Religion and economics have often been regarded as two separate spheres of life, with little to say to each other. The economy concerns that mundane while religion is concerned with the sacred. Better they each keep to their own territory – such is the received wisdom.
As we prepare for our Economy of Life Consultation here in Malawi, we are gearing up to challenge this division. Today, when every available resource is needed to work towards a just and inclusive world, we cannot afford to leave theology out of it. A leading voice in making this case is Jung Mo Sung, a Korean-born theologian who has spent his life in Brazil.
Sung argues that the ideology underpinning the prevailing global economic order is, in fact, religious in nature. The sovereignty that is accorded to the market is tantamount to idolatry, setting the market in place of God. Devotees are expected to have unlimited faith. Even when all the evidence suggests that market forces are not delivering the prosperity for everyone that is regularly promised, they must keep the faith.
A sinister part of this religious understanding of the economy is that it includes a major emphasis on sacrifice, as does Christianity. The difference is that whereas the Christian message is one of God in Christ coming to suffer on our behalf, in the market-religion is it is poor and vulnerable human beings who are sacrificed on the altar of market forces.
One function of theology is to demystify prevailing systems of thought so as to expose their weaknesses and subvert their claims. Such subversion might be needed as a first step in the long journey of building a community and an economy that is sustainable for all people and for the whole of the created world.
Reference: Jung Mo Sung, Desire, Market and Religion, London: SCM, 2007.
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