Calvin Synod Herald, 2012 (113. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

2012-03-01 / 3-4. szám

8

CALVIN SYNOD HERALD

The Christian Consumer

In his book, Being Consumed, Economy and Christian Desire, William T. Cavanaugh gives us a pragmatic, Christian approach to the 21st century human society, as it is shaped by consumerism. In four chapters he provides a sketch of the current state of globalization, than he analyses the data from the viewpoint of Roman Catholic tradition, and finally he tries to give pragmatic solutions to the Christian reader. In the third chapter he approaches the problem by analyzing globalism. At the end of the chapter he concludes that, “[t]he form of human life is then not consumption but kenosis ” (Cavanaugh 86). In the fallowing we are going to take a closer look of this third chapter.

It seems though, that in the beginning of the 21 st century human beings have unparalleled freedom of choice (at least those lucky ones who live in the ‘right place’). However, it would be hard to argue with the author that, there is a sense of resignation to fate. Why is this dual perception? The writer of the book offers two answers. The first problem is that in our free market society freedom is defined negatively. We are free when we are free from others (especially from the state). However, according to Augustine of Hippo freedom cannot be described just with negative terms (i.e. freedom from something). Freedom has to have a positive part, a telos (i.e. freedom to do something), to achieve certain worthwhile goals. The second problem is that free market has no telos for the individual consumer. There are no ends to which our desires are directed. The desires of the consumers are manipulated by corporate powers. Globalization, according to Cavanaugh, “is a modem kind of colonization ... Consumerism is marked by desire with no telos other than consumption itself’ (75). Created things are not ultimate therefore they have no end in themselves. By pursuing these “endless” things the consumer empties her life. Created things are to be used, but only God is to be enjoyed. We desire things which fail to satisfy us, because only God can satisfy. Therefore being a consumer is living in scarcity. Having more without reference to what we already have.

Modem consumerism based on the so called free market system. Cavanaugh argues that free market “is a detachment from the local and a commitment to the hypermobility of capital” (Cavanaugh 63). The global banking system provides the way for making money without production of goods or services. It means that profit detached from production. There is no direct link between product, production and producer anymore. The most valuable “commodity” in this free market is information. Data is gathered about the consumers to make more sophisticated ways to manipulate them. Information about political and economic situation determines where a product could be made on the lowest price and traded on the highest. The consumer also detached from the production and, therefore from the product.

The consumer has no direct knowledge about the production or producer and it means that she does not know the actuality of the product. How many of the new iPhone owners noticed that, while making record profit for Apple in the last quarter of 2011, four men died in China because of the poor working conditions in one of their factories ?

One may say that in the process of globalization the world is becoming smaller, or “more” one. It even could be seen as the fulfillment of the “longing for worldwide communion that may have its origins in the Christian desire to bring the Good News to the whole world and unite all human beings as one” (Cavanaugh 60). However, it is just a caricature of Christian eschatology. The economy is driven by the will of corporate power and not by any substantive telos of human good. The goal is not to make everyone share from the fruits of global market, but make a very few very rich, keep many in a financially controlled position (consuming slavery) and keep even more in (real) wage-slavery.

The problem is so acute, that the proliferation of the particular is already started. Cavanaugh mentions three different forms of it. The first one is fundamentalism which is a sworn enemy of “Americanization” (as they call it). Multiculturalism is the second form. The author calls it “the invention of tradition.” He sees it as the “melting pot” of cultures, because it does not appreciate the differences of opinions, but an attempt of “juxtaposition of as many different cultures and faiths as possible within a given space” (Cavanaugh 66). A third form of the resurgence of the particular is the pretense of variety of products. The author argues that there is just ‘surface’ difference between the merchandises. The real cause behind the bewildering variety of the supermarket is not to satisfy the buyer’s need for individualism, but to stimulate her. It is not a surprise that none of these methods gratify the writer. For him the foremost important task for Christian consumers to find the proper telos of ownership.

Here the author turns to Thomas Aquinas. According to Doctor Angelicus, God is the proper owner of everything. When God gives dominion to humans over material things, they are not real owners, just managers of the goods which are deposited to them. The proper end of every created thing is the good of all. For the writer of the book the best example to learn from is the Eucharist. In it Jesus offers his body and blood to be consumed. The consumer of Christ’s body is “taken up into a larger body, the body of Christ” (Cavanaugh 54). Now one is being attached to God and trough God reattached to creation. In Eucharist we are “invited to participate in the Trinitarian life through Christ and the work of the Spirit” (81). “But,” as the author continuous, “in order to do so, we cannot grasp, we can only submit. We cannot stand back from the world and survey it; we must simply take our role in the drama that God is staging and give ourselves to it.” (81). Cavanaugh says that as we consume the body of Christ in the Eucharist, we become the body of Christ. In turn, we supposed to offer ourselves “to be consumed by the world” (84). Then he continues to say that, “[t]he Eucharist is wholly kenotic in its form” (84).

Nevertheless, since "kenosis is not a mere altruistic self-emptying, but participation in the infinite fullness of the Trinitarian life” (Cavanaugh 86), it has to be installed in concrete, local practices. Cavanaugh offers models of such practices to overcome our detachment from production, producer and product. For example we can turn our homes into production, by making our own bread. There are countless charities which we can support and by doing so attached to their worthwhile goals. We also can put our money to smaller banks which are not profit oriented and usually more involved in community projects and