Cavanaugh on Consumerism as Gnosticism

“Consumerism has certain affinities with the great faith traditions of the world because, as we have seen, it trains us to transcend the material world. Not only do we seek to leave behind the bodily labor that goes into making things. Consumerism represents a constant dissatisfaction with particular material things themselves, a restlessness that constantly seeks to move beyond what is at hand. Although the consumer spirit delights in material things and sees them as good, the thing itself is never enough. Things and brands must be invested with mythologies, with spiritual aspirations; things come to represent freedom, status, and love. Above all, they represent the aspiration to escape time and death by constantly seeking renewal in created things. Each new movement of desire promises the opportunity to start over.” — William T. Cavanaugh, Being Consumed: Economics and Christian Desire (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmanns, 2008), 48.

Or to put it in more local terms, consumerism aims at covenant renewal.

I’ll be writing more on this latest offering from Cavanaugh. Suffice it to say for now that I’m easily adding it to my “Worth-Reading List.”

Doug Jones