Dangerous Encounters and Reconciling Stories: Responding Pastorally to the Dominant Stories of the Capitalistic Market Economy

Abstract

Dominant discourses generated by a capitalistic economy—such as the trust in the market’s ability to provide an efficient allocation of resources, that states back the market-focused economy, the emphasis on participants’ freedom and competition in the market, and the necessity of global market expansion—have engendered various acute or chronic phenomena of human alienation. The extreme competition in every sphere of human life as well as the increasing polarization between the rich and the poor has caused various manifestations of alienation, such as depression, helplessness, and hopelessness, which require prompt pastoral responses. This paper suggests that pastoral caregivers might respond prophetically and proactively to this by: exposing the alienating dominant discourse; uncovering the oppressive mechanisms hidden in that discourse; helping individuals explore and reframe their own stories in the midst of the mainstream discourse; and empowering individuals to author their own resilient and reconciling discourses by squarely facing the dominant and alienating discourse of capitalistic economy.