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Divine currency : the theological power of money in the West / Devin Singh.

By: Series: Cultural memory in the presentPublisher: Stanford, California : Stanford University Press, [2018]Copyright date: ©2018Description: x, 280 pages ; 23 cmISBN:
  • 9781503604827
  • 1503604829
  • 9781503605664
  • 1503605663
Subject(s):
Contents:
Introduction -- Incarnation and imperial economy -- The divine economist -- The emperor's righteous money -- The coin of God -- Redemptive commerce -- Of payment, debt, and conquest -- Conclusion.
Summary: This book reveals how economic ideas structured early Christian thought and society, giving crucial insight into why money holds such sway in the West. Examining the religious and theological sources of money's power, it shows how early Christian thinkers borrowed ancient notions of money and economic exchange from the Roman Empire as a basis for their new theological arguments. Monetary metaphores and images, including the minting of coins and debt slavery, provided frameworks for theologians to explain what happens in salvation. God became an economic administrator, for instance, and Christ functioned as a currency to purchase humanity's freedom. Such ideas, in turn, provided models for pastors and Christian emperors as they oversaw both resources and people, which led to new economic conceptions of state administration of populations and conferred a godly auro on the use of money. Divine Currency argues that this longstanding association of money with divine activity has contributed over the centuries to money's ever increasing significance, justifying various forms of politics that manage citizens along the way. Devin Singh's account sheds unexpected light on why we live in a world where nothing seems immune from the price mechanism--back cover.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Date due Barcode
Main Collection John Kinder Theological Library BR115.W4 SIN (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available A42289102

Includes bibliographical references (pages 2251-267) and index.

Introduction -- Incarnation and imperial economy -- The divine economist -- The emperor's righteous money -- The coin of God -- Redemptive commerce -- Of payment, debt, and conquest -- Conclusion.

This book reveals how economic ideas structured early Christian thought and society, giving crucial insight into why money holds such sway in the West. Examining the religious and theological sources of money's power, it shows how early Christian thinkers borrowed ancient notions of money and economic exchange from the Roman Empire as a basis for their new theological arguments. Monetary metaphores and images, including the minting of coins and debt slavery, provided frameworks for theologians to explain what happens in salvation. God became an economic administrator, for instance, and Christ functioned as a currency to purchase humanity's freedom. Such ideas, in turn, provided models for pastors and Christian emperors as they oversaw both resources and people, which led to new economic conceptions of state administration of populations and conferred a godly auro on the use of money. Divine Currency argues that this longstanding association of money with divine activity has contributed over the centuries to money's ever increasing significance, justifying various forms of politics that manage citizens along the way. Devin Singh's account sheds unexpected light on why we live in a world where nothing seems immune from the price mechanism--back cover.

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