Sunday 11 September 2011

Ever New Creativity of Sin

Recently I read an interesting piece on Christianity and capitalism. The author argued that these two in the current situation of capitalist societies are an unfortunate combination; while socialism should abandon the close link with anti-religious atheism, contemporary Christianity should consider - or, realize - that the radical edge of the Gospel's social message is, in today's situation in the west, most compatible with a novel version of socialism.

It is, of course, naive to talk about socialism and capitalism as these were two monolithic politico-economic systems which exist(ed) in a pure state. There were many socialisms, and many capitalisms, and, in a want for any other epithet, some or other combination of socialist and capitalist ideas seems to me the only sensible way forward. But I will completely ignore here the million dollar question ("How exactly should that combination look like?").
What strikes me as theologically more interesting in relation of Christianity with politics is the insight that most, or all, versions of either socialism or capitalism have obviously failed to build an effective awareness of human nature into itself. The reality of an 'ever-new creativity of sin' can corrupt, and almost always does, any political system. The socialist ideals are fantastic: emphasis on the rights of workers and of the poor, protection of the poor from the rich and their abuse, international brotherhood of all men, anti-nationalism, etc. but corruption and abuse has been widespread in socialism as soon as it was first realized as a political system. Capitalism, of course, the same paradox: freedom of the market, freedom of thought and speech, entrepreneurship,... very nice. But it is clear that the perversion and a ridiculous multiplication of desire, and sanctification of greed into a virtue have led to systematic abuse which doesn't seem to be remediable within the same system. It has shown the inability of capitalism to "correct itself"; it needs to be monitored and, yes, put in check by nothing less than higher values which go beyond making money.

I know this all sounds very 'preachy'', but it has to be said. Capitalism is in need of an infusion of non-capitalist values which are able put the value of getting rich into a much wider perspective on human being, a perspective where human happiness refuses to be defined by economic prosperity but is seen as much more complex phenomenon of our embeddedness in our social and natural environments.

Christian wisdom has it that human sin is always smarter than our (selfish) reasoning about our well-being; for the most part, we can realize that some well-meaning plans or actions have been perverted by sin, only in hindsight. And this hindsight must direct our social and political decisions for measures against the effects of human sin. A credible, social interpretation of the Augustinian focus on human corruption should make us very much alert and ever-wiser to keep our political system in check, be it capitalism or socialism, or whatever else (or combination of those). As I see it, this means that the state should control the market in several ways since the market, as any other social reality or space, is a fertile ground of the ever-new creativity of sin. It demands our ever-new vigilance and countering the developing nature of sin with virtuous creativity, in order to minimize the evil effects of selfishness. What else?