This is the fourth in a series of Templeton Foundation sponorsed conversations among leading scientists, scholars, and public figures about the “Big Questions.”
...Critics of consumerism can be found among all political allegiances, every religious faith and within most fields of ethical inquiry. However, it is not immediately clear that there is a consensus about how consumerism functions in society. Consumerism is often portrayed as simply an ideology or a belief system. Within this portrayal, a Christian response to consumerism is found by investigating the conflicting beliefs… Any investigation into what it means to be made in the image of God would quickly critique the notion of human-as-consumer.
Looks at the paradox inherent in a system where our ethics and values as producers (hard work etc.) are at odds with our ethics as consumers (ease and debt) among other things.
The Capitalism Project [Regent College] is undertaking a series of reflections on the loss of a sense of place in modern society. The Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann in his book The Land comments, “The sense of being lost, displaced, and homeless is pervasive in contemporary culture. The yearning to belong somewhere, to have a home, to be in a safe place, is a deep and moving pursuit.” The theologian Oliver O’Donovan explicitly connects this ‘homelessness’ with consequences of the modern economy: “Homo Oeconomicus [economic man], that unspiritual clod, has become a wanderer en masse.” This series will attempt to investigate the claims of Brueggemann and O’Donovan and consider the relationship between the loss of a sense of place and capitalism.
…I seldom become depressed, but when I consider that prosperity is created by “peace, easy taxes and a tolerable administration of justice” I really think that the U.S. and other Western governments are doing their very best to impoverish their countries.
Money will remain at the centre of human affairs, weaving its way into matters of love, death and social connectedness. But the return of a sense of scepticism about the innate moral worth of money may be the most valuable outcome of recent events.
Has there ever been a time when there were so many different views of human nature floating around all at once? The economists have their view, in which rational people coolly chase incentives. Traditional Christians have their view, emphasizing original sin, grace and the pilgrim’s progress in a fallen world. And then there are the evolutionary psychologists, who get the most media attention…Evolutionary psychology has had a good run. But now there is growing pushback. Critics say the theory is being used to try to explain more than it can bear.
How did the rating agencies come to have such a prominent role in the regulation of securities? This column traces their history back to the Great Depression. Ironically, the agencies became a regulatory instrument to address concerns about securities originators’ conflicts of interest, the very problem plaguing the agencies today. The lesson may be that no fixed regulatory solution is durable in the long run.