Throughout this book review we will discuss the purpose of this book, how it affects our lives. I will give a brief summary of the book and explain what William. T. Cavanaugh portrays. We will then look at the strengths and weaknesses of the book as well as my conclusion as to these strengths and weaknesses.
2. Purpose of the book – Being Consumed, Economics and Christian Desires
William. T. Cavanaugh, wrote this book in the hopes to reveal an economic life with implementations from Christian methods to truly live free in economic practices.
Cavanaugh only discuss four topics, which are; freedom and unfreedom, detachment and attachment, the global and the local, and lastly he discuss scarcity and abundance. These topics are …show more content…
Although this is in part true, unfreedom reveals to us that there are many factors such as market forces and exploited labourers which influence our decisions.
Market forces tend to display advertisements which are appealing to society emotionally and physically. These advertisements are often manipulative and forces society to make decisions without realizing that they are succumbing to their coercion. Cavanaugh counters these manipulations from large corporations by encouraging free markets.
Free markets are only free when two people decide to exchange a product and are both aware of everything concerned with that product. By taking part in a free market the consumer gets what they really want instead of what they were forced to want.
According to Augustine freedom is to achieve worthwhile goals, these goals should be goals which lead us to God and living according to Christ’s example.
Living according to Christ’s example means living in the body of Christ. Christians are seen as a community in Christ and therefore we are responsible for those who are a part of the same …show more content…
This hunger will be fulfilled by God and we will join the community in Christ, by being a part of this community we share the pain of those who are a part of the Body. This means that as Christians we need to reach out to those in need, to face the scarcity of the world and not to merely give donations but to treat those in the body of Christ as we would treat ourselves. Christians are encouraged to support gospel inspired businesses and to support local farmer. By supporting those who are trying to make a living but cannot afford the market force of larger companies, Christians are helping to provide a living for producers who may have otherwise starved of.
The Christian lifestyle in the Eucharist is a lifestyle of plenty and they do not need to worry about provision. God is their sole provider, they therefore are able to give freely of the materiel goods to those in need and can rest assured that God will reward them in