Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire
Overview
Should Christians be for or against the free market? What about 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.
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- Examines economic issues from a Christian worldview
- Presents a new vision of consumption and economic alternatives
- Challenges our common economic assumptions
- Discusses how God has made us to consume and be consumed
- Freedom and Unfreedom
- Detachment and Attachment
- The Global and the Local
- Scarcity and Abundance
Top Highlights
“The argument of this chapter is that there is a fundamental connection between these two kinds of perception of the market. In the ideology of the free market, freedom is conceived as the absence of interference from others. There are no common ends to which our desires are directed. In the absence of such ends, all that remains is the sheer arbitrary power of one will against another.” (Page 2)
“The key question in every transaction is whether or not the transaction contributes to the flourishing of each person involved, and this question can only be judged, from a theological point of view, according to the end of human life, which is participation in the life of God.” (Page viii)
“Scarcity is the more general hunger of those who want more, without reference to what they already have. Economics will always be the science of scarcity as long as individuals continue to want. And we are told that human desires are endless.” (Page 90)
“For Augustine, the most important question is not whether the will has been moved externally or internally; rather, the most important question is to what end the will has been moved.” (Page 11)
“Freedom is something received, not merely exercised” (Page 9)
Many Christians vaguely sense that all is not well with their relation to consumer society, but find it difficult to name just what ails them. In Being Consumed William Cavanaugh offers the clearest, most helpful diagnosis I have ever seen. No liberal guilt-tripping here, just some serious theological reflection on matters like God, desire, justice, pluralism, and the nature of human freedom. I especially like Cavanaugh’s concrete examples of economic practices consistent with life in the body of Christ. This book will be required reading in my introductory theology course.
—Joseph Mangina, professor of systematic theology, Wycliffe College, Toronto
Rampaging retail therapy in our Western economics requires a radical analyst. We have an Augustinian prophetic voice in William Cavanaugh, who subjects the free market, consumer culture, globalization, and scarcity to Catholic interrogation. He employs the traditions of Augustine, Aquinas, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and John Paul II, proposing an alternative desire that transforms the church and our practices. Envisioning a eucharistic justice that leaves us rich in community-caring and prosperous in our constant sharing, Cavanaugh is lucid, personal, practical, and theologically wise.
—Gavin D’Costa, professor of Catholic theology, University of Bristol
Can a book free Christians from the ‘invisible hand’ that seems more and more to dominate every aspect of our lives? William Cavanaugh provides a much-needed how-to manual for just such a liberation. Clearly written and even entertaining, Being Consumed frees us from the ironic position of ‘having no choice’ but to live by the rules of free-market consumerism in a globalized world of scarce resources . . . Cavanaugh makes clear that the everyday economic life of Christians can be different and can make a difference. And he sows seeds that could, if taken seriously by Christians and churches, produce well over a hundredfold—produce, that is, a revolution.
—M. Therese Lysaught, associate professor, department of theology, Marquette University
Being Consumed is a thoughtful look at a difficult set of issues. I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to understand better how we might apply Christian teaching within our modern economic framework.
—Catholic Register
William T. Cavanaugh is senior research professor at the Center for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology and professor of Catholic studies at DePaul University. His other books include The Myth of Religious Violence: Secular Ideology and the Roots of Modern Conflict and Migrations of the Holy: God, State, and the Political Meaning of the Church.