Economic Liturgies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cWe must continue to develop nonmythological narratives that synthesize and interpret our experience. These narratives must be based on the facts as we\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/02\/economic-liturgies\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Economic Liturgies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cWe must continue to develop nonmythological narratives that synthesize and interpret our experience. 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{"id":17870,"date":"2016-02-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-02-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=2692"},"modified":"2016-02-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-02-02T00:00:00","slug":"economic-liturgies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2016\/02\/economic-liturgies\/","title":{"rendered":"Economic Liturgies"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Here is Gustafson\u2019s idea of a nonmythical account of the origins of money: \u201cOur hunter-gatherer ancestors did not use money for many millennia. Money evolved from the social, political, and intellectual dynamics created by the agricultural revolution. Eventually, these dynamics created two sorts of people that we currently call creditors and debtors.\u201d Money developed out of the distinction of meum <\/em>and tuum <\/em>applied to food (112; the Latin is Rousseau, not Gustason). <\/p>\n

Morality also arises from the transformation of food into a commodity to be bought and sold: \u201cmorality emerges when the commodification of food demands that a distinction be made between those who merit food and those who do nit, and morality begins when this distinction is made. But morality achieves full power over society when religious leaders \u2013 through rituals and myths \u2013 convince the people that the divide between those who merit food and those who do not is of divine rather than human origin. When this happens, morality becomes universal at least within civilization.\u201d Gustafson admits that hunter-gatherer societies distinguished good and bad, but they \u201cdid not universally draw the moral divide,\u201d we we civilized people do (114-115). Morality is a mystification legitimizing ownership of food.<\/p>\n

That Gustafson considers this a non<\/em>-mythical, factual <\/em>account of the origins of money is quite remarkable. He offers no real data or evidence to back any of this up \u2013 including the claim that humans (or proto-humans) were hunter-gatherers for millennia, or that religious leaders sacralized the distinction of haves and have nots, or that this was the origin of morality. <\/p>\n

This is unfortunate, because the premise of Gustafson\u2019s book is very promising. If Mammon is indeed an idol, and if many serve this idol, then we\u2019d expect the religion of Mammon to parody true religion \u2013 with rituals, myths and stories, prophets and priests, rules of sacrilege and purity, sacraments, and a mission to redeem the world. Gustafson\u2019s foundational premises, though, undermine his analysis from the outset.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"