In the last two chapters in The Unintended Reformation, Brad Gregory looks at two aspects of modern life in America today: the consumeristic culture and the higher education system. Basically, if you’ve ever found yourself coveting that latest iphone, car, or whatever because you’ve seen an advertisement for it, or if you’ve ever gone to college, chances are, there is going to be something in these two chapters you’ll be agreeing with.
Chapter 5: Manufacturing the Goods Life
The argument in chapter 5 is pretty straightforward: the Western world, particularly we Americans, really love to buy stuff, and we have grown up being told by our culture that amassing material wealth is actually more important than things like charity, truth, and self-denial.
Although there are no longer “religious wars” between Catholics and Protestants here in America, Gregory points out that it’s not because any kind of resolution has been found on certain theological issues. It’s because both Catholics and Protestants now “eschew theological controversy in order to go shopping” (243). And in the business world, certain practices that were once considered immoral because they were “detrimental to human flourishing and to the common good” are now put forth as “the very means to human happiness and to the best sort of society” (242).
In other words, in our modern society’s obsession with Mammon and material goods, we’ve chosen not to bother too much about actual truth, and we willingly look the other way when it comes to unethical practices…as long as get a better deal on the latest Xbox, Lexus, or iphone—we’re okay with it.
Such a mindset, Gregory explains, is the exact antithesis of the Medieval worldview, where asceticism and self-denial (“voluntarily declining to seek more than one needed left more things for others still in need”) were emphasized as tangible expressions of Christian love. Make no mistake, modern capitalism (or more properly-speaking, the modern abuses of capitalism that we routinely ignore) champions avarice and promotes unethical practices in order for avarice to flourish. As Gregory puts it, “modern Christians have in effect been engaged in a centuries-long attempt to prove Jesus wrong. ‘You cannot serve both God and Mammon.’ ‘Yes we can’” (288).
We know this is true. Just think back to the housing-bubble right before the big crash in 2008. No one—not banks and not homeowners—were complaining when houses were being sold at insanely high rates at insanely high prices. Why? Because banks were making money, and because homeowners who were selling their home were making huge profits as well. And even those who bought the house at a high price, didn’t mind, because they knew in a few years they’d be able to sell it and make a huge profit themselves. Everyone knew the bubble had to burst, because everyone knew something fishy was going on—but no one cared, because everyone wanted to make a quick buck.
Free markets and capitalism aren’t bad things. But unless they are rooted in a worldview Christian ethic of honesty, truthfulness, and Christ-like character, they will soon quickly devolve into machinations of economic oppression and manipulation. As Gregory points out, back during the industrial revolution, thousands upon thousands (probably millions) of men, women, and children were essentially human sacrifices to the big profits of big industry—living in squalor, working in coal mines, and dying before they reached 40.
When such abuses happen, eventually it provokes violent reactions. This is precisely what we see in Karl Marx. Rightly, he saw the abuses going on in 19th century Europe. His “solution,” though, was anything but right. He put forth the idea that “violent revolution was the only remedy for the injustices of capitalism, a deliberate hastening of the supposedly inexorable processes of class conflict rooted in the allegedly objective truth of historical materialism. Revolutionary violence was supposed to usher in the communist utopia and the goods life for all” (290).
And we all know how that idea turned out.
But the point is that when Christians fail to live Christ-like lives, when they fail to shape the culture in an ethos of Christian love, and when they fail to confront abuse and oppression of the poor, someone else will—and that “someone” often is someone like Marx, whose solution was ten times worse than the original problem.
The way Christians need to shape the culture is not so much by “getting into political office” and “making Christian laws.” They way Christians need to shape the culture is by reflecting Christ’s love to others. Christians need to convince culture that true human flourishing does not come by acquiring more stuff. It doesn’t depend on “a smaller iPod with more memory, a bigger flat-screen TV with a sharper display, a 16th or 25th or 33rd pair of shoes, or hundreds of shirts, sweaters, and scarves in all manner of colors, prints, and patterns” (294).
Sure, those things are nice, but they won’t bring you happiness or wholeness. No, Christians need to show to the culture that true human flourishing is found in self-denial, caring for the poor, and putting others’ needs ahead of your own. If you make $100,000 a year, what’s going to bring you more happiness? Buying a new Mercedes, or buying Neon, and then putting the $50,000 you wouldn’t be spending on the Mercedes toward some charity that you can be personally involved in? You’ll still have your job where you’re making $100,000 a year—you won’t be going broke anytime soon…you just won’t have a Mercedes. And who knows?
Maybe you don’t need that giant flat-screen TV that is the size of an entire wall either. I mean really, who wants that? Have you ever read Fahrenheit 451? Do you really want to go down that road? (Hopefully, you’ll get that reference).
Conclusion
Yes, it’s easy to point to, as Bernie Sanders says, “all the millionaires and billionaires” are the source of all the economic problems in America. And it’s true, they bear their share of blame. But the solution to those problems isn’t going to be in a larger government and higher taxes—for let’s face it, the government is richer than the richest billionaire, and probably more corrupt. Give the government more power, and they’ll try to “fix” the economy through just another means of violence, not the “violent revolution” Marx envisioned, but violence in some other form.
The solution, rather, has to be found in the heart of transformed society. The solution has to be found in Christian charity, because if you don’t have Christian charity, and if you are not guided by Christian ethics, then no economic system, no taxation, no government program is ever going to be successful. Simply put, the solution to economic problems (or at least a big part of the solution) has to be our society’s determination not to worship Mammon, and to stop trying to promote avarice as a virtue.
I’m not going to claim to be some sort of Mother Teresa, but I can say this. I’ve never made more than $33,000 a year. I can’t imagine what I’d do if I ever hit $40,000 a year. To put this into perspective, Alex Rodriguez makes more money with every five pitches he sees at the plate while batting than I did when I was a full-time high school teacher at a Christian school. Needless to say, I am by no means rich.
And sure, although it would be wonderful to make a little more money, I can tell you the key to happiness is not all the crap you see in advertisements shoved down your throat all day long. So here’s a challenge: look at your life, see what you can do without–and then do without it. See what happens.
