The Problem of Wealth

Abstract

The Problem of Wealth Elizabeth Hinson‐Hasty People of faith are facing the most pressing theological and moral problem of our time as we confront the problem of wealth. I am not referring to the problem of discerning how best to distribute wealth once we make it. Rather, I am referring to our current dominant forms of wealth creation which are accelerating the wealth gap in the U.S. and between nations around the globe. In the U.S. alone, there are 46.5 million people living in poverty; the highest number since poverty estimates have been published. One billion of the world's people live in extreme poverty. Half of the people in the world are living on less than $2.50 a day. 80 percent of the world's people live on less than $10 a day. The vast majority of people in the world, 80 percent, live in countries where the income gaps are widening. When we examine practices in our own country, U.S. consumption of energy, goods, and natural resources is seriously out of balance with the needs of other people around the world and threatens the survival of our planet. Many people of faith express the sense of cognitive dissonance and moral incoherence that they experience as they try to maintain commitments to values of equality, justice, love, reciprocity, shared partnership, and community in a society where money and the creation of wealth have become such dominant goods that they are determining that which we value most. Some people of faith, including religious leaders, respond to the “problem of wealth” by accommodating their beliefs to the culture in which we are living. The language of capitalism begins to sound a lot like the language of faith as markets are trusted to determine social realities and promise “to save us.” Christian ministry begins to sound a lot like business as “work plans” are established to bring ministries into conformity with targeted goals for mission; denominations and congregations create their own unique brands and logos to attract more consumers; and new faith communities are defined as “entrepreneurial ministries.” With the decline in denominational membership and other issues that churches are facing, religious leaders often look to economic and business models to address their problems. What about the distinctiveness of witness of faith? What distinctive witness do faith traditions offer in response to the increasing wealth divide and chronic instability created for people living in poverty? Howard Thurman, the first African American dean of a white theological school and co‐founder of the Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, described living in U.S. society as living “under siege.” He sought a way in which he could be “sustained despite the ravages inflicted upon him by society.” He wanted to locate resources that were uniquely his from the colorful variety and depth of wisdom offered by traditions of faith. Thurman formed, founded, and fashioned communities and institutions with “a living, pulsing core which guarantee[d] not only flexibility but also a continuous unfolding in an increasing dimension of creativity.” In other words, they enabled people to envision alternative realities for themselves and the communities of which they were a part. In this essay, I will lift up our culture's market idolatry and examine its reflection in a mirror created by the depth of wisdom offered by theology. I will call attention to the fact that the way in which we create wealth matters not only for peoples' well‐being, but for the well‐being of God and the planet earth, our home. I will go beyond naming the problems to emphasize the importance of progressive theology for reframing the public debate over wealth inequalities, poverty, and the misuse of our natural environment for the sake of human wealth creation. Reframing the public debate over the wealth divide from a progressive theological perspective invites an alternative social logic informed by a much richer picture of human beings and our limits as we live in symbiotic relationship with larger delicate web of life. Religious leaders and progressive faith communities have a distinctive opportunity for mission today to create a space that will invoke the theological imagination of...