Theology of Money

Theology of Money is a philosophical inquiry into the nature and role of money in the contemporary world. Philip Goodchild reveals the significance of money as a dynamic social force by arguing that under its influence, moral evaluation is subordinated to economic valuation, which is essentially abstract and anarchic. His rigorous inquiry opens into a complex analysis of political economy, encompassing markets and capital, banks and the state, class divisions, accounting practices, and the ecological crisis awaiting capitalism. Engaging with Christian theology and the thought of Carl Schmitt, Georg Simmel, Karl Marx, Adam Smith, and many others, Goodchild develops a theology of money based on four contentions, which he elaborates in depth. First, money has no intrinsic value; it is a promise of value, a crystallization of future hopes. Second, money is the supreme value in contemporary society. Third, the value of assets measured by money is always future-oriented, dependent on expectations about how much might be obtained for those assets at a later date. Since this value, when realized, will again depend on future expectations, the future is forever deferred. Financial value is essentially a degree of hope, expectation, trust, or credit. Fourth, money is created as debt, which involves a social obligation to work or make profits to repay the loan. As a system of debts, money imposes an immense and irresistible system of social control on individuals, corporations, and governments, each of whom are threatened by economic failure if they refuse their obligations to the money system. This system of debt has progressively tightened its hold on all sectors and regions of global society. With Theology of Money, Goodchild aims to make conscious our collective faith and its dire implications.

“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 ofreligion 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

Philip Goodchild is Professor of Religion and Philosophy at the University of Nottingham. He is the author of Capitalism and Religion: The Price of Piety and the editor of Difference in the Philosophy of Religion and Rethinking Philosophy of Religion: Approaches from Continental Philosophy.