Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire
by William T. Cavanaugh
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Book Summary Information
Author: William T. CavanaughEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-03-17
ISBN: 0802845614
Number of pages: 115
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Book Reviews of Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire
Book Review: Simply Amazing
Summary: 5 Stars
Do not be fooled by the small size of this book, it packs a hefty punch. Cavanaugh presents his arguments here in four chapters:
Chapter One introduces the working concept of "freedom," contained in the Free Market, utilizing Milton Friedman's (in)famous definition that a transaction is free if 1.)it is informed and 2.)it is voluntary, indicating that a truly "free market," is free from the "restrictions," of any common telos, and that any desire is equally valid and free should it meet these two conditions. Cavanaugh argues that this freedom is too "negative," that is to say it is void of any discernable content, and more importantly in practice it can justify almost any of the multifarious and horrendous conditions of e.g. miniscule wages, outsourcing, and a whole plethora of other economic and dehumanizing maladies. Rather, using Augustine as a dialogue partner Cavanaugh argues that our economic transactions need to be viewed from our humanizing telos in God, and that freedom is not merely "freedom from," but "freedom for" our active participation in community and the realization of our humanity.
Chapter two brilliantly analyzes consumerism as, not greed or an over-attachment to goods, but rather a radical detachment (!) which displaces goods from their contexts, consumers from the products they buy, and producers from the materiality of production via outsourcing labor etc...Rather than completely decrying consumer, he actually sees it as a perverted form of an authentic striving after God (via Augustine's own analysis of this phenomenon). Cavanaugh then uses the Eucharist as an example of how to counteract this type of detachment, the details of which I will not spoil for the reader wanting to discern the brilliance of Cavanaugh's analysis.
Chapter three analyzes the phenomenon of Globalization from the perspective of the philosophical problem of the One and the Many. Arguing that Globalization leads both to a universalization and a radical particularity, Cavanaugh demonstrates that Globalization ultimate reduces the value of the particular and absorbs it into the universal consumption. This was my favorite chapter, and also provides an intriguing analysis of postmodernism as essentially a manifestation of late-capitalist tendencies (which is much akin to many other "Radical Orthdox" readings of post-modernity, e.g. Milbanks concept of "ontologies of violence" or Hart's "narratives of the sublime" or Picktstock's "univocity" in analyzing the devaluing of the particular). Utilizing von Balthazar's concept of Christ as the "concrete universal," Cavanaugh argues that Christianity ultimately provides the proper affirmation of the universal importance of the particular, and that our consumption needs to be corrected by a kenosis and participation in Christ's body in mutual giving and receiving.
Chapter four analyzes the fundamental assumption of the scarcity of resources and, paralleling Walter Bruegemann's analysis of the Old Testament (though he is not cited as such) Cavanaugh argues that Christ's resurrection and the Christian consciousness of Christ as the one who came to give us life abundantly in the practice of the Eucharist fundamentally alters our conception of economic exchange, which is fundamentally in self-service, and affirmation of each other in particular and local communities.
At the end of each chapter he gives particular examples of how churches and organizations can (and have) incorporated these insights into their practices. Though this book's length will not occupy you for more than a long weekend, its analysis will last you a lifetime. This is undoubtedly one of the best books of its size you can buy. You will not be disappointed.
Summary of Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire
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.Christian Living Books
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