The Theology of Money [Paperback]

Philip Goodchild (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2007

Goodchild examines the theory of money in a comparable manner to Adam Smith, Karl Marx and Georg Simmel. However by contrast to the conclusions of these thinkers, he proposes that money is essentially created in excess of reserves, making it a simultaneous credit and debt. Since money is a debt that must be repaid with interest in the form of money, then the creation of money imposes a social demand for an increase in profit and an increase in the creation of money in order to repay debt. This vicious circle drives the expansion of the global economy. In summary, Goodchild argues that money is a promise, a supreme value, a transcendent value and an obligation or a law. He argues that money has taken the place of God. It is the dominant global religion in practice, even if no one believes in it in principle.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“Recommended. Graduate students and faculty/researchers.” - F. G. Kirkpatrick, Choice

“Goodchild has provided a powerful example of forgiveness as the creation of new value. His account of money puts great demands on our ability to think creatively about money and about value. His tremendously invigorating political, economic and theological proposals for transforming credit in society could produce many important and needed transformations. Such transformations are absolutely necessary if we are going to live in a world where life has many possibilities and people live their lives with wealth. . .” - Char Roone Miller, Theory & Event

“Goodchild’s work is a tour de force of conceptual analysis, engaging A. Smith and C. Schmitt among others, en route to arguing that theology must counter the conscription of time, attention, and demands made by money with its own vision of social existence.” - Myles Werntz, Religious Studies Review

“Theology of Money by Philip Goodchild is a densely argued and multilayered treatise that excavates the theological power incarnated in the global monetary system. . . . There is a lot to learn from in this book.” - Review of Politics

“Philip Goodchild is the most constructive and original philosopher of
religion in the UK. . . . What Goodchild offers is both a critique of money and a theology of money, and part of what makes this book so fascinating is the significance of calling what he is doing here a theology of money as opposed to simply a critique of money. . . . Theology of Money . . . sketches a radical theological vision of credit that promises the potential for a future theology as well as a future humanity. . . . [Goodchild] provides vital resources of thought and capital for theological and practical human beings to put to work.” - Clayton Crockett, Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory

“The power of the analysis, the energy of the text, the passions it excites in the reader, and its call upon us to think beyond the limits in which most philosophical, theological, economic, and cultural thought is enclosed make Theology of Money an indispensable book.”—William E. Connolly, author of Capitalism and Christianity, American Style

“Well written and very well researched, Theology of Money is a remarkable and very important book; there is nothing else like it currently in print. Philip Goodchild’s thesis is, in a way, startlingly simple: the universal sway of money exists instead of a universal sway of an ethics and a religion.”—Catherine Pickstock, co-editor of Radical Orthodoxy: A New Theology

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Philip Goodchild came to prominence as one of the earliest generation of scholars of Deleuze, and he has also made a significant contribution to Continental philosophy of religion with two edited volumes, Rethinking Philosophy of Religion, 2002 and Difference in Philosophy of Religion, 2003. His major monograph, Capitalism and Religion: The Price of Piety, 2002 was described as 'a defining book of the decade'. This book develops these ideas further.

Product Details

• Paperback: 277 pages
• Publisher: Canterbury Press Norwich (January 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0334041422
• ISBN-13: 978-0334041429
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,991,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Economic life is constrained by the perpetual need for acquiring money, December 11, 2009

By 

ROROTOKO (rorotoko dot com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Theology of Money (New Slant: Religion, Politics, Ontology) (Paperback)

"Theology of Money" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Goodchild's book interview ran here as cover feature on November 30, 2009.