On Not Being Consumed

William Cavanaugh is a theologian, not an economist, so we don’t expect perfect economic theory from his book Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire.  Having been recommended by several especially bright friends, all engaged in Neo-Anabaptist Theology and cultural discussion, I was hoping for a strong argument against consumerism and against free markets which would challenge my own beliefs about Capitalism.  This is Cavanaugh’s argument, but his is not a strong one.  After attacking what he perceives to be the pitfalls of free markets he makes a case for an attitude of involvement in commerce and society based on the peculiar Christian telos which he derives primarily from Augustine, but also Belloc and Chesterton.  The latter is a personal favorite of mine, and I must agree that Christians have a unique responsibility and ethic to live out in this world.  We ought not to be consumed with desires and lusts.  We ought not to be influenced by marketing schemes to generate desire in us.  We ought to live simply, well beneath our means, and most charitably.  Indeed, I believe Christians must accept full and exclusive responsibility for caring for the least of these.  Cavanaugh seems to want to force social institutions to conform to this peculiar ethic, or at least to make them more accommidating to this ethic, while simultaneously restraining the market in a way that reduces the pressure to consume.  He theologically fails to keep the world separate from the church, and economically has no idea what he is talking about.

Cavanaugh chooses to identify as his antagonist Milton Friedman, perhaps the 20^th century’s most influential, and most well known, economist.  This is a good choice, and Cavanaugh would have done well to stick to attacking Friedman directly in order to develop a cogent argument.  Instead, he takes aim at Capitalism in general, conflating theories from divers and disagreeing schools of economic thought.  In the meantime, however, Cavanaugh does us a favor by re-iterating nearly every economic myth I have ever heard in his attack on free markets.  Indeed, I might recommend this book for the professor of economics seeking an interesting way of exposing popular economic myths.  He will find nearly three per page in this book, and often with ready-made illustrations.

I do not rejoice over this at all, I grieve.  In a book purporting to help Christians understand their role in culture we are led astray, and it is shown conclusively how badly the Church needs good instruction in economics.  This last is my life’s passion, and Cavanaugh has done me quite a large favor by articulating many of the specific fallacies which require attention.  As theologians and clergy become increasingly involved in politics, both in the literature, and in the pulpit, it becomes essential to include in their development a right understanding of economics, our most valuable set of tools in restraining the influence of political special interest groups and the size of the state.

I hope to write a series carefully identifying economic fallacies and presenting the right way to think about the phenomena surrounding them, perhaps even exploring how the mythologies can to exist from time to time. 

Keep posted.

Comments