Economy Of Desire

In this addition to the award-winning Church and Postmodern Culture series, respected theologian Daniel Bell compares and contrasts capitalism and Christianity, showing how Christianity provides resources for faithfully navigating the postmodern global economy.

Bell approaches capitalism and Christianity as alternative visions of humanity, God, and the good life. Considering faith and economics in terms of how desire is shaped, he casts the conflict as one between different disciplines of desire. He engages the work of two important postmodern philosophers, Deleuze and Foucault, to illuminate the nature of the postmodern world that the church currently inhabits. Bell then considers how the global economy deforms desire in a manner that distorts human relations with God and one another. In contrast, he presents Christianity and the tradition of the works of mercy as a way beyond capitalism and socialism, beyond philanthropy and welfare. Christianity heals desire, renewing human relations and enabling communion with God.

Contents
Introduction: What Has Paris to Do with Jerusalem?
1. The Multitude: The Micropolitics of Desire
2. Capital Desire: Capitalism as an Economy of Desire
3. What Is Wrong with Capitalism?
4. Capitalist Theology: The Agony of Capitalist Desire
5. Is Another Economy Possible? The Church as an Economy of Desire
6. The Economy of Salvation
7. Christian Economics
8. The Work of Mercy
Conclusion: Dishonest Wealth, Friends, and Eternal Homes
Index