Divine Currency: The Theological Power of Money in the West, By Devin Singh

Abstract

In his first monograph to date, Devin Singh presents his readers with a thought-provoking close reading of the deep homology between the concept of oikonomia as it developed in ancient Greek philosophy and early Christian articulations of God’s immanence and transcendence. His study will be of pertinent interest to those in an array of disciplines, from religious studies to cultural studies, theology, intellectual history, philosophy, and literary studies, with the first two figuring most prominently. Arising out of lacunae that Singh perceives in discourse surrounding Michel Foucault and Giorgio Agamben on modern governmentality’s deep roots in theology, Divine Currency adds to said discourse by explicitly highlighting the homologous relationship between theological and political-economic concepts. That is to say, Singh highlights that the relationship between these spheres is by no means “coincidentally analogous” (18) or one-sided, an impression that one can at times gain from reading the aforementioned authors, but rather that these spheres had mutual conceptual influence on each other. Emphasizing a more dialectical than originary relationship, Divine Currency offers a corrective or addendum to Foucault and Agamben, drawing attention to just how effectively conceptualizations of oikonomia figured in articulating early Christian theology and in turn how Christian theology came to shape understandings of economics. Whereas genealogical approaches by the likes of Foucault and Agamben often dwell in deconstruction and critique, Singh’s project is less about such genealogical deconstruction than it is about a deep conceptual articulation. His project more clearly acknowledges the sheer complexity of intellectual history and seeks to retrace it, ultimately yielding a more descriptive than evaluative account of conceptual interplay.