theology & peace presentation

Compassionate Economics:Can It Go Viral?

Jesus, Paul, and James as Postmodern Economists: Can

Their Vision Go Viral?


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some preliminary thoughts

apology & plea

modern economy

modern economy:extractive - industrial - colonial - consumerist

modern economy:extractive - industrial - colonial - consumerist

“free market/capitalist” form“regulated/socialist” form

right wing market capitalist - “market” forces are inherently good; government

regulation is evil intruder

left wing market capitalist - “market” forces are ambiguous, dangerous; government regulation is needed

In a market economy, [Karl] Polanyi said:

"... instead of the economic system being embedded in social relationships, these relationships were now embedded in the economic system" (1968, 70)

economy

society

economy

environmentsociety

environmentsociety

“The economy is a wholly

owned subsidiary of

the environment,

not the reverse.”economy

Conventional View Emerging View

The HumanSituation: Whatis the story thatwe findourselves in?

God created the world as perfect,but because our primalancestors, Adam and Eve, didnot maintain the absoluteperfection demanded by God,God has irrevocably determinedthat the entire universe and all itcontains will be destroyed, andthe souls of all human beings –except for those specificallyexempted – will be foreverpunished for their imperfectionin hell.1

God created the world as good, buthuman beings – as individuals, and asgroups – have rebelled against God andfilled the world with evil and injusticelike a terrible disease. God wants to savehumanity and heal it from its sickness,but humanity is hopelessly lost andconfused, like sheep without a shepherd,wandering farther and farther intolostness and danger. Left to themselves,human beings will spiral downward insickness and evil.

BasicQuestions: Whatquestions didJesus come toanswer?

Since everyone is doomed tohell, Jesus seeks to answer thesequestions: how can individualsbe saved from eternalpunishment in hell and insteadgo to heaven after they die? Howcan God help individuals behappy and successful until then?

Since the human race is in such desperatetrouble, Jesus seeks to answer thisquestion: what must be done about themess we’re in? The mess refers both tothe general human condition and itsspecific outworking among hiscontemporaries: living under dominationby the Roman empire, and divided intovarious competing sects.

Jesus’ message:How did Jesusrespond to thecrisis?

Jesus says, in essence, “If youwant to be among thosespecifically qualified to escapebeing forever punished for yoursins in hell, you must repent ofyour individual sins and believethat my Father punished me onthe cross so He won’t have topunish you in hell. Only if youbelieve this will you go toheaven when everyone else isbanished to hell.”2 This is thegood news.

Jesus says, in essence, “Other people andgroups – including your own religiousleaders - are leading you farther andfarther astray. I have been sent by Godwith this good news – that God loveshumanity, even in its lostness and sin.God graciously invites everyone andanyone to question and reject what theyhave been told and instead follow a newpath. Trust me and become my disciple,and you will be transformed, and you willparticipate in the transformation of theworld, which is possible, beginning rightnow.”3 This is the good news.

1 Of course, there are many modern western non-religious ontologies and framing stories too,plus Eastern ontologies and framing stories – both religious and irreligious.2 This reflects a Calvinistic Evangelical protestant version of the message. The popular RomanCatholic version might say, “You must believe in the teachings of the church and follow itsinstructions, especially those regarding sacraments.” The popular mainline or liberal Protestant

Post/Modern Economy =Post-extractive --> RegenerativePost-industrial --> Digital/Service/RecyclingPost-colonial --> Local/Global/Fair TradePost-consumerist --> Steady State

Triple Bottom Line: economic, environmental, social benefit

Herman Daley

“There is something fundamentally wrong in treating

the Earth as if it were a business in liquidation.”

Herman Daley












“Malthus has been buried many times.... But as Garrett Hardin remarked, anyone who has to be reburied so often cannot be entirely dead.”

Herman Daley












“If nonsatiety were the natural state of human nature then aggressive want-stimulating advertising would not be necessary, nor would the barrage of novelty aimed at promoting dissatisfaction with last year's model. The system attempts to remake people to fit its own presuppositions. If people's wants are not naturally insatiable we must make them so, in order to keep the system going.”

“Growth economics gave technology free rein. Steady-state economics channels technical progress in the socially benign directions of small scale, decentralization, increased durability of products, and increased long-run efficiency in the use of scarce resources.”

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value

Rene Girard:Desire is

contagious.We “catch” our desires from others.

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Feeding Frenzy

Feeding Frenzy

What others value, we will

value.What we value, others will value.

“Value does not reside in objects. It is produced by human beings acting in concert with one another. It has the character, in other words, of an institution.”

- Andre Orleans, The Empire of Value

Value is not an objective reality.

Value is not a subjective reality.

Value is an intersubjective reality.

We make value together - by agreeing something is desirable.

Value is not an objective reality.

Value is not a subjective reality.

Value is an intersubjective reality.

We make value together - by agreeing something is desirable.

Religion is, among other things, a community that consciously creates an intersubjective reality of value ... often in resistance to values created by other institutions.

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scarcity, needs, wants

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Paul Dumouchel: “The Ambivalence of Scarcity”

In our economy/society, the more you have ... the more you feel you need. As your standard of living increases, your desires increase.

You never run out of scarcity!

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Paul Dumouchel: “The Ambivalence of Scarcity”

“Peace does not follow from abundance, and war is not a consequence of poverty.”

wealth

My wife, Grace, is a real estate agent.One of her clients (who already owns many houses and properties) recently

said to her:

“I’m not rich. There’s that vacant lot that I want to buy, and I can’t afford

it right now.”

Riches/Wealth = ability to acquire whatever I desire immediately.

Riches/Wealth = ability to acquire whatever I desire immediately.

This definition allows people to be rich without ever feeling rich, since the more one has, the more one desires, and the more one desires, the more lack one feels.

Thus everyone has an inexhaustible supply of scarcity

and poverty.

An African Friend:

You Westerners think you are rich when you have extra money that you can put in the bank. When we have extra money, we throw a party

and invite all our friends. We put our wealth in our neighbor’s belly, because a neighbor who

will be there for you is worth more than money.

You could say that for us, our neighbor is our bank, and the interest we get is our neighbor’s

good will.

False Wealth:Converting free long term common assets (fertile land, clean air, clean

water, diverse ecosystems) into short-term private liquid assets.

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status/success/ prestige

In placing the struggle for prestige at the heart of consumer motivation... it now becomes possible to explain the phenomenon of perpetual scarcity as the result of a deliberate and relentless effort to acquire new badges of distinction. This is the price that everyone must pay in order to maintain, if not also improve, his position on the social ladder.” - Mark Anspach (Desired Possessions, 187)

Scarcity is a specific form of social organization, created by the market, that makes each person’s status depend, to a degree that is unknown in nonmarket societies, on his ability to acquire objects by himself, without assistance from others. Yet the individual liberty and independence that characterize this state of affairs can also take the form of solitude and exclusion.

Market actors are not in fact closed in on themselves in the manner of homo ceconomicus; instead, they exist in a state of abiding rivalry with others. As members of a group they seek, through the purchase of what they take to be useful goods, to increase their relative prestige, which is to say their power over others. This assumption profoundly alters our view of the individual’s relationship to commodities.

Mark Anspach, Desired Possessions *187)

In a Market Society/Economy ...

Status/Prestige = ability to immediately acquire new objects of desire/badges of distinction by oneself, without assistance from others, and in comparison to (or rivalry with) others.

In a Pre-Market Society/Economy ...

Status/Prestige = ability to be just and give generously to others.

Wealth = what one gains by being part of a community dedicated to justice and mutual generosity.

The word prestige comes from a Latin word meaning ...

a conjuring trick.

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inequality

Hence the deep ambivalence of market isolation: so far from being considered unjust, a society in which a part of the population knows privation, hunger, and disease, while others have much more than they need to live in relative health and comfort, is regarded as the natural expression of a rational economic order. Pre-market societies, accustomed to assigning worth to persons as social beings, would have found such an attitude shocking. But this is what scarcity really amounts to.” - Andre Orlean, The Empire of Value (p. 88)

After the Kenyan post-election tribal conflict several years ago, a Kenyan justice activist was asked what tribe he was from. He replied, “I am not ashamed of my tribal heritage, and it is part of who I am. But really, there are really only two tribes in the world: the elite have’s and the masses of have-not’s. Suffice it to say that I am from the elite tribe of the have’s, and I have decided to use my privilege for the benefit of the have-not’s.”

The Modern Market Economy requires inequality as an expression of justice in the universe, to show that “the invisible hand” of the market appropriately rewards the deserving elites and punishes the undeserving masses.

To preserve this economic orthodoxy against all evidence, elites must create weapons of mass distraction to keep the have-not’s mystified, divided, dependent, amused, pacified, co-opted, and compliant.

Dave Chappelle

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In the past I used to tell a lot of jokes about white people. And I know there are a lot of white people here with us tonight. When I say jokes about white people, don’t think for a second that I’m talking about you. Don’t forget I had almost 50 million dollars once. When you make enough money in America they’ll pull back the curtain and introduce you to the real white people. You guys just think you’re white.

- dave chappelle

poverty, war, and economy

If Girard was right about mimesis and the scapegoating

mechanism ...

An unregulated market economy needsa) An underclassb) Periodic wars

An underclass is necessary to reward winners in the rivalry for prestige.

Wars are necessary to

periodically purge the tensions that

rise in rivalry-based economies, and to periodically

unite rivals against a common external enemy or

internal scapegoat.

modern economy as religion

We may conclude by proposing that this belief itself serves a religious purpose. As [Karl] Polanyi observes, the market illusion leaves the individual magically "free from all responsibility for... economic suffering in society" (2001, 266). - From Mark Anspach, “Desired Possessions” 187

Perhaps it is no coincidence that for Western colonial Christianity, the essence of the religion is not love, not reconciliation, not the pursuit of justice, joy, and peace ... but forgiveness.

Perhaps a forgiveness market is the essential product of Christianity in an exploitive colonial market.

"The mechanism which the motive of gain set in motion was comparable in effectiveness," Polanyi remarks, "only to the most violent outbursts of religious fervor in history" (2001,31).

And this suggests a final thought. As the cult of the market now spreads throughout the developing world, awakening desires to possess the desired possessions of others without making such possessions readily available, those who find themselves excluded from the ranks of the elect will naturally turn to more traditional forms of faith. What is the violent outburst of religious fervor afflicting so many nations today if not a backlash against the religion of the market at the very moment of its apparent planetary triumph?

- Mark Anspach (187)

Perhaps certain lanes of the religious superhighway can be understood alternative prestige markets as well. When people are excluded from, drop out, or opt out of the competitive market economy, religious communities may provide different ways of gaining prestige ... through religious lore/knowledge, piety, skill in prayer, zeal in condemning heretics or sinners, etc.

The Religion of the Invisible Hand declares that the means of gaining wealth are amoral.

Donation/charity is moral.

Thus charity absolves donors of any moral responsibility for how their wealth was gained or for consequences of the system on which they depend. “Don’t question our way of acquiring wealth,” the robber baron says, “and we will reward you with gifts from our excess.”

The Religion of the Invisible Hand is, for billions of people, the Religion of the Invisible

Foot that tramples their dignity ...

The Religion of the Invisible Hand is, for earth’s ecosystems, the Religion of the Visible Fist that steals, kills, and destroys.

We write “In God We Trust” upon the god in which we trust.

the Bible and economics

Exodus = the primary biblical narrative about liberation from an oppressive pyramidal economy with a few living in luxury at the top and many living in misery at the bottom.

Slavery = a person becomes a depersonalized means for other persons to achieve their desires

Jubilee = a resetting of the economic system so that the depersonalized can become persons again ...












Our Predicament:1. Planet2. Poverty3. Peace4. Religion

Our current economic system produces ...

Ecological suicideSystems of, by, and for the 1%

War/Terrorism/CounterterrorismReligious insanity

Societal Machine

Equity Security

Prosperity

The Ecosystem

Heat

Solar Energy

ResourcesWaste

Societal Machine

Equity Security

Prosperity

The Ecosystem

Heat

Solar Energy

ResourcesWaste

Framing Story

Societal Machine

Equity Security

Prosperity

Heat

Solar Energy

ResourcesWaste

Framing Story/

Ideology

Religions are supposed to provide a framing story and creative community capable of guiding people into justice, peace, and joy.

Instead, our world religions can usually be found

Distracting their followers from the big issuesExhausting/Amusing their followers into passivityBoring their followers into apathyPromoting framing stories/ideologies that make things worse ...












Jesus, Paul, & James as

postmoderneconomists












Jesus as postmoderneconomist

14 Then Jesus, filled with the power of the Spirit, returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through all the surrounding country. 15He began to teach in their synagogues and was praised by everyone.

16 When he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the sabbath day, as was his custom. He stood up to read, 17and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:

18 ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor.He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’ 20And he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. The eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. 21Then he began to say to them, ‘Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.’

16Then Jesus* said to the disciples, ‘There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. 2So he summoned him and said to him, “What is this that I hear about you? Give me an account of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.” 3Then the manager said to himself, “What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. 4I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.”

5So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, “How much do you owe my master?” 6He answered, “A hundred jugs of olive oil.” He said to him, “Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.” 7Then he asked another, “And how much do you owe?” He replied, “A hundred containers of wheat.” He said to him, “Take your bill and make it eighty.” 8And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. 9And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

Blessed are the poor ...

Blessed are the poor in spirit ... (those in solidarity with the poor)

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth ... but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.

You cannot serve two masters ... God and Mammon.

Forgive us our debts ...

Forgive us our trespasses ...

... as we forgive ...

Behold the lilies of the field ... Behold the birds of the air ...

Be perfect (compassionate) as your Father in heaven is perfect

(compassionate).

Love your neighbor as yourself ...

Love your enemy ... (competitor?)

Miracle of multiplication in small self-organizing groups ...

Encounter with rich young ruler ...

Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s ... and to God what is God’s.

Stewards as mid-level functionaries.

Note Luke’s themes in Acts ...

“all things in common”

“no one in need”

old markers of elitism eliminated

“It is better to give than to receive.”












Paul as economist

8 I do not say this as a command, but I am testing the genuineness of your love against the earnestness of others. 9For you know the generous act of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich. 10And in this matter I am giving my advice: it is appropriate for you who began last year not only to do something but even to desire to do something— 11now finish doing it, so that your eagerness may be matched by completing it according to your means.

12For if the eagerness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has—not according to what one does not have. 13I do not mean that there should be relief for others and pressure on you, but it is a question of a fair balance between 14your present abundance and their need, so that their abundance may be for your need, in order that there may be a fair balance. 15As it is written,‘The one who had much did not have too much, and the one who had little did not have too little.’

9Now it is not necessary for me to write to you about the ministry to the saints, 2for I know your eagerness, which is the subject of my boasting about you to the people of Macedonia, saying that Achaia has been ready since last year; and your zeal has stirred up most of them. 3But I am sending the brothers in order that our boasting about you may not prove to have been empty in this case, so that you may be ready, as I said you would be;

4otherwise, if some Macedonians come with me and find that you are not ready, we would be humiliated—to say nothing of you—in this undertaking.* 5So I thought it necessary to urge the brothers to go on ahead to you, and arrange in advance for this bountiful gift that you have promised, so that it may be ready as a voluntary gift and not as an extortion.

6 The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

8And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. 9As it is written,‘He scatters abroad, he gives to the poor; his righteousness* endures for ever.’ 10He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness.* 11You will be enriched in every way for your great generosity, which will produce thanksgiving to God through us; 12for the rendering of this ministry not only supplies the needs of the saints but also overflows with many thanksgivings to God.

Not that I am referring to being in need; for I have learned to be content with whatever I have. 12I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. 13I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (Phil. 4:11 ff)

Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment; 7for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it; 8but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. (1 Timothy 6:6 ff)

6 Now we command you, beloved,* in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are* living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they* received from us. 7For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, 8and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labour we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. 9This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. 10For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. 11For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. 12Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. 13Brothers and sisters,* do not be weary in doing what is right. (2 Thess 3)

Philippians 2:1-11

2If then there is any encouragement in Christ, any consolation from love, any sharing in the Spirit, any compassion and sympathy, 2make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.

Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but

in humility regard others as better than yourselves. 4Let each of you look not to your own interests,

but to the interests of others.

Let this attitude/mind be in you,The attitude/mind of Christ Jesus,

who, being in the image of God,Did not count equality with God

Something to be grasped,But he emptied himself,

By taking the very nature of a servant,Being made in human form,

And being found in human form,He humbled himself.

He became obedient to the point of death,Even death upon a cross.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place.

God gave him the highest name of all,So that at Jesus’ name

All knees should bend,All tongues confess,

That Jesus Christ is LordTo the glory of God the Father,

... Who works in us to desireAnd do God’s good pleasure.

That Jesus Christ is LordTo the glory of God the Father,

... Who works in us to desireAnd do God’s good pleasure.

acquisit

ive mim

esis o

r mim

etic k

enosis?












James as economist

2My brothers and sisters,* do you with your acts of favouritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?* 2For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, 3and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, ‘Have a seat here, please’, while to the one who is poor you say, ‘Stand there’, or, ‘Sit at my feet’,* 4have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters.* Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? 6But you have dishonoured the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? 7Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

8 You do well if you really fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’

3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom. 14But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be boastful and false to the truth. 15Such wisdom does not come down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. 16For where there is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. 17But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. 18And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for* those who make peace.

4Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? 2You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures. 4Adulterers! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God?

5Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. 2Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. 3Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure for the last days. 4Listen! The wages of the labourers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. 5You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have fattened your hearts on a day of slaughter. 6You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.

Follow me ... Love one another as I have loved you ... I have set you an example ...

Imitate me as I imitate Christ ... Let the mind of Christ be in you ... You know how we behaved among you, as a mother tenderly nursing her children ...

Show me your faith by your works ... show by your good life ...

The Faith Community as

-- a community of resistance/exposure of “prestige”/inter-subjective creation of value

-- a multi-generational succession of alternative example and mentoring

-- a community of just and generous mimesis

-- an upholder of saints/elders/models

-- a community of witness to the “great economy/earth economy” of “the kingdom of God”

Movements begin as critical communities during times of injustice and foolishness among elites.

Movements grow when the hegemony of elites is disturbed ...

Movements diagnose and prescribe, communicate and recruit effectively, and make appropriate proposals and demands.

Abolition went viral.

Anti-animal cruelty went viral.

Anti-child labor went viral.

Desegregation/anti-apartheid went viral.

Anti-domestic violence went viral.

Equality for women went viral.

Non-violent resistance is going viral.

LGBT non-discrimination is going viral.

New understanding of economy, society, environment

New understanding of desire

New understanding of wealth

New attitude toward scarcity

New intersubjective rendering of value

New undestanding of prestige, success, and greatness

New revulsion toward inequality & war

Where does this new understanding lead in practice?

Regenerative Economy: ESR and Triple Bottom Line

Distributing Opportunity

Living Local Economies

Economic Activism

Collapse Avoidance & Recovery

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God Who Creates, God Who Redeems,God of shalom - of peace, God of sh'leimut - of wholeness,We remember standing at the shore of the sea, afraid,Our enslavers in hot pursuit, ready to take us back to captivity.We remember the tumultuous sea before us that showed no signs of parting.And we remember you told us: v'yisa'u - go forward.We stepped forth. The waters parted. We moved our bodies from slavery to freedom.You moved our souls from oppression to redemption.God who Creates, God who Redeems,If it can happen once, it can happen over and over and over.V'yisa'u. Let us cross the sea with all who are enslaved, with captors on their heels.And together, let us make those waters part!

- Rabbi Stephanie Kolin

theology & peace presentation

Spiritual