’t want people to be attracted by old things. We want them to like the new ones.” (219) Analysis: The commas helps separate the ideas of what the author wanted to convey. Established evidence: But with the economy being stable comes with some effects to society. Evidence: “The more stitches the less riches” (49). Analysis: This shows that