I am on the train on the way back from New Haven, Connecticut. For the past two days, I have been part of a conference, “Money and Morals after the Crash,” at Yale Divinity School. This conference has tossed together economists, ethicists and pastors. Against the backdrop of wild gyrations in the markets, violent demonstrations in Greece, and ongoing financial uncertainty, the conversations here (the big public ones and the quiet in-the-corner ones) have been challenging, serious and (at times) even hopeful.
One of the things that I find most interesting at these conferences are the questions people ask. My new friend, Steve Peterson, a former Wall Street guy who is on the Yale Divinity Board of Advisors with me, has compiled a wonderful list of these questions.
Here are a few that I found especially provocative:
- Can financial regulation ever adequately protect against the treachery of the human heart?
- Has Max Weber’s Protestant ethic of hard work and self-restraint been replaced by a lotto culture and flamboyant consumption?
- In a society fueled by hysteria and confusion—where vast numbers of people believe in ghosts and UFOs and few understand compound interest or Adjustable Rate Mortgages—is anybody listening to theologians and economists?
- Is there more superstition in churches or on Wall Street?
- Is humility a financial as well as a spiritual virtue?
- How do we measure economic justice?
- Is “truthiness”—Stephen Colbert’s word—more common in investment brochures or in the pulpit?
- Does everyone in our country need to repent?
If you have questions that would like to add (or any answers!) , post away!!!
As you “post away,” I want to leave you with a provocative image that another friend, Steve Bauman, pastor at Christ Church Methodist pointed out to me.
To the right is a picture of people praying for the economy next to the Wall Street bull in October of 2008. More than a few sharp bloggers out there have remarked on the similarity between this image, and what Moses saw when he descended from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, only to find the people prostrating themselves before a golden calf.
Do you remember Charlton Heston’s response?
What do we pray for? What do we pray to?
Here’s a question that I think about a lot:
The Bible says we shouldn’t worry about what we wear and what we have. So, does God even care about the economic turmoil and injustice that is so pervasive today?
Do we really expect our government to be capable of protecting us from all economic gyration? Could your mother keep you from scraping your knee?
I believe the people at the bull figure are praying for the economy, not to money as a god.
So much of the alarmism surrounding all aspects of modern life connects to our idealization of the authority of “serious” media. Serious media is histrionic in both message and tone — fear sells big. It’s part of the human wiring that God wants to help us disconnect!