The Body of Christ in a Market Economy

Rev. Dr. Gawain de Leeuw, OA, is the rector of St. Bartholomew’s Church in White Plains, New York. He is a life professed member of the Order of the Ascension, a dispersed Benedictine community. He serves on the Task Force on the Theology of Money for the Episcopal Church.

Acknowledgments – Introduction – Reading Scripture – Engaging Economics – Theological Responses – Learning to Desire – How Jesus Saves – The Church and Salvation in a Commercial World – Bibliography – Index.

“There’s always call for a fresh book explaining how it’s possible people can remain faithful followers of Jesus within the capitalist economic system. Gawain de Leeuw’s work steps up to the challenge with wisdom, brio and cutting-edge anthropology. Filled with insights, his study wrestles over and over with the aporias separating the reckless giving of the gospel from a market system based in debt, exchange and commodification, or between the relationship of love modeled by Jesus and the fetterless desire and rivalry modeled by money. The fact that capitalism has proven the best way of increasing productivity while satisfying endless wants does nothing to lessen the othering and exploitation at its heart. Gawain offers us the church’s dream of the sabbath as antidote, a time and place where competition and inexhaustible demand are replaced by rest, community, and blessing. But how can the church enable this practically? He suggests the successful management of rivalry as the core church practice, through sacraments, prayer, good governance, and cooperative networks. But perhaps the most radical impact of de Leeuw’s work is to continue to knead the leaven of the gospel into our economic worldview until the times really do catch up with Jesus. As he vividly puts it, ‘By ingesting Jesus, (we are given) the power to reconsider the game, the rat race, the system of materialism that creates a status war with others.’”
Anthony Bartlett

“In one of the more obscure sayings attributed to Jesus in the gospels, ‘the parable of the dishonest manager,’ Jesus warns his disciples that ‘the sons of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the sons of light’ (Luke 16:8). One possible reading of this parable is that it criticizes the followers of Christ for their lack of sophistication in matters of money, stewardship, and economics, or perhaps, for failing to love God even as much as the wicked love riches.
“If it is read carefully, perhaps this new book by the Rev. Gawain de Leeuw could help remedy this weakness.
“Ambitious and expansive, de Leeuw takes aim at faith that remains uninformed by economic theory. But he offers much more than a dry discussion of ‘economics.’ This is a call for the Body of Christ to rethink money, markets, community and work from the ground up. And it is a practical guide to changing the way we engage with the world.”
Matthew Baldwin, Professor of Religion and Philosophy at Mars Hill College

“Gawain de Leeuw offers us a tutorial in modern economics in dialogue with theological themes rooted as deep as the foundation of the world. This is no small feat, and he brings it all home with a suite of practical applications suitable to church structures as intimate as the parish and as encompassing as the Communion.”
Tobias Stanislas Haller, BSG, Church of the Advent, Baltimore