`` The Total Economy `` By Wendell Berry

Imagine a world where people are living for themselves. People thriving to succeed in their careers, working hard to accumulate wealth, and dealing only with issues that affect them personally. A world where people are completely oblivious as to who created them, what He did for them, and what their true mission in life should be. In Counter Culture, author David Platt, brings to light different problems we face in our world today. He discusses various topics, including marriage and sexual morality, giving each one real life examples of issues humanity experiences every day. But not only does he bring these issues to the readers’ attention, he gives them a biblical view of why these issues are disliked in the eyes of God, and several different steps they can take to help make a difference in our world today.

Zae Niringe from Uganda says that the North American Church spends too much time thinking about roles and positions.3 “What’s the role of the North American Church?” do we have an interdependent relationship with our brothers and sisters in the global church? There are many things to learn from our global church by building relationships with them. Western Christians need a more robust involvement in the global missions community. North America has much education and resources share with the global Christian community. We also have things to learn and ways to learn from Christians in other countries. Borthwick encourages us to form mutual partnerships with our global church. To invest in these relationships will take time, but the relationships produced will be

After writing “Why I Am Not Going To Buy A Computer,” in the 1987 edition of Harper’s, Wendell Berry was critiqued by readers who felts he was using his wife as a “drudge.” Berry writes that, “My wife types my work. She sees things that are wrong and marks them with small checks in the margins. She is my best critic because she is the one most familiar with my habitual errors and weaknesses. She also understands, sometimes better than I do, what ought to be said.” (Pg. 180) But his readers seemed to miss this. To make a full response to them, Berry writes “Feminism, The Body, and the Machine.” Through his use of quotation marks, tone, and diction,

Globalization essentially ends smaller cultures and generalizes human relationships so that there can exist a more efficient and profitable economic scenario. Within this state of affairs, the importance of a very specific area isn’t that big and is abridged to how certain basics, such as earnings and location significance, impact the lower end of a company’s profit. Cavanaugh puts this in understandable terms when he says that free trade is “a detachment from the local and a commitment to the hyper mobility of capital” (Cavanaugh 63). Based on a Christian standpoint, the continued dehumanizing economy calls for action to be taken so that the focus on the human being can be brought back to the center of attention, which can only truly happen if we focus on the local economics and not just the larger scale global economics. In Being Consumed, not only does William Cavanaugh provide theoretical answers, but he also gives real possible examples of how Christian communities all throughout the Earth are helping to refocus attention on the dignity of the human being. Cavanaugh talks about the virtues of the Fair Trade movement and Church supported agriculture, for instance, in which consumers and producers are being connected through a myriad of ways in an attempt to restore their

pitalistic society zombies the individual. It is argued that capitalism makes individuals into “interchangeable beasts of burden” (McNally). Christian fundamentalism provides the comfort needed to lift this burden of the working and the stresses of the capitalist society. An article titled “A Growing Faith-- and Outrage” by Mary Beth Sheridan details how much Christian fundamentalism improves the lives of its followers. Christian fundamentalism provides a warm and communal environment and a promise of salvation (Sheridan). This salvation is important because it provides hope in times of distress or hopelessness, such as when people have to operate on an eat-sleep-work-repeat cycle. Therefore, it is clear that Christian fundamentalists are connected

In the last part of the chapter, Berry focuses on the improvements of the economy and suggests that a community must be providing individuals with jobs in the community and provide citizens the opportunity to own a small share of the country. The government would deal with this issue by providing job opportunities but taking money away from every individual’s check in order to save it for unemployment and social security. The government gives every person the opportunity to build their own empire and have whatever quantity of money one desires. The United States government gives every person the freedom to purchase a car, house as long as one gives the appropriate monthly payments and one is able to afford it. Citizens living under the United States government have rights and freedoms and no government officials has the right to control what the citizens are or should be able to earn from their personal salary. This is a privilege of living in a country that gives every citizen the rights and freedoms without the government getting involved.

As readers of the testament look to understand what the Bible asks of us to do to be righteous, there must remain an awareness of what at one time influenced the writing and interpretation of the Bible. Both the Roman Empire and the Persian Empire altered the perception of God as well as Jesus. Many ask how Christianity has transformed humanity, but truly mankind has altered what it means to be Christian. Therefore, are we truly followers of God, or followers of a created faith? This question still stands with great importance today. Through countless decades, the Bible continuously supports every form of human existence: war and peace, happiness and sadness, togetherness and solitude. In some instances, the struggle is between synergy and

Today Christianity can be learn in many ways through different teaching, perspective or even through doing something such as discipleship. Today, with no exception of whether we are Christian or non-Christian are concerned about the chaos world that we live in, we can’t with doing our best to deny the chaos that this world offers, in other words whatever happens, happens. We can perhaps try to prevent them in the future, but we can only do so much. However, from the book I read called, To Heal a Fracture World: The Ethics of Responsibility by Rabbi Jonathan Sacks based on biblical view, we are as Christian are called to be God’s creation who are responsible to make a difference for this world, hence the title of the book.

Throughout this paper we will be talking about one of the three principles that are explained in Globalization, Spirituality and Justice. The principles we read about in chapter two are the Galilean, Jerusalem, and Resurrection. I will be discussing the way that the church attempts to relate these principles help teach the church members of charity and justice. I will be relating the Resurrection principle to lives of society and how God wanted us to be fair and just to all no matter their social status. Throughout the readings and class discussions we have talked about how the world should act and what we can do as individuals to help the people of the world and the Resurrection principle gives us a good start of how God wanted “the Christian

Several years ago, “the more serious I became as a Christian and as a student of economics, however, the more I came to believe that capitalism was practically if not morally superior. But after several years of graduate school and still more struggle, I eventually discovered that capitalism could be soundly defended on both practical and moral grounds.”7 I personally believe God created us to be His co-creators. Still, every Christian worker should use God’s Word as a guiding light with those two guiding elements. “The challenge is deciding which right thing to do.”1 While a Christian worker or a leader is making the decision to build life on the Word of God and viewing the Word of God as the foundation

According to Rod Dreher, “If we are going to be for the world as Christ meant for us to be, we are going to have to spend more time away from the world, in deep prayer and substantial spiritual training—just as Jesus retreated to the desert to pray before ministering to the people. We cannot give the world what we do not have.” The Christian people have themselves too often become corrupted by the world. If they were to live in their own separate community they could rebuild their faith. For these reasons, Christians should work on the strength of their own faith before they try to pass it on to others. Only when their faith is strong can they bring Christ to the

The American gospel of wealth and prosperity was empty and useless on that beach. I discovered a God who sees our hearts. He sees the pain and tears, the fear, the hopelessness, the secret longings, the struggle, the addictions, all of it, and loves us for it. True wealth and prosperity comes from a life lived beyond ourselves and in communion with God and where His heart is. Materialism is not what He cares about.

Thank you for your response. I agree with you that in order to truly heed to the Bible, Christians have numerous responsibilities to maintain. Integrating Christianity into communities allows for them to uphold important principles such as the ones that you have listed. One of the most important is the sustainability for future generations. As the world ages and resources continue to be utilized, it is essential that as a global community people come together in order to further the livelihood for ages to come. Not only should we be generous to future generations, but also to the world that we live in now. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus

As we obediently apply God’s word to, “go therefore and make disciples of all nations” and to “love God and to love your neighbor as yourself,” we should awaken to the key terms of “all nations” and “your neighbor.” It is with this realization that our neighbors, in the communities in which we live, literally represent the nations of the world. In other words, in the modern world in which we live, changes in demographics, world events, and movements of people have literally brought the nations of the world to our front door. As such, we have a great opportunity to open these doors, which turn opens the door to the gospel to the nations of the world.

Like it or not we are surrounded by culture. Everyone around us believes different, worships different, raises their kids different, and has a different opinion about everything. Culture is in our schools, churches, workplace, marketplace, and our neighborhoods. We commonly take part in pagan holidays that promote materialism, and idolatry, such as Christmas. We put an emphasis on Christ being the reason for the season, but go out and spend hundreds and even thousands of dollars on gifts and tell our kids they all come from Santa Claus, but as Christians we get mad at the world because they no longer want to say, “Merry Christmas” or they spell it X-mas. When Paul went into Athens, he went with the knowledge of their culture and knew how to apply the Gospel to their teachings. Human needs have not changed. We all are in need of salvation. As the human race has evolved in scientific knowledge, psychology, and philosophy, God’s word has remained unchanged. By the Holy Spirit, God’s word has the ability to speak truth to the hearts of any culture. As humans, we all have the same desires and morals. We seek justice when done wrong, we want success, we want help in hard times, and we seek knowledge of why we all exist. It’s our call as Christians to find common grounds with other denominations and non-Christian cultures and unite with love. As Christians we are one in Christ. (Gal 3:28) Regardless of the different denomination and belief practices, we all believe in