The Economy of Desire: Christianity and Capitalism in a Postmodern World

Praise for the Print Edition

Dan Bell persuasively demonstrates that every economy presupposes a theology because they share in common the production, distribution, and communication of desire. Using Deleuze and Foucault without being used by them, he diagnoses the formation of capitalist desire and compares it to God’s ecclesial economy. This is the most thoroughly researched and accessible book on theological economics available today. Its breadth is impressive, its argument compelling. It deserves to be widely read and used at all levels in the university and church. Readers will be richly rewarded.

—D. Stephen Long, professor of systematic theology, Marquette University

We need books that ask us to think carefully, and in a Christian manner, about what an economy is ultimately for. Bell’s The Economy of Desire enables us to go deeply into the heart of today’s economic activity so we can assess its inspiration in Christ and its participation in God’s redemptive work in the world.

—Norman Wirzba, research professor of theology, ecology, and rural life, Duke Divinity School

There is no getting around the cry for a just Christian economics in Bell’s argument, nor the vision for a virtuous market participating in the divine economy of salvation. Bell’s passion is prophetic, and this book screams out to be read in the new era of austerity that all of us are entering now. A revolution is needed, and it has to begin with a right disciplining of desire.

—Graham Ward, Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford

The most dangerous act in the world today is to believe, to desire. But desire alone is not enough. Bell’s book is radical because he teaches us not just how to desire but the content of desire itself—a desire for God, for the good, for something bigger than ourselves. The Economy of Desire is the manifesto for restoring dignity in the wake of injustice.

—Creston Davis, assistant professor of religion, Rollins College

In dialogue with postmodern philosophers and theologians, Daniel Bell delves perceptively into human desire and the ways desire is held captive by the culture and structures of capitalism. He matches his expertise in this endeavor with a sensitive and imaginative mining of the monastic traditions to elaborate a biblical economy of desire that serves life against death. The result is a rich portrayal of practices from which every congregation can benefit in this time of economic and political tumult. This book is a creative blend of urgency, realism, critical acuity, and spiritual depth.

—M. Douglas Meeks, Cal Turner Chancellor Professor of Theology and Wesleyan Studies, Vanderbilt University Divinity School