Jeremiad
Tonight in the bath i finished Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser (review), which my friend Rachel lent me a couple of weeks ago. Appears that the fast food industry (At least in the States) and pratically everything connected to it is thoroughly fuct.
A few months ago i read Down With Big Brother by Michael Dobbs (review) which describes some of the insane stupidities of the fall of the Soviet Empire. Reading that, and Naomi Klein’s No Logo (review) makes me think that capitalism (or whatever it is that we wade to work in) is not inherently better than communism. I don’t expect that this a very interesting issue for most of you, but for years i’ve prided myself on being Mr Super-Right-Wing Libertarian Man. Now i think they’re both riddled with rottenness, and that neither the Left nor the Right provides a good model for Kingdom critique of the powers.
Also, i keep finding that for the most part, the prophets aren’t coming from inside Christianity.
9 responses to “Jeremiad”
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You are on to something. Let me recommend to you Abraham Kuyper’s “The Problem of Poverty” (edited and introduced by James Skillen), and Bob Goudzwaard’s “Capitalism and Progress.”
Thanks Gideon, i’ll check them out
“We need a politics that points out that the door is open – not just for the rich but for ordinary poeple too – a politics that allows people to achieve liberation, to find authenticity, and to value community and relationships above wealth and status. In short, now that the economic problem has been solved, we need a politics that encourages people to pursue a rich life instead of a life of riches”.
Awesome Aussie book I bought recently: Growth Fetish, by Clive Hamilton. Posits a few answers, but I’m not up to that yet. You can download a few chapters from the website.
No one political model, whether left or right, is going to be inherently better than any other.
Despite all the good intentions in the world, despite the seemingly apparent utopianism promised by any(or every) particular leader, we are all, as you so eloquently refered to the fast-food industry et al, fuct.
You could have the perfect model of government, and idiots would still screw it up, either the idiots in power, or the idiot constituents.
I think political idea(l)s should be excuted in the understanding that they are a means of helping us all along through the tunnel, but also knowing that there is no light at the end of the tunnel. It is a continuous circular track, to be traveled with the tiresome trudging of terminal tedium.
There is no salvation in (or from) politics, here under the sun.
o i didn’t mean to be quite so depressing as that.
here is a possible way ahead:
Paul’s Gospel and Caesar’s Empire – NT Wright
hehe… I didn’t mean to be that depressive either :)
I just got carried away with the aliteration.
Am reading the article. :)
in finishing, ‘… under the sun’ I was intending that the politics of man are futile per se, without giving any thought to things ‘above the sun’.
Re: NTW as above, I guess today’s “Christianity” is becoming/become, in a way, yesterday’s Judaism.
Imagine a nation without a traditional government(its easy if you try), ie: one that sees itself as the be-all and end-all, where the buck doesn’t stop. But rather one that gives full acknowledgement and authority to the over-arching empire of Jesus.
How one would/should/could implement/administer such an idea, I haven’t a clue. But the idea of such a government gives me a greater sense of equality with my fellow man, and also a greater sense of personal responsibilty.
(Pardon the Lennonist pun above)
choice
i guess a nation like that is a long way, but would be neat to inspire particular communities as a start
and i liked the pun
Marc Geddes on capitalism