- 알라딘: 기독교와 새로운 자본주의 정신
기독교와 새로운 자본주의 정신 - 금융 자본의 지배에 맞선 기독교 신앙의 비전
캐스린 태너 (지은이),백지윤 (옮긴이)IVP2021-02-22원제 : Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism
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책소개
현대 자본주의와 기독교의 관계를 다룬 2016년 기포드 강연(Gifford Lectures). 과거 막스 베버는 『프로테스탄티즘의 윤리와 자본주의 정신』에서 기독교 신앙과 실천이 어떻게 자본주의와 더불어 개인을 형성할 수 있었는지 연구했다. 캐스린 태너는 현대의 금융 지배 자본주의 체제에서 나타나는 문화 형식을 관찰하며 베버의 연구를 재해석함으로써, 기독교 신앙과 실천이 어떻게 오늘날의 새로운 자본주의의 문화 형식을 거스를 수 있는지 보여 준다.
태너는 경제 불평등, 구조적인 불완전 고용과 실업, 자본주의의 불안정한 호황·불황 순환의 문제를 정면으로 다루면서, 인간의 번영을 새롭게 상상하고자 기독교의 여러 신학적 자원에 깊이 의존한다. 그리하여 오늘 우리의 현실을 깊이 파고들어 더 나은 미래를 모색하게 할 신학적·인문학적 통찰을 제공한다.
목차
감사의 글
1장 새로운 자본주의 정신과 기독교의 반응
2장 과거의 사슬에 묶여
3장 전적 헌신
4장 오직 현재만
5장 또 다른 세상?
6장 어떤 세상?
주
찾아보기
책속에서
기독교 믿음이 촉발시킨 행동은 자본주의의 요구와 쉽게 합치될 수도 있고 현저한 긴장 관계를 형성할 수도 있다. 베버도 알았던 것처럼, 중요한 것은 그러한 믿음이 실제 적용될 때 드러내는 특정 성격이다. 기독교 믿음의 모든 갈래가 베버가 자본주의가 시작될 때 일반적으로 나타났다고 생각한 종류의 행동을 종교적 영감으로 승인할 수 있는 것은 아니다. 그가 자본가와 칼뱅주의적 헌신 사이에서 찾을 수 있다고 생각한 경험적 상관성이 무엇이었든, 베버는 그 상관성에 근거하여 다양한 형태의 기본 종교관이 갖는 가능한 실제 파급 효과를 비교하고 대조하는 데 많은 시간을 할애했다.
_1장 새로운 자본주의 정신과 기독교의 반응 접기
금융 지배 자본주의가 시간을 구성하는 방식, 그럼으로써 인간 주체성을 조직하고 자본주의에 대한 비판을 가로막는 주된 방식 중 하나는 현재와 미래의 행동에서 과거의 중요성을 극대화하는 것이다. 현재와 미래에 일어날 수 있는 일은 과거에 앞으로의 일에 관해 결정했던 것?자의든 타의든?에 엄격하고 철저하게 따라야 한다. 과거는 현재와 미래의 행동에서 어떤 단절이나 균열도 가차 없이 차단해 버리는, 개인적으로 강요되는 명령이나 지시로 우리를 찾아온다. 현재와 미래는 과거에 포로로 잡혀 있다.
_2장 과거의 사슬에 묶여 접기
정말로, 기업은 금융이 조장하는 최대 수익성의 이익을 추구하고자 단지 최대 강도의 노력뿐 아니라 그러한 노력에 대한 최대 강도의 헌신을 확보하고자 애쓴다. 기업이 노동자에게 요구하는 것이 노동자 스스로 원하는 것이 되어야 한다. 생산성을 높이기 위해서는 노동자 자신의 욕망을 금융 지배 기업의 이해관계와 완벽하게 일치시켜야 하는 것이다.
_3장 전적 헌신 접기
기독교에서 과거와 미래가 지금 우리 삶의 방향을 전환하는 긴급한 임무를 방해하지 못하게 하려는 노력은, 금융 지배 자본주의에서 현재와 관계 맺는 방식처럼 현재 순간의 시간적 차원을 고갈시키지 않는다. 하나님께로 돌아서는 일은 일생의 과업, 즉 삶 전체?우리의 모든 과거와 미래?를 규정해야 하는 어떤 것이다. 맨 처음부터 하는 것처럼 매일 다시 시작될 필요가 있음에도 말이다. 금융 지배 자본주의에서 폭리를 취하는 행위의 짧은 시간 지평과는 완전히 반대로, 여기서 우리의 시간 지평은 아주 길다.
_4장 오직 현재만 접기
내가 발전시켜 온 신학적 입장에서 말하는 것처럼, 장차 올 미래를 가장 중요한 면에서 현재 안으로 끌어올 때 기독교적 소망은 이런 식으로 보상적으로 드러나지 않는다. 모든 것을 근원적으로 변화시키기 위해 필요한 은혜가 존재하며, 그 은혜는 지금 세상 안에서 역사하면서 인간이 다른 삶을 살기 위해 필요한 모든 것을 인간에게 공급하고 있다.
_5장 또 다른 세상? 접기
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막스 베버는 자본주의와 기독교의 관계를 논하면서 개신교 윤리가 자본주의 발전에 기여한 바를 강조했고, R. H. 토니는 역으로 자본주의에 의해 기독교 정신이 오염되는 맥락을 추적했다. 캐스린 태너는 기독교 복음이 현대의 금융 자본주의에 대항하는 공동체 창출을 가능케 하는 잠재력을 지녔다는 데 주목하면서 베버-토니 논제의 테마를 새로운 차원으로 끌어올린다. 태너는 자본주의적 행태를 규정할 뿐 아니라 스스로 재생산을 거듭하는 자본주의 정신에 저항하여, 또한 일체의 영성을 포기한 현대 철학을 뒤로하며, 강력한 복음적 영성만이 근원적 변혁을 이끌 수 있다고 주장한다.
이 책에서는 시장, 기업, 일, 시간, 화폐를 주 매개로 하는 현대 금융 자본주의의 속성과 죄, 회개, 구원, 은혜, 복음으로 표명되는 기독교 원리를 형식상으로는 중첩 및 교차시키고 내용상으로는 대비시키면서, 행위(도덕과 선행)와 은혜뿐 아니라 종말에 대한 깊은 복음적 이해를 바탕으로 기독교 공동체의 가능성을 제시한다. 그 과정에서 저자는 포스트포드주의, 주주 자본주의, 유동성, 노동 유연화, 파생상품 등 우리에게 친숙한 개념들을 소환해 오늘날 금융이 어떻게 일의 성격을 변화시키고, 실물 경제와 분리된 채 어떻게 자체의 확대 재생산을 통해 고도의 수익성을 창출하며 정부, 기업, 개인의 경제 활동에 영향을 미치는지, 그리하여 금융 자본주의 하의 대표적 현상들, 이를테면 주주 자본주의의 강화와 파생상품의 범람이 어떻게 개인 간 경쟁과 불평등의 격화, 국가 복지 체계의 위기와 공동체주의의 파탄으로 이어지는지 조목조목 드러낸다. 무엇보다 저자는 루터, 칼뱅, 베버로 이어지는 개신교의 전통적 노동 윤리?소명 개념에 입각한?를 하나님의 뜻에서 분리시키면서, 일을 통한 성취가 아니라 하나님 및 이웃에 대한 의존성을 인정하는 종교적 기획만이 기독교 공동체를 이루는 길이라고 주장한다.
요컨대 이 책은 복음에 입각한 신학자가 그리스도인에게 들려주는 최고의 현대 자본주의 입문서이면서, 복음이 여하히 가장 근원적인 개혁으로 이어질 수 있는지 보여 주는 고급 교양서다. 현대 자본주의 질서 안에서 안정, 안락, 성공을 추구하는 것이 얼마나 반복음적 태도일 수 있는지, 거기서 살아남는 것 자체가 자칫 얼마나 큰 부채를 짊어지는 일인지 시사하면서 오늘날의 중산층 그리스도인들에게 빚진 자의 의식을 일깨운다. 나아가 신앙/경제 이원론이나 보수/자유 진영 양쪽의 단선적이고 거친 일원적 복음주의를 단숨에 무너뜨리는 동시에, 추상적이고 규범적인 신학적·철학적 사변이나 낭만적·인문학적 논의에 함몰된 채 엄혹한 현실에 대해서는 당위적 언명이나 안이한 침묵으로 일관하는 신학자, 목회자들에게 경종을 울린다. 나는 이 정도로 복음에 투철한 신학자가 이 정도로 정밀하게 현대 자본주의의 속성, 논리, 정신을 논파하며 진정한복음주의의 당연한 귀결로서 근원적이고 전면적인 변화의 가능성을 제시한 경우를 본 적이 없다.
- 고세훈 (고려대학교 공공행정학부 명예교수, 『영국노동당사』·『조지 오웰』 저자)
자본주의는 스스로가 모든 것을 설명한다고 믿는다. 그러나 태너는 기독교의 문법이 이렇게 수그러들 줄 모르고 떠들어 대는 자본주의의 이야기를 어떻게 뛰어넘으며 훈계하는지 재기 넘치게 입증한다.
- 로렌 위너 (듀크 신학대학원 교수, 『소녀 신을 만나다』 저자)
이 책에서 캐스린 태너는 현재의 자본주의 신화의 공허함을 드러내고, 정교하고 도발적인 신학적 비전에 근거하여 인간의 안녕을 상상하는 대안적 방법을 제공한다. 금융 근본주의의 교묘한 폭압에 저항하는 힘을 길러 줄 대단히 중요한 책이다.
- 로완 윌리엄스 (영국 성공회 전 캔터베리 대주교, 『그리스도인이 된다는 것』 저자)
한 세기 전 막스 베버는 『프로테스탄티즘의 윤리와 자본주의 정신』에서 종교적 믿음이 개인과 집단의 경제 활동을 특정 방향으로 이끄는 심리적 효력을 발휘한다는 것을 보여 줬다. 미국의 성공회 신학자 캐스린 태너는 베버의 날카로운 통찰을 21세기 맥락으로 끌고 와서, 금융 지배 자본주의의 위협과 도전에도 무뎌지지 않을 참 사람됨과 풍성한 삶을 위한 신학적 비전을 역으로 제시한다. 베버가 근대 자본주의의 도래에서 칼뱅주의가 한 역할을 사회학적으로 분석했다면, 태너는 신학자로서 현대 자본주의의 폭정에 대한 대안을 찾고자 하나님의 은총을 채무, 상환, 교환 등의 경제 언어와 논리로 설명해 온 서방 기독교의 지혜를 재해석한다. 이로써 고리타분하거나 강압적인 교리주의적 접근 대신 현대인들이 일상에서 실제로 활용하는 익숙한 언어와 이미지를 통해 기독교와 자본주의, 신앙인으로서 정체성과 경제적 활동, 교리와 사회적 행동의 복잡한 관계를 과장 없이 성찰할 수 있는 도발적이면서도 진지하고, 지적이면서도 실천적인 장이 제시된다. 무엇이 현대인의 삶을 이토록 힘들게 만드는지 제대로 파악도 안 되고 주식과 부동산 투자 열풍이 마치 시대정신이라도 된 듯 우리의 마음을 사로잡고 있는 지금, 『기독교와 새로운 자본주의 정신』과 함께 답 없어 보이는 오늘날의 상황을 비판하고 넘어서며 치유하는 기독교 복음의 꺼지지 않는 생명력을 새롭게 경험하길 바란다.
- 김진혁 (횃불트리니티신학대학원대학교 조직신학 교수)
캐스린 태너는 최고 수준의 뛰어난 기독교 신학자로서, 금융 자본주의에 가하는 그의 예언자적 비판은 강력하고 설득력 있다. 태너는 막스 베버의 고전을 관통하면서, 우리 시대에 상당히 들어맞는 적실성을 가지고 베버의 연구를 미묘하게 근본적으로 뒤집는다.
- 코넬 웨스트 (하버드대학 교수)
막스 베버는 개신교 윤리와 자본주의의 발흥 사이에 선택적 친연성이 존재한다는 논지를 전개했는데, 태너는 이와 반대로 현대의 금융 자본주의와 기독교 신념은 양립할 수 없다는 주장을 펼치고 있다. 이 책을 읽는 독자들은 그동안 기독교 경제 담론을 장악했던 막스 베버의 논지에서 벗어나 신자유주의 금융 자본주의에 기독교적 알리바이를 제공하는 고리를 끊을 수 있는 단초를 제공받을 수 있을 것이다. 수익성, 효율, 무한 경쟁 속에서 자기 관리를 훈육하는 이 세계의 경제 질서에 문제를 제기하는 사람들에게 일독을 권한다.
- 최유진 (호남신학대학교 조직신학 조교수)
다시 한번, 캐스린 태너는 분야를 뒤바꿨다. 태너가 제시하는 “개신교 반노동 윤리”는 기본적인 기독교 신앙과 이 시대의 자본주의가 심오한 차원에서 서로 양립할 수 없음을 신선하고 명쾌하며 아주 강렬한 방식으로 보여 준다.
- 이언 맥팔랜드 (에모리 대학교)
캐스린 태너는 평소처럼 정밀함과 명료성을 가지고, 어떻게 오늘날 우리가 똑같이 오래된 두 길 사이에서 선택해야 하는지 보여 준다. 우리는 ‘자본주의 정신’으로 규정된 삶을 살 수도 있고 예수 그리스도의 하나님을 따르며 살 수도 있다. 이 책은 더 나은 미래를 위한 길을 제안한다.
- 켈리 브라운 (더글러스 유니온 신학교)
우리 시대에, 자본주의는 금융 영역이 지배하며 그 통치권과 통치 범위에 대한 침해를 대부분 떨쳐 내고 우리를 생태 재앙으로 몰고 간다. 캐스린 태너는 기독교 신학이 이 상황에 대해 뭔가 중요하게 할 말이 있음을 놀랍도록 치밀하고 박식하며 설득력 있게 주장한다.
- 게리 도리언 (유니온 신학교, 콜롬비아 대학교)
저자 및 역자소개
캐스린 태너 (Kathryn Tanner) (지은이)
저자파일
신간알리미 신청
예일 대학교에서 학부, 석사, 박사 과정을 밟으며 철학과 신학을 공부하였고, 이후 시카고 대학교 신학대학원과 예일 대학교 종교학과에서 가르쳤다. 2010년부터 예일 대학교 신학대학원 프레더릭 마퀀드 교수로서 가르치고 있다. 사회 이론, 문화 이론, 페미니즘 이론을 통해 기독교 사상사를 현대의 신학적 이슈와 연결하는 데 관심을 두고 연구하고 있다. 저서로는 God and Creation in Christian Theology: Tyranny or Empowerment? (Blackwell, 1988), The Politics of G... 더보기
최근작 : <기독교와 새로운 자본주의 정신> … 총 15종 (모두보기)
백지윤 (옮긴이)
저자파일
신간알리미 신청
이화여대 의류직물학과를 졸업하고, 서울대 미술대학원에서 미술이론을, 캐나다 리젠트 칼리지에서 기독교 문화학을 공부했다. 2021년 현재 캐나다 밴쿠버에서 살면서, 다차원적이고 통합적인 하나님 나라 이해, 종말론적 긴장, 창조와 재창조, 인간의 의미 그리고 이 모든 주제에 대해 문화와 예술이 갖는 관계 등에 관심을 가지고 번역 일을 하고 있다. 옮긴 책으로는 『손에 잡히는 바울』 『알라』 『이것이 복음이다』 『모든 사람을 위한 신약의 기도』 『오늘이라는 예배』 『BST 스가랴』 『일과 성령』 『세상에 생명을 주는 신학』(이상 IVP)... 더보기
출판사 소개
IVP
출판사 페이지
신간알리미 신청
최근작 : <한철호의 선교 아이디어 51 (전면개정판)>,<욥기>,<과학과 신학의 대화 Q&A>등 총 692종
대표분야 : 기독교(개신교) 4위 (브랜드 지수 1,605,381점)
출판사 제공 책소개
오늘날 경제 체제의 속성을 예리하게 살펴보고
기독교와 자본주의의 관계를 재설정하다!
고세훈(고려대학교), 김진혁(횃불트리니티신학대학원대학교), 최유진(호남신학대학교),
로완 윌리엄스(케임브리지 대학교), 코넬 웨스트(하버드 대학교), 이언 맥팔랜드(에모리 대학교),
켈리 브라운 더글러스(유니온 신학교), 게리 도리언(콜롬비아 대학교), 로렌 위너(듀크 신학대학원) 등 추천!
기독교와 자본주의의 관계
막스 베버는 20세기 초 『프로테스탄티즘의 윤리와 자본주의 정신』이라는 연구를 통해 개신교 윤리가 근대 서구 자본주의 형성에 어떻게 기여했는지 탐구했다. 베버는 자신의 연구에서 개신교 윤리와 자본주의가 선택적 친화성을 지닌다는 논지를 펴면서, 종교가 신자들의 행동을 형성하고 경제 활동에 영향을 미치는 심리적 효력을 발휘한다는 데, 또한 자본주의는 결국 자본주의 자체의 요구를 만족시키게 만드는 고유의 정신을 형성하고 개인이 다른 사람들과 관계 맺는 방식에 영향을 미치는 문화 형식들을 발생시킨다는 데 주목했다. 『기독교와 새로운 자본주의 정신』의 저자 태너도 여기에 주목한다. 다만 태너는 베버의 논지를 비틀어 기독교와 현대 자본주의는 불화한다고 주장한다. 베버 이후 20세기를 지나면서 나타난 자본주의의 양상, 특별히 오늘날 세계를 잠식한 금융 지배 자본주의가 낳는 문화 형식은 기독교에서 그리는 모습과는 어울리지 않는다는 것이다.
금융 지배 자본주의가 야기하는 인간성 파괴
현대 자본주의는 금융이 지배하고 있다. 비금융 산업 부문이나 서비스 부문에 비해 금융 부문에서 거두는 수익의 비중이 압도적으로 증가했다. 금융은 비금융 산업 부문이나 서비스 부문에서 발생한 수익이 다시금 해당 부문으로 돌아가게 하는 역할을 하기도 하지만, 동시에 이러한 부문과 관계하지 않고도 스스로 수익을 증가시킬 수 있다. 오히려 금융상품 거래만으로 수익을 발생시키기는 더 쉬우며, 이는 1970년대 이후 심화되었다. 경기의 호황 및 침체와 상관없이 갖가지 금융상품 자체로 수익을 발생시킬 수 있는 체제가 형성된 것이다. 금융 자본의 영향이 커지면서 금융은 기업, 정부, 개인 등 여타 경제 주체의 활동을 훈육하며, 그렇게 작동하는 현대 자본주의 체제에서 노동자의 삶은 이전보다 더욱 가혹한 방식으로 휘둘리고 있다. 이 체제는 노력과 보상이라는 이전 시대의 자본주의 정신을 유지한 채, 경제 주체들을 개별화하여 끊임없이 변하는 요구에 적응하고 다른 주체들과 경쟁하기를 강요한다. 개별 노동자는 가혹해지는 환경에서 도태되지 않기 위해 경쟁하는 가운데서도 생계를 유지하고자 미래를 담보로 부채에 의존하고, 그러다가 질병, 퇴직 등으로 인해 부채를 갚지 못할 상황이 닥치면 과거의 부채 계약에 묶여 삶이 좌초된다. 아울러 금융 시장의 예측 불가능한 성격은 시장에 뛰어든 사람들 사이의 시간 싸움을 조장한다. 정부 부채 비중이 증가하면서 공공 부문 역시 금융의 영향 아래 놓이고, 자국민의 이익과는 상충되는 방식으로 정책이 세워지기도 한다.
새로운 자본주의에 저항하는 반노동 윤리
태너는 이렇듯 현대 자본주의가 개인과 집단에 부작용을 끼치고 사람들이 자신을 이해하는 방식이나 다른 이들과 관계 맺는 방식에 기형적 영향을 유발하는 상황에 대해 신학적 진단을 내리고 대안을 제시한다. 태너가 보기에 기독교 신학에는 인간의 삶에 유효하게 적용할 풍부한 의의가 있으며, 신학 속에서 제시되는 기독교의 비전은 당면한 시대적 상황에 기독교가 어떻게 대응할 수 있는지 보여 준다. 지금 시대에 신학이 해야 할 일은 파편화와 경쟁을 유발하며 인간성을 파괴하는 이 새로운 자본주의 정신에 맞서 대항적 상상력을 불어넣는 것이다. 경쟁 체제에서 승리하거나 다른 사람의 피해를 바탕으로 얻는 자기만의 이익을 추구하기 위해 모든 시간이 현재로 함몰되는 상황 속에서, 태너는 자본주의에 순응하는 기존의 노동 윤리를 비트는 일종의 반(反)노동 윤리를 제시한다. 기독교에서 제시하는 은혜의 신학은 지금 시대와 근본적으로 단절된 새로운 삶이라는 가능성을 제시한다. 은혜는 하나님으로부터 오며, 다른 사람들과의 관계 속에서 온전히 향유할 수 있다는 특성을 지닌다. 따라서 은혜를 주장하는 기독교의 방식은 관계 상실을 유발하는 이 세계 윤리에 의문을 제기하고 인간 번영에 대한 완전히 다른 세계를 제안한다.
현대 사회 문제와 대화하는 신학의 결과물
태너가 걸어 온 학문 여정을 보면, 그가 삼위일체, 그리스도의 속죄, 성령의 사역 등 기독교 신학 속 전통적 교리에 정통하면서도 자신의 신학 전통에서 이끌어 낸 자원을 현대 사회에서 마주하는 다양한 이슈와 연결하여 창조적으로 재해석하는 데 뛰어난 학자임을 알 수 있다. 섹슈얼리티, 인종주의 등의 현대 이슈를 이러한 방식으로 다루었던 태너는 경제 문제와 관련해서도 2005년 『은혜의 경제』(Economy of Grace)를 통해 경제적 불평등에 맞서는 기독교 신앙이라는 신학적 관심사를 드러냈고, 이러한 관심은 2008년 세계 금융 위기 등을 거치며 그 문제의식이 더욱 깊어져 『기독교와 새로운 자본주의 정신』이라는 결과물로 나타났다. 전통과 현대에 모두 천착하여 작업하는 신학자는 흔치 않다. 태너의 『기독교와 새로운 자본주의 정신』은 현대 자본주의에 대응하는 기독교 신앙의 비전을 제시하는 책이면서도, 오늘날 신학이라는 학술적 작업이 전통과 현대에 모두 민감하게 반응할 때 어떤 결과물을 산출할 수 있는지 보여 주는 모범 사례이기도 하다.
■ 독자 대상
- 현대 금융 자본주의에 대한 기독교적 이해와 비평을 찾는 독자
- 기독교 신학의 깊이와 사회적·윤리적 의미를 두루 파악하려는 독자
- 전통적 기독교 신학과 동시대 사회 문제를 연결하는 방식을 찾는 독자
- 기독교 경제 윤리 관련 서적을 찾는 독자 접기
경제, 신학 관련 전문 용어가 등장하고 표현이 압축적이어서 낯설어 보일 순 있겠으나 읽고 이해하기에 큰 무리는 없습니다. 신학을 현안과 연결하는 유의미한 논의로, 저자가 제시하는 신학적 전망은 고무적이나 저자의 분석처럼 현실이 매우 고단하기에 외려 그 전망이 씁쓸함을 일으키기도 합니다.
1vanin 2021-05-19 공감 (2) 댓글 (0) 
중요한 주제를 길지 않지만 깊이 있게 파고든다. 압축적 분석을 따라가기 쉽지 않지만 충분히 가치 있다.
나처럼검은 2021-05-19 공감 (1) 댓글 (0)
문장 읽기가 어렵습니다. 번역 문제인 것 같습니다.
BLACKED 2021-05-07 공감 (1) 댓글 (0)
Spirituality, Mind-Body, Gender, Ecology, Ageing, Peace, Scrapbook (in English and Korean)
2022/03/25
알라딘: 기독교와 새로운 자본주의 정신 - 금융 자본의 지배에 맞선 기독교 신앙의 비전 캐스린 태너
Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism : Tanner, Kathryn: Amazon.com.au: Books
Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism : Tanner, Kathryn: Amazon.com.au: Books
Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism Hardcover – 12 February 2019
by Kathryn Tanner (Author)
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“A stunning reworking of the financial metaphors that have become a standard feature of Western theology.”—Amy Plantinga Pauw, Christian Century
“In this book, Kathryn Tanner exposes the vacuity of current capitalist mythologies and offers an alternative way of imagining human well-being, grounded in a sophisticated and provocative theological vision. A hugely important essay in strengthening resistance to the subtle tyrannies of financial fundamentalism.”—Rowan Williams, Cambridge
“Kathryn Tanner is a distinguished Christian theologian of the highest order whose prophetic critique of financial capitalism is powerful and persuasive. She moves through Max Weber’s classic book, then subtly turns his work on its head with a great relevance to our present moment.”—Cornel West
“Once again, Kathryn Tanner has reshaped the field. Her 'Protestant anti-work ethic' shows the deep incompatibility between basic Christian beliefs and contemporary capitalism in a way that is at once fresh, clear, and utterly compelling.”—Ian A. McFarland, University of Cambridge
“With her usual precision and clarity, Kathryn Tanner shows how we have a choice today between equally worn paths: we can live a life defined by a 'spirit of capitalism' or one in conformity with the God of Jesus Christ. Her book suggests the way to a better future.”— Kelly Brown Douglas, Union Theological Seminary
“In our time, capitalism is dominated by the financial sector, repels nearly all encroachments on its sovereignty and reach, and impels us toward eco-catastrophe. Kathryn Tanner makes a wonderfully astute, learned, and compelling case that Christian theology has something important to say about this situation.”—Gary Dorrien, author of Social Democracy in the Making
About the Author
Kathryn Tanner is Frederick Marquand Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School. She is the author of Christ the Key and Economy of Grace, among other books.
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Publisher : *Yale University Press; 1st edition (12 February 2019)
Language : English
Hardcover : 256 pages
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Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism
by Kathryn Tanner
3.54 · Rating details · 67 ratings · 15 reviews
One of the world’s most celebrated theologians argues for a Protestant anti-work ethic
In his classic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber famously showed how Christian beliefs and practices could shape persons in line with capitalism. In this significant reimagining of Weber’s work, Kathryn Tanner provocatively reverses this thesis, arguing that Christianity can offer a direct challenge to the largely uncontested growth of capitalism.
Exploring the cultural forms typical of the current finance‑dominated system of capitalism, Tanner shows how they can be countered by Christian beliefs and practices with a comparable person‑shaping capacity. Addressing head‑on the issues of economic inequality, structural under- and unemployment, and capitalism’s unstable boom/bust cycles, she draws deeply on the theological resources within Christianity to imagine anew a world of human flourishing. This book promises to be one of the most important theological books in recent years. (less)
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Published January 8th 2019 by Yale University Press
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Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism
by Kathryn Tanner
Summary
Tanner takes Weber's famous book as a queue and re-spins the protestant work ethic as a critique of capitalism. Her criticisms of big business, financial capitalism, often ring true. She questions the morality of spinning up value based on risk and market confidence, rather than on the value of real production. She highlights the individualism and the self-promoting motivation that can drive different social and economic orders. A market driven by selfishness cannot survive a Christian critique, and rightly so.
The format Tanner uses is to expound the nature of the current work ethic, and then answer it with a theological critique.
“In his classic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber famously showed how Christian beliefs and practices could shape persons in line with capitalism. In this significant reimagining of Weber’s work, Kathryn Tanner provocatively reverses this thesis, arguing that Christianity can offer a direct challenge to the largely uncontested growth of capitalism.”
Here are some of the points she makes:
1. The mechanisation of business and of people and work has changed how employers view workers, often as "human resources" to be worked and made more efficient. It has also changed our view of work. Efficiency and productivity trump all else. Hence mass production and mass consumerism.
SH: At the same time Tanner neglects the immense emphasis on "people" in business, work-life balance and the development of the person.
2. Total commitment. Modern businesses require total commitment. Hence, pressure. The pressure of work and schedules and deadlines appear to be greater than in the past. Whether, as modern people, we work harder is debatable, but the levels of stress and pressure are probably more. At the same time, we have more flexibility and freedom, but that can be a subtle way to blur the distinctions between work and life. However, for the Christian our character is being continuously changed (sanctification). But the move towards becoming is already complete in Christ. It is not a pressured striving.
This leads to a culture of conformity and leaves little room for creativity and input from the employee as to how the work is to be performed. Loyalty, company men…
SH: However, recent approaches emphasise autonomy – e.g. certain software development practices.
3. Our wills are subsumed by the will of the market. Our value is that of the market and is, therefore, largely financial. The company wants to conform the employee to the goals of the company - a kind of corporate sanctification. Thus, our commitment to God drives a wedge between this commitment to the "brand" and the goals of the market.
As Christians are desire is not subsumed into the mundane, we are lifted to higher goals that frame our ordinary lives and responsibilities.
4. The market is both present-centred and future-centred. Immediate gains and profits drive behaviour now, often sacrificing the future. The present-oriented nature of work as thus conceived, pushes out the future. Hence, we might borrow against the future, to gain now. Short-term returns. Short-term investments. Not building for the longer term and the future.
The Christian is also present-oriented because oriented to God now. Grace is enough.
5. At the same time the market pushes us to anticipate the future, managing our risks. This could, she complains, bound our views of the future. We might live by probabilities.
The Christian future will wrench us from our sinful self, and radically disrupt us. But the Christian future, by which I think she means the post-resurrection world, will be radically different to the present order.
6. Which world? Discusses competitive relationships in world over collaboration. Where is responsibility without individualism and selfishness? Competition for jobs, roles and rewards. SH: how can one avoid this in a company? Maybe a small business avoids some of this? Maybe the scale of modern business fosters this? Shared objects of desire become competitive goals.
Criticisms.
1. There is very little scriptural interaction, general doctrines and themes of marshalled, but little by way of what scripture says about economic matters.
2. The disjunctions between the capitalist present and the future, are often set up as contrasts with the eternal order. The problem with this is that the post-resurrection order is inevitably different to the present, whatever the social order is now. The contrast is between two different arrangements, and therefore the contrast inevitably disadvantages the present one.
3. Tanner’s defaults include the goodness of the welfare system, as a given. There is little by way of theological challenge to that system, or its own adverse effects on people, and even on whole classes in our society.
4. Tanner (198) says there is not much of a work ethic in the bible -or not one recommended! Her points are that devotion to God is our motivation, rather than effort. Extreme effort is a result of the fall. We are not called to produce anything (207) apart from our conformity to Christ!
SH: but I assume the former produces the latter, or ought?
(less)
flag4 likes · Like · comment · see review
Ben Thurley
Sep 24, 2021Ben Thurley rated it it was ok
As an economic analyst, Tanner makes a great theologian.
Although the work was published in 2019, Tanner's reference to "finance dominated capitalism" already sounds old-fashioned – a critique born out of the Global Financial Crisis more than a decade ago– and is built on an Econ 101 style analysis of trade, investment, profit and employment that scarcely engages with the particularities of any given religious-political-economic regime in which neoliberal capitalism is ascendant.
Tanner is not wrong to say that capitalism as experienced in much of the West inextricably binds people through debt, posits an eternal present of successive 'moments' each no different from the one before it, and demands total commitment. Zygmunt Bauman has said the same, with considerably more panache.
Written with an almost stifling dryness, the work proceeds at such a high level of generality and abstraction in both its economic critique and its theological claims that it is hard to credit it as analysis nor as meaningful description of an alternative mode of being posed, Tanner claims, by Christianity. (less)
flag2 likes · Like · 2 comments · see review
Joe Arrendale
Feb 12, 2022Joe Arrendale rated it it was amazing
It’s pretty wild how someone who is an expert in primarily theology is knowledgeable enough to be able to teach an undergraduate course in finance with ease
flag1 like · Like · comment · see review
Daniel Saunders
May 08, 2021Daniel Saunders rated it liked it
Shelves: religion
2.5 / 5 — As a socialist Christian reader, I thought this book had some good insights on finance capitalism, but it is ultimately inadequate in its analysis of capitalism and unconvincing/unclear in its articulation of an alternative.
This is a thoughtful if frequently exasperating book in which Tanner makes the inverse argument of Max Weber’s famous thesis – that Protestantism, instead of evincing an “elective affinity” with the spirit of capitalism, instead presents a supposedly withering challenge to it. Tanner locates the “new spirit” of capitalism in its neoliberal, finance-dominated iteration, and perhaps the greatest moments of this book are those in which Tanner elucidates in great detail the life-and-subjectivity-shaping mechanisms of this spirit.
But this initial strong footing is quickly compromised as the reader gets tangled in Tanner’s analysis. There is little here by way of a serious engagement with the underlying questions of political economy, class structure, or the historical development of capitalism, and it is evident that this book cannot be called “anti-capitalist” in any meaningful sense. Capitalism is presented not so much as a system, structure, or specific configuration of the relations of production (the Marxist argument) as it is an intention or character which might be swayed to go one way or another through moral persuasion. For these reasons, any who approach this book from a leftist, and especially Marxist perspective, will find much to be critical of and perhaps little to be gained from this kind of analysis.
That leaves the Christianity component. Here Tanner attempts to position Christianity as an alternative or competing spirit to the economic, one that owes its existence and force to allegiances that lie wholly outside the scope and control of capitalism. But Tanner’s tactic here is simply to state, in the driest of terms, the contours of any given Christian doctrine that happens to prioritize different values than the corresponding capitalist values. At worst, this kind of comparison often comes off obstinately trite; at best it does not offer much by way of a substantive material and economic critique of capitalism. After all, no matter what Christianity says in its doctrine, we all have to go on living and working and sustaining ourselves, often desperately, under capitalism.
Does this truly constitute an “alternative spirit” to capitalism? The Christianity presented in this book instead appears more akin to a self-help scheme, a mental exercise that might help us get by a little better under overarching conditions that can’t be changed – at least not now, not by us. Little of the liberative aspects of the anti-fetishistic, anti-Mammon faith that caused Jesus to drive money changers from the temple make it into this vision. Had Tanner engaged with any kind of anti-capitalist or liberation theology, instead of a bland, apolitical Calvinism, there might have been some way out of the doctrinal / theoretical to a practical, socialist alternative, but this is simply not in the scope or interest of this book.
I suspect that Christians of a leftist bent will be too frustrated with this book's lack of socialist analysis, while Christians who defend or are tolerant of the ambiguities of capitalism may agree that capitalism’s “unbridled excesses” need to be curbed, but will either be unconvinced of Christianity’s role in this endeavor or will fall on the side of Tanner’s bourgeois apolitical moral reformism. Still, for some insights on the nature of finance capitalism, this book was worth a read for me. (less)
flag1 like · Like · see review
Christopher Gow
Jun 04, 2020Christopher Gow rated it it was amazing
Shelves: theology, ethics
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
flag2 likes · Like · 2 comments · see review
Luke Hillier
Dec 24, 2021Luke Hillier rated it liked it
Shelves: academic-religion, christianity, theology, seminary
This is a thoughtful consideration of how Weber's "Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" has evolved in our 21st Century context overrun by finance-dominated capitalism. Whereas he saw Christianity functioning to help fuel and foster capitalism, Tanner recognizes that in modern times, capitalism is so powerful and entrenched that it no longer needs a sacred canopy to inspire our devotion to it, and argues that instead Christianity poses a countering imagination and logic (or spirit) to the one spurred on by this iteration of capitalism. This is certainly a premise that I agree with, and Tanner goes on to ground it convincingly in her articulation of finance-dominated capitalism (FDC) but I found some chapters far superior than others and the writing at times a bit dry and redundant (I think I likely didn't pick up on nuance, but it felt like she'd be reiterating the same notion three or four times over at some points).
I think the most successful chapters and concepts focused on the three dimensions of time. Tanner argues that capitalism thrives by enslaving people to a past of indebtedness that sets the terms for their present labor (work as hard as one can to pay off the debt) and limits what they can dream of for the future (because it is just a continued attempt to pay off one's debt). She also offers a chilling analysis of how, unlike previous forms of capitalism that really depended on a robust buyer's market, FDC primarily profits at the abstract level via trading and in fact makes some of its biggest profits off of debt, which only incentivizes widespread indebtedness across the population. In contrast, a central message of Christianity is that one is set free from their past and welcomed into a process of transformation into genuine newness. Building on the implications for the present, she argues that the capitalism collapses past and future into an eternal present where, driven by scarcity, one works to essentially tread water without vision beyond the immediate moment. The contrasting idea from Christianity is that the present moment out to be consumed with attempts to maximize one's devotion to God rather than efforts to improve their financial standing. And in her consideration of the future, she borrows from Fredric Jameson's notion that it's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism, exploring the ways that capitalism has so thoroughly colonized our sense of reality and possibility that it has suffocated our capacity to imagine a future that is radically new and not just an ongoing continuation of the current status quo. And this, of course, runs counter to the Christian notion of futurity that is completely beyond our comprehension and totally upends the markers of value and wealth under capitalism.
I found these concepts to be simultaneously insightful and intuitive, and genuinely helpful in identifying the ways that capitalism has reshaped our experience far beyond materialism alone. I was just a bit underwhelmed with the lack of application. I'm guessing this is in part because I diverge from Tanner theologically (she reads quite Calvinist here), but also I'm skeptical of a solution that seems to essentially be as individualistic as "go to the Church and foster these contrasting perspectives within yourself." Of course, the book does a good job detailing how virulent a beast FDC has come to be, and maybe all we really can do is cede material defeat while tending to our spiritual reserves. I'm just not sure if that's the implication Tanner was hoping for readers to leave with, and I have a feeling it wasn't. (less)
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Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism Hardcover – 12 February 2019
by Kathryn Tanner (Author)
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One of the world’s most celebrated theologians argues for a Protestant anti-work ethic
In his classic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber famously showed how Christian beliefs and practices could shape persons in line with capitalism. In this significant reimagining of Weber’s work, Kathryn Tanner provocatively reverses this thesis, arguing that Christianity can offer a direct challenge to the largely uncontested growth of capitalism.
Exploring the cultural forms typical of the current finance–dominated system of capitalism, Tanner shows how they can be countered by Christian beliefs and practices with a comparable person–shaping capacity. Addressing head–on the issues of economic inequality, structural under- and unemployment, and capitalism’s unstable boom/bust cycles, she draws deeply on the theological resources within Christianity to imagine anew a world of human flourishing. This book promises to be one of the most important theological books in recent years.
Print length
256 pages
Product description
Review
“A stunning reworking of the financial metaphors that have become a standard feature of Western theology.”—Amy Plantinga Pauw, Christian Century
“In this book, Kathryn Tanner exposes the vacuity of current capitalist mythologies and offers an alternative way of imagining human well-being, grounded in a sophisticated and provocative theological vision. A hugely important essay in strengthening resistance to the subtle tyrannies of financial fundamentalism.”—Rowan Williams, Cambridge
“Kathryn Tanner is a distinguished Christian theologian of the highest order whose prophetic critique of financial capitalism is powerful and persuasive. She moves through Max Weber’s classic book, then subtly turns his work on its head with a great relevance to our present moment.”—Cornel West
“Once again, Kathryn Tanner has reshaped the field. Her 'Protestant anti-work ethic' shows the deep incompatibility between basic Christian beliefs and contemporary capitalism in a way that is at once fresh, clear, and utterly compelling.”—Ian A. McFarland, University of Cambridge
“With her usual precision and clarity, Kathryn Tanner shows how we have a choice today between equally worn paths: we can live a life defined by a 'spirit of capitalism' or one in conformity with the God of Jesus Christ. Her book suggests the way to a better future.”— Kelly Brown Douglas, Union Theological Seminary
“In our time, capitalism is dominated by the financial sector, repels nearly all encroachments on its sovereignty and reach, and impels us toward eco-catastrophe. Kathryn Tanner makes a wonderfully astute, learned, and compelling case that Christian theology has something important to say about this situation.”—Gary Dorrien, author of Social Democracy in the Making
About the Author
Kathryn Tanner is Frederick Marquand Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale Divinity School. She is the author of Christ the Key and Economy of Grace, among other books.
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Publisher : *Yale University Press; 1st edition (12 February 2019)
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Hardcover : 256 pages
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Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism
by Kathryn Tanner
3.54 · Rating details · 67 ratings · 15 reviews
One of the world’s most celebrated theologians argues for a Protestant anti-work ethic
In his classic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber famously showed how Christian beliefs and practices could shape persons in line with capitalism. In this significant reimagining of Weber’s work, Kathryn Tanner provocatively reverses this thesis, arguing that Christianity can offer a direct challenge to the largely uncontested growth of capitalism.
Exploring the cultural forms typical of the current finance‑dominated system of capitalism, Tanner shows how they can be countered by Christian beliefs and practices with a comparable person‑shaping capacity. Addressing head‑on the issues of economic inequality, structural under- and unemployment, and capitalism’s unstable boom/bust cycles, she draws deeply on the theological resources within Christianity to imagine anew a world of human flourishing. This book promises to be one of the most important theological books in recent years. (less)
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May 24, 2019Steve rated it liked it
Shelves: books-of-2019, society-politics, technology-business
Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism
by Kathryn Tanner
Summary
Tanner takes Weber's famous book as a queue and re-spins the protestant work ethic as a critique of capitalism. Her criticisms of big business, financial capitalism, often ring true. She questions the morality of spinning up value based on risk and market confidence, rather than on the value of real production. She highlights the individualism and the self-promoting motivation that can drive different social and economic orders. A market driven by selfishness cannot survive a Christian critique, and rightly so.
The format Tanner uses is to expound the nature of the current work ethic, and then answer it with a theological critique.
“In his classic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber famously showed how Christian beliefs and practices could shape persons in line with capitalism. In this significant reimagining of Weber’s work, Kathryn Tanner provocatively reverses this thesis, arguing that Christianity can offer a direct challenge to the largely uncontested growth of capitalism.”
Here are some of the points she makes:
1. The mechanisation of business and of people and work has changed how employers view workers, often as "human resources" to be worked and made more efficient. It has also changed our view of work. Efficiency and productivity trump all else. Hence mass production and mass consumerism.
SH: At the same time Tanner neglects the immense emphasis on "people" in business, work-life balance and the development of the person.
2. Total commitment. Modern businesses require total commitment. Hence, pressure. The pressure of work and schedules and deadlines appear to be greater than in the past. Whether, as modern people, we work harder is debatable, but the levels of stress and pressure are probably more. At the same time, we have more flexibility and freedom, but that can be a subtle way to blur the distinctions between work and life. However, for the Christian our character is being continuously changed (sanctification). But the move towards becoming is already complete in Christ. It is not a pressured striving.
This leads to a culture of conformity and leaves little room for creativity and input from the employee as to how the work is to be performed. Loyalty, company men…
SH: However, recent approaches emphasise autonomy – e.g. certain software development practices.
3. Our wills are subsumed by the will of the market. Our value is that of the market and is, therefore, largely financial. The company wants to conform the employee to the goals of the company - a kind of corporate sanctification. Thus, our commitment to God drives a wedge between this commitment to the "brand" and the goals of the market.
As Christians are desire is not subsumed into the mundane, we are lifted to higher goals that frame our ordinary lives and responsibilities.
4. The market is both present-centred and future-centred. Immediate gains and profits drive behaviour now, often sacrificing the future. The present-oriented nature of work as thus conceived, pushes out the future. Hence, we might borrow against the future, to gain now. Short-term returns. Short-term investments. Not building for the longer term and the future.
The Christian is also present-oriented because oriented to God now. Grace is enough.
5. At the same time the market pushes us to anticipate the future, managing our risks. This could, she complains, bound our views of the future. We might live by probabilities.
The Christian future will wrench us from our sinful self, and radically disrupt us. But the Christian future, by which I think she means the post-resurrection world, will be radically different to the present order.
6. Which world? Discusses competitive relationships in world over collaboration. Where is responsibility without individualism and selfishness? Competition for jobs, roles and rewards. SH: how can one avoid this in a company? Maybe a small business avoids some of this? Maybe the scale of modern business fosters this? Shared objects of desire become competitive goals.
Criticisms.
1. There is very little scriptural interaction, general doctrines and themes of marshalled, but little by way of what scripture says about economic matters.
2. The disjunctions between the capitalist present and the future, are often set up as contrasts with the eternal order. The problem with this is that the post-resurrection order is inevitably different to the present, whatever the social order is now. The contrast is between two different arrangements, and therefore the contrast inevitably disadvantages the present one.
3. Tanner’s defaults include the goodness of the welfare system, as a given. There is little by way of theological challenge to that system, or its own adverse effects on people, and even on whole classes in our society.
4. Tanner (198) says there is not much of a work ethic in the bible -or not one recommended! Her points are that devotion to God is our motivation, rather than effort. Extreme effort is a result of the fall. We are not called to produce anything (207) apart from our conformity to Christ!
SH: but I assume the former produces the latter, or ought?
(less)
flag4 likes · Like · comment · see review
Ben Thurley
Sep 24, 2021Ben Thurley rated it it was ok
As an economic analyst, Tanner makes a great theologian.
Although the work was published in 2019, Tanner's reference to "finance dominated capitalism" already sounds old-fashioned – a critique born out of the Global Financial Crisis more than a decade ago– and is built on an Econ 101 style analysis of trade, investment, profit and employment that scarcely engages with the particularities of any given religious-political-economic regime in which neoliberal capitalism is ascendant.
Tanner is not wrong to say that capitalism as experienced in much of the West inextricably binds people through debt, posits an eternal present of successive 'moments' each no different from the one before it, and demands total commitment. Zygmunt Bauman has said the same, with considerably more panache.
Written with an almost stifling dryness, the work proceeds at such a high level of generality and abstraction in both its economic critique and its theological claims that it is hard to credit it as analysis nor as meaningful description of an alternative mode of being posed, Tanner claims, by Christianity. (less)
flag2 likes · Like · 2 comments · see review
Joe Arrendale
Feb 12, 2022Joe Arrendale rated it it was amazing
It’s pretty wild how someone who is an expert in primarily theology is knowledgeable enough to be able to teach an undergraduate course in finance with ease
flag1 like · Like · comment · see review
Daniel Saunders
May 08, 2021Daniel Saunders rated it liked it
Shelves: religion
2.5 / 5 — As a socialist Christian reader, I thought this book had some good insights on finance capitalism, but it is ultimately inadequate in its analysis of capitalism and unconvincing/unclear in its articulation of an alternative.
This is a thoughtful if frequently exasperating book in which Tanner makes the inverse argument of Max Weber’s famous thesis – that Protestantism, instead of evincing an “elective affinity” with the spirit of capitalism, instead presents a supposedly withering challenge to it. Tanner locates the “new spirit” of capitalism in its neoliberal, finance-dominated iteration, and perhaps the greatest moments of this book are those in which Tanner elucidates in great detail the life-and-subjectivity-shaping mechanisms of this spirit.
But this initial strong footing is quickly compromised as the reader gets tangled in Tanner’s analysis. There is little here by way of a serious engagement with the underlying questions of political economy, class structure, or the historical development of capitalism, and it is evident that this book cannot be called “anti-capitalist” in any meaningful sense. Capitalism is presented not so much as a system, structure, or specific configuration of the relations of production (the Marxist argument) as it is an intention or character which might be swayed to go one way or another through moral persuasion. For these reasons, any who approach this book from a leftist, and especially Marxist perspective, will find much to be critical of and perhaps little to be gained from this kind of analysis.
That leaves the Christianity component. Here Tanner attempts to position Christianity as an alternative or competing spirit to the economic, one that owes its existence and force to allegiances that lie wholly outside the scope and control of capitalism. But Tanner’s tactic here is simply to state, in the driest of terms, the contours of any given Christian doctrine that happens to prioritize different values than the corresponding capitalist values. At worst, this kind of comparison often comes off obstinately trite; at best it does not offer much by way of a substantive material and economic critique of capitalism. After all, no matter what Christianity says in its doctrine, we all have to go on living and working and sustaining ourselves, often desperately, under capitalism.
Does this truly constitute an “alternative spirit” to capitalism? The Christianity presented in this book instead appears more akin to a self-help scheme, a mental exercise that might help us get by a little better under overarching conditions that can’t be changed – at least not now, not by us. Little of the liberative aspects of the anti-fetishistic, anti-Mammon faith that caused Jesus to drive money changers from the temple make it into this vision. Had Tanner engaged with any kind of anti-capitalist or liberation theology, instead of a bland, apolitical Calvinism, there might have been some way out of the doctrinal / theoretical to a practical, socialist alternative, but this is simply not in the scope or interest of this book.
I suspect that Christians of a leftist bent will be too frustrated with this book's lack of socialist analysis, while Christians who defend or are tolerant of the ambiguities of capitalism may agree that capitalism’s “unbridled excesses” need to be curbed, but will either be unconvinced of Christianity’s role in this endeavor or will fall on the side of Tanner’s bourgeois apolitical moral reformism. Still, for some insights on the nature of finance capitalism, this book was worth a read for me. (less)
flag1 like · Like · see review
Christopher Gow
Jun 04, 2020Christopher Gow rated it it was amazing
Shelves: theology, ethics
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.
flag2 likes · Like · 2 comments · see review
Luke Hillier
Dec 24, 2021Luke Hillier rated it liked it
Shelves: academic-religion, christianity, theology, seminary
This is a thoughtful consideration of how Weber's "Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" has evolved in our 21st Century context overrun by finance-dominated capitalism. Whereas he saw Christianity functioning to help fuel and foster capitalism, Tanner recognizes that in modern times, capitalism is so powerful and entrenched that it no longer needs a sacred canopy to inspire our devotion to it, and argues that instead Christianity poses a countering imagination and logic (or spirit) to the one spurred on by this iteration of capitalism. This is certainly a premise that I agree with, and Tanner goes on to ground it convincingly in her articulation of finance-dominated capitalism (FDC) but I found some chapters far superior than others and the writing at times a bit dry and redundant (I think I likely didn't pick up on nuance, but it felt like she'd be reiterating the same notion three or four times over at some points).
I think the most successful chapters and concepts focused on the three dimensions of time. Tanner argues that capitalism thrives by enslaving people to a past of indebtedness that sets the terms for their present labor (work as hard as one can to pay off the debt) and limits what they can dream of for the future (because it is just a continued attempt to pay off one's debt). She also offers a chilling analysis of how, unlike previous forms of capitalism that really depended on a robust buyer's market, FDC primarily profits at the abstract level via trading and in fact makes some of its biggest profits off of debt, which only incentivizes widespread indebtedness across the population. In contrast, a central message of Christianity is that one is set free from their past and welcomed into a process of transformation into genuine newness. Building on the implications for the present, she argues that the capitalism collapses past and future into an eternal present where, driven by scarcity, one works to essentially tread water without vision beyond the immediate moment. The contrasting idea from Christianity is that the present moment out to be consumed with attempts to maximize one's devotion to God rather than efforts to improve their financial standing. And in her consideration of the future, she borrows from Fredric Jameson's notion that it's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism, exploring the ways that capitalism has so thoroughly colonized our sense of reality and possibility that it has suffocated our capacity to imagine a future that is radically new and not just an ongoing continuation of the current status quo. And this, of course, runs counter to the Christian notion of futurity that is completely beyond our comprehension and totally upends the markers of value and wealth under capitalism.
I found these concepts to be simultaneously insightful and intuitive, and genuinely helpful in identifying the ways that capitalism has reshaped our experience far beyond materialism alone. I was just a bit underwhelmed with the lack of application. I'm guessing this is in part because I diverge from Tanner theologically (she reads quite Calvinist here), but also I'm skeptical of a solution that seems to essentially be as individualistic as "go to the Church and foster these contrasting perspectives within yourself." Of course, the book does a good job detailing how virulent a beast FDC has come to be, and maybe all we really can do is cede material defeat while tending to our spiritual reserves. I'm just not sure if that's the implication Tanner was hoping for readers to leave with, and I have a feeling it wasn't. (less)
flagLike · comment · see review
===
Rasmus Tillander
Aug 15, 2020Rasmus Tillander rated it really liked it
Shelves: tieto, filosofia
Kathryn Tannerin Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism oli monella tapaa hämmentävä kirja: se oli oikeasti kovaa analyysia finanssikapitalismin valuvioista, mutta samaan aikaan puolustuspuhe Kristus-keskeiselle kristinuskolle.
Tanner, joka on siis Yalen yliopiston systemaattisen teologian professori, asettaa tavoitteensa suhteessa Max Weberin analyysiin protestanttisesta työetiikasta: Tannerin tavoite on luoda finanssikapitalismin hengen vasta-henki ja protestanttinen anti-työetiikka. Tämän etiikan taustalla on kolme prosessia: "(1) Sen linkin murtaminen joka vallitsee oikeuden hyvinvointiin ja työnteon välillä; (2) Sen murtaminen, että ihminen identifioi itseänsä "tuottavaan" itseensä; (3) Niiden ajan jatkuvuuden, ajan romahtamisen murtaminen, jotka nykyisen kapitalismin muodossa rajoittavat kuviteltavia mahdollisuuksia."
Suurimman osan kirjasta Tanner käyttääkin osoittamaan, että nämä kolme murrettavaa asiaa muodostava modernin finanssikapitalismin hengen ja sitä kautta ihmiskuvan. Erityisesti Tanner loistaa analysoidessaan kapitalismin aikaan liittyviä ulottuvuuksia. On häkellettyvää lukea teologin kirjoittavan syvällistä analyysiä joukkovelkakirjojen ja futuurien olemuksista, Tannerin tekstistä huokuu massiivinen akateeminen itseluottamus.
Toisen osan kirjan luvuista muodostavat kristinopilliset segmentit, joissa Tanner esittää miten kristinusko voi toimia vastavoimana sielunmurskaavalle kapitalismille. Ja nämä osiot olivat itselleni hyvin kummallista luettavaa: ne selvästi nojaavat sellaiselle tulkinalle kristinuskosta, joka on itselleni hyvin vieras ja jolle olen ollut vasemmistolaisena hyvin kriittinen. Tanner on barthilainen episkopaali, hyvin perinteinen teisti, joille Kristus muodostaa kaiken keskiön. Pähkinänkuoressa Tanner esittää, että koska meissä todella "tuottava osa" on Kristus meissä, emme voi omilla teoillamme parantaa "itseämme sijoituksena", koska sen tuottomarginaali on kiinni ikuisessa Jumalassa. Huolimatta omasta vastustuksestani on ainakin myönnettävä, että tämä oli viehättävimpiä puolustuksia tämän kaltaisella kristinuskolle.
Kirja oli kuitenkin kokonaisuutena hyvin mielenkiintoinen. Kritiikkiä voisi antaa lähinnä siitä, että käytännön etiikkaa (esim. Jeesuksen talousetiikkaa) ei käsitelty, eikä myöskään oikeita konkreettisia toimia tämän anti-työetiikan sisällä. Mutta ehkä Tanner ajatteli systemaatikkona pysyvänsä lestissään kun kirjoitti huomattavasti opillisemmalla tasolla. Kirjasta myös näkyi ehkä välillä vähän liikaa, että se perustui Tannerin pitämään Gifford-luentosarjaan (joiden pitäminen on suurimpia kunniatehtäviä, joita teologi voinee saada).
(less)
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Joseph Sverker
Jul 02, 2019Joseph Sverker rated it liked it
Shelves: social-sciences-theory, theology
A very interesting and timely book. I am very impressed by the way Tanner presents finance economical market and its implications for the ordinary person. The first chapter might be the best in that respect where Tanner shows how the shift towards speculation instead of production punishes the ordinary worker to the benefit of stock holders. The companies' "real" value (I know there is no such thing, I am not a marxist) have next to no impact on the stock value which means that speculation and s ...more
flagLike · comment · see review
John Lucy
Nov 19, 2020John Lucy rated it it was ok
Tanner does an excellent and thorough job explaining the "spirit" of capitalism as it is expressed in today's world. She also does a good job contrasting that to the "spirit" of Christianity. The two don't mix. Even those Christians who adamantly support and defend capitalism, perhaps even as an extension of Christianity itself, will find Tanner's exposition of both spirits as persuasive. There are few holes in the argument.
Unfortunately, as the book progresses, the exposition and arguments become repetitive with little in the way of prophecy. The final chapter is meant to chart a Christian's way forward but the argument essentially boils down to, "A Christian should separate oneself from the spirit of capitalism." Since the two spirits don't mix, that was obvious from the start. What else might a Christian do? What are the practical means by which a Christian might separate? Is there another form of market or production that a Christian should advocate for? These questions are either not addressed or barely. Therefore, what could have been a promising work detailing a Christian economy simply becomes an effort in compare and contrast.
With that said, Tanner has also written a work called, "Economy of Grace," that I have not read and which might serve to answer the unanswered questions here. Perhaps that will be a companion piece to this one. If it is, then I shouldn't be so harsh with Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism. If it isn't, then while this book is entirely effective in one way, it falls short for anyone expecting (as I was) some alternative vision for living, given that the two spirits don't mix. (less)
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Roger Green
Jun 30, 2019Roger Green rated it really liked it
After some initially very good descriptions of congruences between the development of finance capitalism and Christian theology, Tanner expresses a rein vocation of Christian ethics to confront the problems of greed and hyper-competative system by returning to Christ's grace. So, the world will be saved if everyone becomes a Christian and sees they're all in it together, which would deplete the social injustice and victim-blaming that debt society foists on poor individuals. Nothing is said of those who aren't Christians, nor of the ways that the congruences between Christianity and capitalism in the very evangelical colonizing forms eradicate other peoples and the environment. Rather, having not morally progressed, Christians are to return to Augustinian-informed notions of grace because "we're all sinners" and strive to live in God's temporality, where apparently everything is abundant and infinite. In this view, Christianity remains unapologetically a "civilizing" force tempering neoliberalism by bringing about the kingdom through the softly-forced submission of all into their conversion narratives. (less)
flagLike · comment · see review
Peter Rapp
Jun 13, 2020Peter Rapp rated it it was ok
One wants very much to like this book, but one becomes so befuddled by the convoluted sentence structure and abstruse deployment of pronouns that disappointment instead comes to one.
... Tanner's entire book is written in the preceding format, making it exceptionally difficult to read. I was preinclined to agree with some of Tanner's arguments. However, most of the chapters amount to extensive qualitative paranoia about negative possibilities within finance-dominated capitalism. Ultimately, I think the book fails to be convincing. (less)
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Scott Holstad
Jul 02, 2021Scott Holstad rated it it was ok
Shelves: business, economics-finance, cultural-social, non-fiction, religion
Huh. Well, some interesting, even decent ideas at times, but not super impressed and I was left more importantly feeling like a read merely a portion of a book. It was in sufficient. Needed to be fleshed out quite a bit more. So, not necessarily a terrible book, but there are tons better on this and similar topics these days, so not recommended.
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Gordon Fowler
Feb 13, 2021Gordon Fowler rated it it was ok · review of another edition
Needs work on understanding of political economy
This books starts with a fairly rigid and monochromatic view of how the worlds political economy works. It’s clear that the authors understanding of corporate economy is rather shallow.
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Rasmus Tillander
Aug 15, 2020Rasmus Tillander rated it really liked it
Shelves: tieto, filosofia
Kathryn Tannerin Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism oli monella tapaa hämmentävä kirja: se oli oikeasti kovaa analyysia finanssikapitalismin valuvioista, mutta samaan aikaan puolustuspuhe Kristus-keskeiselle kristinuskolle.
Tanner, joka on siis Yalen yliopiston systemaattisen teologian professori, asettaa tavoitteensa suhteessa Max Weberin analyysiin protestanttisesta työetiikasta: Tannerin tavoite on luoda finanssikapitalismin hengen vasta-henki ja protestanttinen anti-työetiikka. Tämän etiikan taustalla on kolme prosessia: "(1) Sen linkin murtaminen joka vallitsee oikeuden hyvinvointiin ja työnteon välillä; (2) Sen murtaminen, että ihminen identifioi itseänsä "tuottavaan" itseensä; (3) Niiden ajan jatkuvuuden, ajan romahtamisen murtaminen, jotka nykyisen kapitalismin muodossa rajoittavat kuviteltavia mahdollisuuksia."
Suurimman osan kirjasta Tanner käyttääkin osoittamaan, että nämä kolme murrettavaa asiaa muodostava modernin finanssikapitalismin hengen ja sitä kautta ihmiskuvan. Erityisesti Tanner loistaa analysoidessaan kapitalismin aikaan liittyviä ulottuvuuksia. On häkellettyvää lukea teologin kirjoittavan syvällistä analyysiä joukkovelkakirjojen ja futuurien olemuksista, Tannerin tekstistä huokuu massiivinen akateeminen itseluottamus.
Toisen osan kirjan luvuista muodostavat kristinopilliset segmentit, joissa Tanner esittää miten kristinusko voi toimia vastavoimana sielunmurskaavalle kapitalismille. Ja nämä osiot olivat itselleni hyvin kummallista luettavaa: ne selvästi nojaavat sellaiselle tulkinalle kristinuskosta, joka on itselleni hyvin vieras ja jolle olen ollut vasemmistolaisena hyvin kriittinen. Tanner on barthilainen episkopaali, hyvin perinteinen teisti, joille Kristus muodostaa kaiken keskiön. Pähkinänkuoressa Tanner esittää, että koska meissä todella "tuottava osa" on Kristus meissä, emme voi omilla teoillamme parantaa "itseämme sijoituksena", koska sen tuottomarginaali on kiinni ikuisessa Jumalassa. Huolimatta omasta vastustuksestani on ainakin myönnettävä, että tämä oli viehättävimpiä puolustuksia tämän kaltaisella kristinuskolle.
Kirja oli kuitenkin kokonaisuutena hyvin mielenkiintoinen. Kritiikkiä voisi antaa lähinnä siitä, että käytännön etiikkaa (esim. Jeesuksen talousetiikkaa) ei käsitelty, eikä myöskään oikeita konkreettisia toimia tämän anti-työetiikan sisällä. Mutta ehkä Tanner ajatteli systemaatikkona pysyvänsä lestissään kun kirjoitti huomattavasti opillisemmalla tasolla. Kirjasta myös näkyi ehkä välillä vähän liikaa, että se perustui Tannerin pitämään Gifford-luentosarjaan (joiden pitäminen on suurimpia kunniatehtäviä, joita teologi voinee saada).
====
Kathryn Tanner’s Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism was in many ways a confusing book: it was really a harsh analysis of the casting flaws of financial capitalism, but at the same time a defensive speech for Christ-centered Christianity. Thus, Tanner, a professor of systematic theology at Yale University, sets his goal in relation to Max Weber’s analysis of Protestant work ethic: Tanner’s goal is to create a counter-spirit to the spirit of financial capitalism and a Protestant anti-work ethic.
There are three processes behind this ethic: "(1) Breaking the link between the right to well-being and work; (2) Breaking one's identification with the" productive "self; (3) Breaking the continuity of time, the collapse of time that in the form of capitalism limit imaginable possibilities. "
Indeed, most of the book is used by Tanner to show that these three things that break down form the spirit of modern financial capitalism and thus the image of man. Tanner, in particular, excels in his analysis of the dimensions associated with the age of capitalism. It’s embarrassing to read a theologian writing an in-depth analysis of the essence of bonds and futures, Tanner’s text exudes massive academic self-confidence.
The second part of the book’s chapters are Christian segments in which Tanner shows how Christianity can act as a counterweight to soul-crushing capitalism. And these sections were very strange to me to read: they clearly lean on an interpretation of Christianity that is very foreign to me and to which I have been very critical as a leftist.
Tanner is a Barth episcopal, a very traditional theist, for whom Christ forms the center of everything. In a nutshell, Tanner argues that because the truly “productive part” of us is Christ in us, we cannot, by our own actions, heal “ourselves as an investment,” because its profit margin is attached to the eternal God.
Despite my own opposition, it must at least be admitted that this was one of the most attractive defenses for Christianity like this. However, the book as a whole was very interesting. Criticism could be given mainly for the fact that practical ethics (e.g., Jesus ’economic ethics) were not addressed, nor for the right concrete actions within this anti-work ethic.
But perhaps Tanner thought, as a systematist, that he would remain at his last when writing at a much more doctrinal level. The book also sometimes showed a little too much that it was based on a series of Gifford lectures given by Tanner (which are one of the greatest honors the theologian can hold).
(less)
flagLike · comment · see review
Joseph Sverker
Jul 02, 2019Joseph Sverker rated it liked it
Shelves: social-sciences-theory, theology
A very interesting and timely book. I am very impressed by the way Tanner presents finance economical market and its implications for the ordinary person. The first chapter might be the best in that respect where Tanner shows how the shift towards speculation instead of production punishes the ordinary worker to the benefit of stock holders. The companies' "real" value (I know there is no such thing, I am not a marxist) have next to no impact on the stock value which means that speculation and s ...more
flagLike · comment · see review
John Lucy
Nov 19, 2020John Lucy rated it it was ok
Tanner does an excellent and thorough job explaining the "spirit" of capitalism as it is expressed in today's world. She also does a good job contrasting that to the "spirit" of Christianity. The two don't mix. Even those Christians who adamantly support and defend capitalism, perhaps even as an extension of Christianity itself, will find Tanner's exposition of both spirits as persuasive. There are few holes in the argument.
Unfortunately, as the book progresses, the exposition and arguments become repetitive with little in the way of prophecy. The final chapter is meant to chart a Christian's way forward but the argument essentially boils down to, "A Christian should separate oneself from the spirit of capitalism." Since the two spirits don't mix, that was obvious from the start. What else might a Christian do? What are the practical means by which a Christian might separate? Is there another form of market or production that a Christian should advocate for? These questions are either not addressed or barely. Therefore, what could have been a promising work detailing a Christian economy simply becomes an effort in compare and contrast.
With that said, Tanner has also written a work called, "Economy of Grace," that I have not read and which might serve to answer the unanswered questions here. Perhaps that will be a companion piece to this one. If it is, then I shouldn't be so harsh with Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism. If it isn't, then while this book is entirely effective in one way, it falls short for anyone expecting (as I was) some alternative vision for living, given that the two spirits don't mix. (less)
flagLike · comment · see review
Roger Green
Jun 30, 2019Roger Green rated it really liked it
After some initially very good descriptions of congruences between the development of finance capitalism and Christian theology, Tanner expresses a rein vocation of Christian ethics to confront the problems of greed and hyper-competative system by returning to Christ's grace. So, the world will be saved if everyone becomes a Christian and sees they're all in it together, which would deplete the social injustice and victim-blaming that debt society foists on poor individuals. Nothing is said of those who aren't Christians, nor of the ways that the congruences between Christianity and capitalism in the very evangelical colonizing forms eradicate other peoples and the environment. Rather, having not morally progressed, Christians are to return to Augustinian-informed notions of grace because "we're all sinners" and strive to live in God's temporality, where apparently everything is abundant and infinite. In this view, Christianity remains unapologetically a "civilizing" force tempering neoliberalism by bringing about the kingdom through the softly-forced submission of all into their conversion narratives. (less)
flagLike · comment · see review
Peter Rapp
Jun 13, 2020Peter Rapp rated it it was ok
One wants very much to like this book, but one becomes so befuddled by the convoluted sentence structure and abstruse deployment of pronouns that disappointment instead comes to one.
... Tanner's entire book is written in the preceding format, making it exceptionally difficult to read. I was preinclined to agree with some of Tanner's arguments. However, most of the chapters amount to extensive qualitative paranoia about negative possibilities within finance-dominated capitalism. Ultimately, I think the book fails to be convincing. (less)
flagLike · comment · see review
Scott Holstad
Jul 02, 2021Scott Holstad rated it it was ok
Shelves: business, economics-finance, cultural-social, non-fiction, religion
Huh. Well, some interesting, even decent ideas at times, but not super impressed and I was left more importantly feeling like a read merely a portion of a book. It was in sufficient. Needed to be fleshed out quite a bit more. So, not necessarily a terrible book, but there are tons better on this and similar topics these days, so not recommended.
flagLike · comment · see review
Gordon Fowler
Feb 13, 2021Gordon Fowler rated it it was ok · review of another edition
Needs work on understanding of political economy
This books starts with a fairly rigid and monochromatic view of how the worlds political economy works. It’s clear that the authors understanding of corporate economy is rather shallow.
flagLike · comment · see review
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