What Kind of God is Money Anyway? An Investigation into the Theological Structures of Capitalism and Gnosticism
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 23036151 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Daniel Minch (0000-0001-5087-023X, Evangelical Theological Faculty, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 4 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 62-83 |
| Publication date | 2018-12-21 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in Contemporary Society (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2364-2807 • E-ISSN: 2365-3140 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.14220/jrat.2018.4.2.62 |
| OpenAlex | W4236484767 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 12 |
This article investigates the role played by the neoliberal economic narrative in the crisis of representation, and specifically in contemporary representations of God. The continuation of Christian structures through secular modernity also carries with it the tendency to fall into familiar, ideological, and even #heretical! images of humanity, creation, and the divine. This article addresses the question: ifmoney is treated as a god, then what type of god is it precisely? First, the author presents capitalism as a system of belief, wherein money serves as the highest value, or as theos. The author argues that this #theology of money! functions structurally as a kind of late-modern gnosticism. Second, the author examines the theological #incarnation! of money through currency and how this reveals a dualistic #gnostic! metaphysics. The third part of this article identifies three essential characteristics of ancient Christian gnosticism in order to make a structural comparison with contemporary capitalism. Finally, the author points to the eschatological implications of representing divinity through money and how this representation affects humanity!s relation to time and temporality.
Capitalism · Divinity · Epistemology · Gnosticism · Humanity · Incarnation · Modernity · Political science · Political theology · Politics · Representation (politics) · Temporality · Theology · Law · Philosophy · Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and Politics · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory
| Highly cited | No |
|---|