Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire
by William T. Cavanaugh
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Book Summary Information
Author: William T. CavanaughEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2008-03-17
ISBN: 0802845614
Number of pages: 115
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company
Book Reviews of Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire
Book Review: All consumers should read this book
Summary: 5 Stars
If you are at all concerned about the economy or questions of how consumption relates to happiness, or how Christians should think about economic issues, this is the book for you. In four clearly-written, profoundly insightful chapters William Cavanaugh analyzes some of the most important issues facing economic thinkers today, including free markets, consumerism, pluralism and scarce resources, from a deeply faithful Christian perspective (although the author is Catholic and draws mainly on Catholic thinkers, his theology is strongly ecumenical) and provides sound, practical advice for how Christians can live in a world of scarce resources, rampant consumerism and meaningless relativism.
Modern economics is based on the assumption that human wants are infinite whereas resources to satisfy them are limited. The scarcity of resources creates an over-riding imperative to use resources efficiently (including human beings) and leads to conflict, whether military or monetary, over the rights to those resources. But Cavanaugh wants to tell a different story about consumption, one in which human desires can be directed towards a common end, the vision of God in community with other human beings and the natural world. Instead of people being impelled to constantly consume more and more things (where satisfaction is derived more from the pursuit of material goods than in their acquisition), they can attain a way of life in which desires are rightly ordered and where true happiness can be had in service to others in the body of Christ. The story of Christian economics is a story of abundance, because Christians become transformed to view service to others as their primary obligation, and not simply a 'charity' done during one's free time.
Cavanaugh reveals some truly disturbing facts about supply chains ranging from food to clothes and other consumer goods. We rarely question where the items on supermarket shelves come from. In fact, clothes for designer labels are often manufactured by workers earning 30 cents an hour in dismal conditions and the majority of mass-produced beef comes from calves which are artificially and horrendously fattened to reach 'maturity' in much less time than is natural, wallowing in their own feces and barely able to stand upright because of their weight. If that doesn't disturb you, it should. One way to make economics more human is to increase transparency about our supply chains and insist only on buying products made in accordance with good environmental and health standards, for both human workers and animals.
This book is simply packed with disturbing, challenging insights as well as suggestions for how we can create spaces in which human beings can flourish in their work and consumption. Though it is aimed primarily at Christians, anyone who is dissatisfied with current practices of consumption or economic justice will profit from reading it. It will also resonate with environmentalists (another book I recommend from a more secular perspective is Bill McKibben's Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future) and anyone else looking for alternative ways of living that emphasize human well-being rather than mindless consumption. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
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