Another book I'm in the middle of is Stanley Hauerwas' new book Working With Words: On Learning to Speak Christian. It is a collection of essays that is not unlike the other 327 books Hauerwas has written. In some ways this book explains why he has written so many (in that he reads a lot, reading makes him think, so he has to write to figure out what he thinks). In some ways this book is a new way of looking at his general project and the way in which this project has developed over the last thirty years. Being a Christian ethicist (whatever that term means) the particulars of his project have changed as the modern problems have gone from global-thermo-nuclear war to modern medicine and all its quandries. However, his main point has remained pretty similar.
I do think this book, however, makes his whole project more understandable if you can read between the lines and get a sense of the general point made by the disparate essays. The breakthrough came when reading his essay on greed. He begins by talking about how we as a society believe that the economic crisis was/is/has been caused by greed. However he questions whether or not we have enough of an understanding of greed to really make and understand such a claim. It seems that if we did have a proper understanding of greed then we would be rethinking more about our economic system than just the past few years.
I have a good friend that, while being a pastor, was an economics major in undergrad. It was talking to him that almost made me a fiscal conservative politically speaking. In many cases I think the economy's job is to create the most amount of wealth possible. I am a liberal because I believe other institutions ought to step in and look out for those whom the economy, in its pursuit of more wealth, leaves behind. That's a pretty crappy view of economics, if I do say so myself. But it shows how deep we have bought into the delusion that our lives are not sustained by greed itself.
Modern capitalism is dependent on changing greed from vice to virtue. Our lives are sustained through a desire to have more. To have more money. To have more stuff. To have more security. To have more. Hauerwas argues, convincingly I believe, that we cannot help but fall into greed. He says that we have a little success in life and when that happens we become worried that what we have will go away. So we work all the harder to get more so that we won't lose what we have. But the problem is all this gets compounded exponentially as we get more and more and more. And all of a sudden we're greedy bastards.
I think Hauerwas' account of all this is true because it resonates with the way I see others I know living their lives. And if it applies to them, I am sure it applies to me. Those that would sacrifice pay in order to do more noble things are called irresponsible. We are told to be good, responsible parents we must fall into this trap of greed. We are told that to be good, responsible citizens we must fall into this trap of greed. All of it seems inescapable.
Which is where the thrust of Hauerwas' project comes in: Jesus creates a new way. Jesus creates a new world in which it is possible to not be greedy. Jesus creates a new world in which it is possible to not live through the lens of scarcity. Jesus creates a new world where success and responsibility are not measured in dollars and cents, but in faithfulness to God. Jesus creates a new possibility and a new world.
And this is where I find Hauerwas more helpful than Niebuhr or the Protestant liberalism. Protestant liberals would look at life with its myriad crappy choices and say "Well What would Jesus do?" Then in following that, the world would magically become better. That's hopeful and optimistic, but doesn't really explain all the Christians in Congress. Niebuhr, writing against the Protestant liberals, would look at life with its myriad crappy choices and say "Well, do the best you can and when it gets a little better, that's the best we can do." That's helpful in the sense of helping us make sense of why the Kingdom isn't brought in when the CEO converts, but doesn't provide a real robust eschatological vision. Hauerwas on the other hand looks at life with its myriad crappy choices and rejects them all in favor of the new world opened up by Christ. The world might only get a little better, but that's only because we're greedy bastards. The CEO might convert by that won't bring in the Kingdom because we can't bring in the Kingdom. However, the Kingdom will be brought in. There is not only a better way...there is a new and better world. That's big. That's true hope and optimism . That's the Gospel.
But since its a new world it takes a whole new way of living. And seeing. And speaking. We have to learn how to live in this new space. That's what the church is all about. So if you want a real alternative from all the crap in our society and in this life, pick up Working with Words and learn to speak truth.
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