Following Christ in a Consumer Society: The Spirituality of Cultural Resistance

by John F. Kavanaugh

In an era of fraud, corruption, and the relentless celebration of image over substance, the message of this perennial best-seller is more timely than ever.

Genres: Theology, Economics, Faith, Philosophy, Religion, School, Christianity

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1981

Reviews

[Stephany Wilkes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Though I don't call myself a person of faith, ethics and morals are my guide through daily life. I have long appreciated the writing of the recently departed John Kavanaugh. His essays have provided me with the social justice values, philosophy and theology missing from my life after attending a Jesuit university. Unfortunately, too many Catholic sermons these days don't demand much of their audiences and shy away from challenging subject matter (especially subject matter that challenges our comfortable habits and nature of our employment), but not Kavanaugh. I am so grateful to him for that.

Kavanaugh goes far beyond observable behavior to dig at what drives us, which I need in order to even begin to attempt to understand this disturbing world we inhabit. Sure, everyone stares at their phones all the time, but what does that mean? What does it say? Where does it come from? This is something lacking from most cultural examination. Kavanaugh gently, thoughtfully asks "What's really going on here?" but don't expect an easy answer (and thank the Lord for that).

I appreciate reading work that challenges my own beliefs and Kavanaugh does just that. I tend to be, for instance, someone who believes the world population is too high for the planet to sustain. But there is Kavanaugh to remind me of the fact that this might be a sign of Commodity Valuation; that even if the worst population predictions had come true, we still could have fit every person into the front seats of our automobiles -- as we have more cars than people. And the fact that we have more cars than people, what does that say about our values? This is one of many examples, but you get the idea.

I took many notes while reading my library copy and may need a copy of my own, for more frequent reference.

I give the book four stars rather than five because I thought it could have been structured and written a bit more clearly. As I read, I felt I would have benefitted from having some of Kavanaugh's key terms better defined in his own words. When Kavanaugh uses a seemingly simple word like "poverty," for instance, it's clear that it means more than it does in my world, but I couldn't detect the specific ways in which our words differed.

[Rudolph Boshoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

"We become transformed into the Idols we trust...Idolatry in all of its forms displaces proper human relationships and turns upside down the ordered human world. Idolatry victimizes any person whose life and purpose become reduced to serving a state, technology, ideology, or Church."

"The person "is" only insofar as he or she is marketable or productive... A veil of illusion deceives us because we are lulled into believing that principles motivate us rather than profit. Yet, if we were honest with ourselves corporately & individually, we could acknowledge how we actually live according to a commodity-ethics."

"Friendship, intimacy, love, pride, happiness, and joy are actual objects we buy and consume, much more so than the tubes, liquor bottles, Cadillacs, and Buicks that promise them and bear their names... Consumption, consequently, is not just an economic factor. It emerges as a "way of life." It is an addiction."

We "are" only insofar as we possess. We are "what" we possess. We are, consequently, possessed by our possessions, produced by our products. Remade in the image and likeness of our own handiwork, we are revealed as commodities. Idolatry exacts its full price from us. We are robbed of our very humanity."

“The Gospel is the most counter-cultural and the most significant revolutionary document one could ever hope to find. It reveals the meaning and purpose of human life in terms which are close to being absolutely contradictory to the form of perceiving and valuing human persons in our culture.”

“Jesus Christ reveals not only the divinity to human persons; He reveals humanity to itself… The Incarnation, as well as the entire life of Christ, is a testimony received in faith that we are redeemed by a God-made-vulnerable in loving creation, and that we are fulfilled only in our irreplaceably unique self donation. “Man only is,” Karl Rahner has said, “when he gives himself away.”

Quoted from the Book

[Djinn Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the best books on a truly Christian approach to materialism and social justice I've seen in a very long time. While many of us understand that there is something fundamentally wrong with Capitalism when viewed through the lens of the Gospels, I personally could never put it into words why I felt this way. This book is the words I always believed but never consciously understood. Capitalism is bad not because it seeks profits or makes some rich and some poor (although this growing divide is part of the issue), it is that it fundamentally manifests itself as the "thingification" of all people and the directing of human emotions like love, lust, fulfillment, joy upon objects, products, things... We are to think of how we can "market" ourselves, what our "brand" is, if we are "profitable" for our company... Meanwhile, we are told to "LOVE" our iPhone, to "desire" the newest clothes, that the newest e-reader will "Kindle" a "Fire" inside us. We LOVE our stuff like they're people and we increasingly isolate ourselves from others and objectify them. This is something inherent about pure capitalism and why is is anathema to the Gospels, and also, it must be noted, to secular humanism. Some synchronicity between my reading of this book and current news arose the other day when I saw a quote in some magazine's memorial edition to Steve Jobs. The quote of his was "People don't know what they want until you show it to them." In other words, the genius of Jobs was the essence of the Capitalist drive, to create within people insatiable desire for items that they were fully capable of living without before those objects were brought into being and advertised to them by Apple... Meanwhile, I find myself obsessed with my smart phone in such a way that I am isolating myself from the people right next to me...

[w gall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed consideration of how Christians can escape the cultural imperative to worship mammon in western "civilization." He brings in Marx, distinguishing him from brutal totalitarianism, praises his social justice goals, and ultimately criticizes him. Building Christian community that cares for the poor is a focus.
Intense!

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book basically gives voice to the way I look at the world and my place in it. It is probably the most important book I have ever read in my entire life. Except for, like, the Bible.

[Karen D · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an excellent reminder that, as humans, we become that which we worship. We worship that in which we devote our time and talents.

[Robert Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Outside of the distortions almost certainly inspired by the author's pacifism, the book contains a great deal of excellent analysis.

[Mary Harley · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed with this book. I feel strongly that blatent consumerism in our society so gets in the way of following Christ. Moving away from culture, say, and retreating to outdoors instead of in; to parks instead of stores; to intimate conversations instead of watching TV; riding in a quiet car instead of listening to radio all give the opportunity for God to speak and us to listen.
I thought this book would be about that.
Kavanaugh's book was much more technical with terminology, dividing outlooks on life's experiences as "commodity form" and "personal form." Large parts of the book were spent on looking at life through one lens or the other, but I believe that most people are somewhere in the middle of these lenses!
Kavanaugh's writing style did not agree with me. There were paragraphs upon paragraphs of rhetorical questions, which were unappealing to me. I didn't want to answer question after question in my head; I wanted to hear his take!
I very much liked the (1991 edition) introduction and the first few chapters are well-marked by me... but after awhile of getting nowhere in terms of specifics, I skimmed the rest, read a little here and there, and decided that overall this wasn't the book for me.

[Tom · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this book Kavanaugh writes of an intrinsic conflict between Christianity and capitalism. He refers to the United States as a Consumer Society. He first dispenses with communism and fascism as being evil and then points out how capitalism is, by it's nature, also incompatible with Christianity.
He feels we inhabit a country in which euthanasia, abortion, state executions, nuclear escalations and pregnancy terminations have been institutionalized in terms of cost-benefit analysis. He does not exclude Christian churches from being a part of the problem. As such, he says we fail Christ's insistance that we respond to the needs of the sick, the old and abandoned, the hungry and thirsty the naked,and the imprisoned.
I gave this book three stars instead of four because of the difficulty I had with Kavanaugh's scholarship. His vocabulary skills are far beyond mine and I did not relish reading his book with a dictioary in hand.

[Jim Noyes · Rating 4 out of 5]

very thought provoking

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thoughtful and engaging book that challenged my beliefs on consumerism, and capitalism. At the heart of Christianity, we must always remember the human dignity of all of us.