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This was by far the best talk.

By Rodney Clapp

Consumer capitalism vs. Production capitalism

Consumer capitalism is a functional religion—the church should engage this critically
• Earlier capitalism was centered on production→ manufacturing of physical, material goods//instilled an ethos of hard work and lasting, durable products, meant to be repaired not discarded//emphasized saving over spending (to live w/in one’s means)//many excellent goods thrived outside of the marketplace (people didn’t “shop” for churches)
• Consumer capitalism—consumption becomes a way of life, character-forming rituals//privatized faith and made it unconcerned with “public” things like economics, politics, and education. Jesus=salesman or CEO.
• Some churches have co-opted fast-food franchises and have them in their facilities.
• Many Christians have redefined themselves in light of consumer capitalism
• Consumer capitalism is particularly adept at resisting opposition by co-opting it.
• We need to transform the church into a rock that consumer capitalism cannot swallow

Martyrdom
• Postmodern Americans do not understand martyrdom
• However, martyrdom is a central facet of Christianity (consider the cross)//Jesus = the proto-martyr
• 2 Cor. 2—we are not peddlers of the gospel//Jesus, not Caesar, was at the head of the triumphal victory parade//the captives are Paul and his fellow disciples (the traditional place of the vanquished)
• For Paul, the Christian witness is wonderful and terrible, it ends in death
• The example of late consumer capitalism is one of the most egregious examples of peddling the gospel.
• Martyrdom puts both soul and body on the line and makes things public
• Consumer capitalism advances itself with a velvet glove, not an iron fist. It seductively co-opts Christians rather than killing them.
• He is talking about a Christian ethos which includes martyrdom not defined by it.
• We must be able to honor those “red martyrs” who have actually paid the ultimate price of martyrdom. Martyrs do not die to save the world. They die imitating Christ.
• Faithful Christian witness remembers the martyrs and Christ while recognizing Christ’s continued impact in the world
• Celebrities are commodities//we discard them when we are tire of them
• Heroes are not forgotten, but unlike the heroes in war, martyrs can be followed in our daily lives. They make claims on our lives; of our allegiances and priorities.
• The whole Christian community needs to become a theater of martyrdom.
• Green martyrdom (the Celtic Christians developed this notion)→ these are the Christians who went out into the wilds for ascetic monasticism
o Green is the color of money
o Green is the color of grace (life and the earth)//the earth is not a resource for human resource and consumption
o Green is the churches color for “ordinary time” between Pentecost and advent.
• This keeps us in mind that green martyrdom pervades our world

Five Characteristics of Green Martyrdom
1. Laying our bodies on the line rather than expecting others to do it for our way of life (attentive to externalities)//supporting farmers markets and co-opts

2. Working towards an economy that doesn’t separate the rich from the poor//ghetoization of the poor so the rich don’t hear their cries//not to just help the poor but to be known by the poor and to know them

3. Find communities of resistance and stay there (no more church-hopping)//long-term commitments to local communities

4. Challenging idolatry by naming greed (early Christian communities are a head-on confrontation of idolatry)

5. Live our lives with the reality that we will die. Consumer Christianity tries to deny this by convincing us that we are gods. We will die and to avoid expensive treatments designed to “stave off death”

Green Martyrdom and the Christian Engagement of Late Capitalism

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