Summary Of Being Consumed: Economics And Christian Desire

The book that we are going to be reviewing today is titled “Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire. William T. Cavanaugh. 2140 Olk Industrial Drive N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49505. William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company. 2008.”
The author of “being consumed” endeavours or purposes to outline a viewpoint of every day economic life using Christian resources; he attempts to bring attention to tangible Christian practices that create truly free transactions, times and economic practices. I do believe that that was achieved. The author drew attention to important economic principles and then attempted to view them from a theological perspective; which was extremely insightful. Not only did he provide a different perspective on economic
He states that there is no point in being for or against a free market but instead we should change the question and answer for ourselves when a market is truly free. He argues that a market that is free is one that has an end or a goal. He believes that the absence of a goal will lead to a power struggle and thus – even if it appears free it is not. Chapter two of this book covers issues about consumerism. The author proposes that the issue of consumerism isn’t that we are too attached to our possessions but that we are too detached; the issue is not buying but shopping. We have no connection to production, products or produces. We feel no connection to anything we consume – it does not fulfil our desires. We don’t know where, how, who or what makes our purchases and thus they hold no real value. The practical solutions that the author proposes is that we support locally owned stores – get to know the people from who we purchase things. We should start making things for our house so that we can appreciate the labour, time and effort put into our possessions and so that we can have a real connection to them. On a more spiritual level we need to come to an understanding that no matter how much we try to fulfil our desires with material possessions it is only God who can truly fill the hole inside of
Globalization – the making of one out of many. However, because of the overwhelming sense of the one we lose sight of the many; diversity is lost. The only way that we can truly appreciate the one and the many is in Christ. We are absorbed into Christ through the consumption of His word and His spirit and thus are made into one body (the many) while still being an individual. Lastly, in chapter four, the author addresses the issue of scarcity. The worldly answer to this problem is to shop more in order to create more jobs to help support more people. This, however, goes against our eternal design because we are still detached from the product and the community. If we are one and the many then the suffering of one in the many should effect is profoundly. It is of our eternal design to take notice of the suffering of one and try as the body of Christ to elevate that