William T. Cavanaugh
Professor of Philosophical Theology at DePaul University
Tuesday, September 24, 2024 @ 4:00 PM
Abstract
This lecture explores two sides of the modern economy: the rationalized and disenchanted world of the Amazon warehouse, and the enchanted world of products that magically appear on our doorsteps. Dr. Cavanaugh will argue that these are two sides of the same coin. First, he will show that even Max Weber himself could not shake free of the idea that modernity was haunted by enchantment in production. Second, he will look at Karl Marx’s analysis of enchantment in consumption. Finally, he will argue that the biblical concept of idolatry captures our current cultural moment: a shift in what we worship to things of our own creation.
Biography
William T. Cavanaugh, PhD from Duke University, is Professor of Catholic Studies and director for the Centre for World Catholicism and Intercultural Theology at DePaul University in Chicago. He is the author of The Myth of Religious Violence, Oxford University Press, 2009; and The Uses of Idols, Oxford University Press, 2024. His specialty is political theology, economic ethics, and ecclesiology. In his 2024 tome, Dr. Cavanaugh reveals his excellent scholarship in this deeply researched topic of cultural idolatry, offering a sustained, cogent, sympathetic critique in a wonderful model of public theology. This impressive work ranges across the fields of history, philosophy, political science, sociology, and cultural studies. For this lecture, special attention to chapters 3. and 7. will help.
Cavanaugh’s Research Interests
His major areas of research have to do with the Church’s encounter with social, political, and economic realities. He has authored six books and edited three more. His books and articles have been published in 10 languages. He has dealt with themes of the Church’s social and political presence in situations of violence and economic injustice. He just recently published a book on secularization and idolatry, called The Uses of Idolatry, exploring the ways in which a supposedly disenchanted Western society remains enchanted by nationalism, consumerism, and the cult of celebrity. He teaches in an interdisciplinary way, showing the riches and challenges of Christian tradition through art, theology, scripture, music, poetry, history, and novels.
“Idolatry is the human creation of systems that react back upon us and come to dominate us as false gods.” ~Bill Cavanaugh
See also: https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2024/09/the-metaphysical-promise-of-the-consumer-society
About the Book: “Jean-Luc Marion once described idolatry as the ‘low water mark of the divine.’ What he meant was: it is not something to be dismissed. Idolatry, too, is a sort of revelation. William Cavanaugh’s careful, sympathetic exercise in this important book embodies this approach. Akin to Augustine’s theologically inflected ethnography of the late Roman Empire, here Cavanaugh ‘reads’ the rituals of late capitalism in order to discern the devotions of our so-called secular age. But he does so in the spirit of invitation, not denunciation. A wonderful model of public theology written for a wide audience.” (James K. A. Smith, author of How (Not) to Be Secular).
The church is the incubator and the epicentre of counterdesire, writes Christopher Watkin in Biblical Critical Theory. (473-76) What are the rhythms of our hearts? The contrast below constitutes a veritable manifesto for an alternative outlook and lifestyle. Chris Watkin contrasts consumption-desire and biblical intimacy-desire in a most helpful manner.
- Consumption-desire is centred in the consumer, who is always right and votes with the wallet. Intimacy-desire has two poles, the lover and the beloved, who both shape the relationship. Here freedom is defined by the ability to love and give life to one another.
- Consumption-desire is cyclical: lack, desire, consumption, satisfaction, dissatisfaction, repeat. Intimacy-desire forges a cumulative depth of relationship over time, investing over and over again continuously.
- Consumption-desire is fuelled by the noble lie of ultimate fulfilment–every product and pleasure contributes to the good life. Intimacy-desire is driven by the promise of ultimate fulfilment when “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and his Messiah.” It seeks to fan into flame, develop and cultivate existing desires to meet the deepest human needs–servanthood-oriented.
- Consumption-desire is economic, obeying the laws of scarcity, equivalence, merit, and performance. It is motivated by debt. Intimacy-desire is aneconomic, running free in world of bounty, superabundance, gift, and grace. It is motivated by thankfulness and generosity. The more I give away, the more I have.
- Consumption-desire is mediated by corporations who like monetizable assets like labour, money, our data. It is based on an investment of capital. It calculates and focuses on your use value. Intimacy-desire is unmediated: God and church do not want your monetizable assets; they want you, yourself as an end, a member of a family. It is based on an investment of character and wants your full enjoyment.
- Consumption-desire tends towards restlessness; Intimacy-desire tends towards rest.
- Consumption-desire understands pain as lack, to be remedied by further consumption. Intimacy-desire sees pain as growth, to be worked through and harnessed to deepen the relationship.
- Consumption-desire is indexed by possessions. Growth comes through accumulating more things, more money and assets. Intimacy-desire is indexed by dispossession–I lose my life in order to save it. My liberation is through self-forgetfulness, kindness and generosity.
“The power and wisdom we desire, the love and freedom, the rest and satisfaction, the justice and fullness…. The cross of Christ is the narrow road to the transfigured fullness of every human desire.” (Christopher Watkin, Biblical Critical Theory, 2022, 433)
Dr. Gordon Carkner’s YouTube Video on Consumerism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lwk9B16xHd8
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