The Gospel is Anti-capitalist! (On God and Mammon)
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4 thoughts on “The Gospel is Anti-capitalist! (On God and Mammon)”
Some form of money has been used for over five thousand years in every political and economic system devised by man. How are you going to get rid of money? Even if you get rid of physical cash because you think it is inherently evil, there will still be digital money. Even the socialist and communist systems you may espouse use money. How are you going to get rid of it?
Hi Charles, thanks for watching and responding. I am not suggesting removing money from society immediately. Rather, the critique of capitalism is that it has made money and, specifically, the mechanism of capital accumulation the chief end of social life. Capitalism as a political, economic, and social system prioritizes capital accumulation above all else, even if it means the loss of human life.
Men have sought to govern themselves using many different forms of government. Monarchies, dictatorships, republics, democracy, socialism, communism, etc. The problem isn’t really the form of government, the problem is the human heart. All of these forms of government would work equally well if the heart of man was perfect. They all have imperfect men ruling over imperfect men, and thus they all tend to fail in one way or the other. Capitalism, or freedom, is the best way to lift people out of poverty, because it gives people an incentive to work hard and benefit themselves, which ends up benefiting society as a whole.
Thanks for bringing some attention and analysis to the primary negative aspect of the gospel. As “good news,” the gospel is first (and mostly) a positive expression. It is pro-god. I don’t think there is any significant argument about that. The gospel’s pro-god message is “settled theology.”
However, what the gospel condemns is a very different story. Lots of opinions, theories, and actions about what the gospel opposes. I appreciate your courage in focusing on a logical but likely controversial conclusion: the gospel is anti-capitalism.
I think there is lots of intellectual proof for this conclusion, and I imagine your book provides plenty of support for it. But I think the greatest proofs, often missing from academic analyses, are the many communities who opt out of capitalism and other private-property systems in pursuit of god and/or the common good.
To name a few active today: Plum Village, Bruderhof, Franciscans, Benedictines, and many more spiritual orders too numerous to name. There are millions of people living for god and against capitalism as we speak, but they do not get much attention because that lifestyle does not create profit for capitalist companies or systems.
As the gospel says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7)
Indeed, many of us enmeshed in capitalism are on the broad road to destruction. But it is not too late to change paths to the narrow way that leads to life. May many more of us make it!
Some form of money has been used for over five thousand years in every political and economic system devised by man. How are you going to get rid of money? Even if you get rid of physical cash because you think it is inherently evil, there will still be digital money. Even the socialist and communist systems you may espouse use money. How are you going to get rid of it?
Hi Charles, thanks for watching and responding. I am not suggesting removing money from society immediately. Rather, the critique of capitalism is that it has made money and, specifically, the mechanism of capital accumulation the chief end of social life. Capitalism as a political, economic, and social system prioritizes capital accumulation above all else, even if it means the loss of human life.
Men have sought to govern themselves using many different forms of government. Monarchies, dictatorships, republics, democracy, socialism, communism, etc. The problem isn’t really the form of government, the problem is the human heart. All of these forms of government would work equally well if the heart of man was perfect. They all have imperfect men ruling over imperfect men, and thus they all tend to fail in one way or the other. Capitalism, or freedom, is the best way to lift people out of poverty, because it gives people an incentive to work hard and benefit themselves, which ends up benefiting society as a whole.
Dear friend,
Thanks for bringing some attention and analysis to the primary negative aspect of the gospel. As “good news,” the gospel is first (and mostly) a positive expression. It is pro-god. I don’t think there is any significant argument about that. The gospel’s pro-god message is “settled theology.”
However, what the gospel condemns is a very different story. Lots of opinions, theories, and actions about what the gospel opposes. I appreciate your courage in focusing on a logical but likely controversial conclusion: the gospel is anti-capitalism.
I think there is lots of intellectual proof for this conclusion, and I imagine your book provides plenty of support for it. But I think the greatest proofs, often missing from academic analyses, are the many communities who opt out of capitalism and other private-property systems in pursuit of god and/or the common good.
To name a few active today: Plum Village, Bruderhof, Franciscans, Benedictines, and many more spiritual orders too numerous to name. There are millions of people living for god and against capitalism as we speak, but they do not get much attention because that lifestyle does not create profit for capitalist companies or systems.
As the gospel says, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matthew 7)
Indeed, many of us enmeshed in capitalism are on the broad road to destruction. But it is not too late to change paths to the narrow way that leads to life. May many more of us make it!