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“You Cannot Serve God and Mammon”: Economic Relations and Human Flourishing in Luke
Author(s) -
Pickett Raymond
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
dialog
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.114
H-Index - 5
eISSN - 1540-6385
pISSN - 0012-2033
DOI - 10.1111/dial.12008
Subject(s) - flourishing , realm , capitalism , value (mathematics) , dimension (graph theory) , life value , sociology , human relations , epistemology , aesthetics , philosophy , environmental ethics , social psychology , political science , psychology , law , social science , mathematics , machine learning , politics , computer science , pure mathematics
: Economics is essentially a matter of value, and capitalism is a system of value creation in which the individual is valued at the expense of the community and the cosmos. In contrast to this, Luke tells the story of Jesus as a vision of salvation that is covenantal and communal, encompassing every dimension of life, including the economic. God and mammon represent two antithetical wellsprings of value and desire that orient intentions and actions in different directions. Mammon represents the realm of self‐justification, self‐reliance, self‐aggrandizement, and in our own disenchanted world the “buffered” and disengaged self, while God represents the domain of human flourishing characterized by interdependence and sharing.