Plundering Egypt

A Subversive Christian Ethic of Economy

by G.P . Wagenfuhr

Book cover: Plundering Egypt

Extent: 272 pages

Publisher: The Lutterworth Press

Subjects: Business & Economics, Religious Studies

Language: English

PDF (No longer our product)

(January 2017)

ISBN: 9780718845377

Price: $29.99

A theological critique of economic relationships, arguing that the Christian message of reconciliation with God subverts the sociopolitical models that theology has often taken for granted.


Christian engagement with economics tends to baptize pre-existing sociopolitical perspectives, thereby assuming a predetermined metaphysical narrative. What happens when the story of the development of economics, told from an anthropological and sociological perspective, is juxtaposed with a biblical theology that focuses primarily on relationships? Wagenfuhr tests a theological method grounded in three kinds of relationships: Creatorcreature,estrangement, and Reconciler-reconciled, by comparing these with a fourth relationship: the economic. He argues that economic relationships, and the worlds they create throughout history, are the fruit of relationships estranged from God. Much theology has committed itself to a metaphysic rooted in the reality of economics and his told a metaphysical story that tends to legitimize current sociopolitical realities. Wagenfuhr argues that reconciliation with God is entirely subversive to economic relationships. No economic relationship or system is established or justified by God; but neither does he reject them. Instead, the love of God in Christ speaks the economic language of a people, with a critical edge, leading to loving subversion of any and all economic relationships.This book argues for a robust theology that offers the post-Christendom church a renewed sense of the total scale of God’s mission of reconciliation.

  • By (author) G P Wagenfuhr

"One part the intellectual-historical narration of MacIntyre, one part the ideological criticism of Zizek, and another part the theological exegesis of Bonhoeffer, Gregory Wagenfuhr's study offers a compelling account of the ways in which the logic of monetary economics has dominated and continues to shape human relationships. The tonic he proposes is a rediscovery of the radically subversive form of Christian existence prescribed in the New Testament - one in which reconciliation, rather than exchange, sets us free. For anyone despairing the domesticated gospel of Christendom, this book will be a cup of cold water in the desert. An exciting read!"Justin Stratis, Tutor in Christian Doctrine, Director of Postgraduate Research, Trinity College Bristol
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