“The ransom of the soul of a man is his wealth.” This phrase from the book of Proverbs (13:8) launches Peter Brown’s incisive study of how Christian thinking evolved from 250 A.D. to 650 A.D. with regards to money. Money played a more and more active role in the Catholic Church in these years as wealthy believers took more elaborate steps to protect their souls and the souls of their families by building fabulous burial sites, buying influence among the church elites, and making lavish donations to build monasteries and funerary chapels. Peter Brown traces the growing influence of money on the Catholic Church and the effect of wealth on religious doctrine. Fascinating reading! GRADE: A
Someone should do a modern look at the influence of money on “Christian” supporters of the Republican Party. After all, what else can explain Jerry Falwell, Jr. endorsing the least Christian candidate running for President this year (other than sheer hypocriosy, of course)?
I think the Good Book has a number of things to say in that regard, Jeff. Notably, “Oh ye hypocrites! Ye generation of vipers!” There’s plenty of vipers generating in the unholy stew that is the GOP-Evangelical dance that has been going on since Lee Atwater’s courting of them to elect Ronald Reagan in 1980 and shows no signs of abating in 2016.
/Dismounting soapbox now.
Amen, sister!
Jeff, Deb always nails it.
Deb, you are so right about this Generation of Vipers. The campaign in South Carolina is turning negative. I’ll watch a bit of the Republican Debate tonight. Expecting plenty of insults hurling around!
Jeff, I have a new book called DARK MONEY that goes into some of these suspicious campaign contributions. The term “Christian” seems to be an elastic term to the Republicans. But, when you come right down to it, it’s always about the money.
Not too much OT:
It’s not only US conservatives and so called “Christians”. Here in Hungary Janos Lazar, a politician of the governing Fidesz said:
If you have nothing then you are nothing …
Lazar’s nickname is “Laser Johnny” because he has on his shiny Audi8 official car a device that blinds speed lasers …
In most countries these devices are illegal …
It’s called “prosperity gospel” here in the U.S., Wolf: the idea that your wealth reflects God’s wholehearted approval of you and everything you do. And if you’re poor/working-class/having a hard time making ends meet, that’s not the fault of retrograde government policies, anemic minimum-wage jobs, repression of unions, and a taxing system that would rather see working poor families go hungry than see a billionaire be taxed at the same (higher) rate as a secretary. No, indeed! It’s because God doesn’t love you–that’s why you’re poor! If God loved you, you’d be rich! It’s a simple as that.
/For the record, I’m a regular churchgoer and consider myself a “Christian,” but not in the evangelical/fundamentalist mode.
//Dismounting soapbox…again.
Deb, the strategy of Blaming the Victims is a favorite strategy of the Rich over the centuries. The fact that the system is rigged to favor the Rich is the cornerstone of the Bernie Sanders campaign. And, he’s right. The poor in America don’t have a Super PAC.
Wolf, money changes everything. The poor in America get little respect. There’s an arrogance that comes with a lot of money and we’re seeing it in Trump. “Laser Johnny” would fit right in here.
Once money and religion work together, we are screwed. One or both seduce most people.
Patti, money is the root of all Evil but some people refuse to believe it.
Patti, you’re so right!
And it’s the same all over the world.
Lots of good thoughts, though scary how easy it is for this group to see the problem, and (for example) the supreme court of the US to ignore it. (since when are corporations a person) the Koch brothers etc. I remember back in Reagan days how catsup was counted as a vegetable in school lunch programs. (I do have to say, though that kids can thwart the best efforts to make them eat healthy.
I used to walk every day, and would pick up recyclables from trash barrels in the park (more actually on the ground than in the barrels). They had a school lunch program at the rec center, and the barrels were near full with unopened milk cartons. It was sickening the waste. Back before food stamps, they gave away commodities at mom’s church and fresh vegetables were often tossed away as people didn’t take them.
Maggie, at the height of the Beanie Baby crazy, McDonalds was giving away Beanie Babies with their Happy Meals. Numerous times I witnessed parents buy the Happy Meal, remove the Beanie Baby, and throw the food away. Sure, it’s not the most nutritious food, but what a waste!
jamie Oliver (a famous cook) was asked to make the British school lunches healthier – and got similar results …
Children asked their mothers to get them hamburgers and chips instead of the healthy food.
And here in Hungary we just heard the same story from our neighbour who works for the village kitchen that supplies schools, civil servants and needy people.
The good news (if you can call it that):
Our and our neighbours’ dogs and cats and some stray cats too are well fed from the scraps – they’ll eat anything!
Last night I asked God for wealth. This morning I found a quarter on the floor. Should I run for President?
Seriously… fundamentalist religion seems to be the happening wave, and to pull the voters in those areas the politicians, who will do and say anything to get votes, which I point out are a commodity, are trying hard to sway those people to their candidacy. Nothing new there.
Rick, the something “new” in this Presidential campaign is the billions of dollars spent to affect the outcome of the process.
Rather OT – but my favourite joke!
After an accident a guy wakes up in wonderful surroundings, music in the background, and a beautiful woman comes up to him smiling:
Welcome to the afterlife aka hell!
I’m the devil assigned to show you around and then take you to your quarters.
So she shows him the bar, one of the many buffets, a pool and a gym and so on …
He marvels at all the wonderful places but then they pass an iron door. He can see red fire through the cracks, a sulphuric smell reaches his nose and horrible screams are heard …
What is this? What’s going on behind that door? he asks his guide and the devil answers:
Nothing to worry about, those are just the Christians – they want it that way …
Good one.
Wolf, that is So true!
I can’t stand evangelicals, either, but let’s not forget the other sell out to monied interests–Hitlery the Hag, Madame Square Pants!
Bob, those hundreds of thousands of dollars paid by Goldman Sachs for speeches are weighing on Hillary’s campaign.
That’s only the tip of the iceberg!