Church and Postmodern Culture Series Upgrade (2 vols.)

Dan Bell persuasively demonstrates that every economy presupposes a theology because they share in common the production, distribution, and communication of desire. Using Deleuze and Foucault without being used by them, he diagnoses the formation of capitalist desire and compares it to God’s ecclesial economy. This is the most thoroughly researched and accessible book on theological economics available today. Its breadth is impressive, its argument compelling. It deserves to be widely read and used at all levels in the university and church. Readers will be richly rewarded.

—D. Stephen Long, professor of systematic theology, Marquette University

We need books that ask us to think carefully, and in a Christian manner, about what an economy is ultimately for. Bell’s The Economy of Desire enables us to go deeply into the heart of today’s economic activity so we can assess its inspiration in Christ and its participation in God’s redemptive work in the world.

—Norman Wirzba, research professor of theology, ecology, and rural life, Duke Divinity School

There is no getting around the cry for a just Christian economics in Bell’s argument, nor the vision for a virtuous market participating in the divine economy of salvation. Bell’s passion is prophetic, and this book screams out to be read in the new era of austerity that all of us are entering now. A revolution is needed, and it has to begin with a right disciplining of desire.

—Graham Ward, Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Oxford

The most dangerous act in the world today is to believe, to desire. But desire alone is not enough. Bell’s book is radical because he teaches us not just how to desire but the content of desire itself—a desire for God, for the good, for something bigger than ourselves. The Economy of Desire is the manifesto for restoring dignity in the wake of injustice.

—Creston Davis, assistant professor of religion, Rollins College

In dialogue with postmodern philosophers and theologians, Daniel Bell delves perceptively into human desire and the ways desire is held captive by the culture and structures of capitalism. He matches his expertise in this endeavor with a sensitive and imaginative mining of the monastic traditions to elaborate a biblical economy of desire that serves life against death. The result is a rich portrayal of practices from which every congregation can benefit in this time of economic and political tumult. This book is a creative blend of urgency, realism, critical acuity, and spiritual depth.

—M. Douglas Meeks, Cal Turner Chancellor Professor of Theology and Wesleyan Studies, Vanderbilt University Divinity School

This packs a lot of punch for a short book. Yet the tone is gracious, cautious, and often conversational. It signals a new ‘turn’ in worship studies: a concern for a theologically rich and culturally alert engagement with the arts in congregational worship. It deserves a wide readership and will doubtless provoke a whole series of fruitful improvisations.

—Jeremy Begbie, Thomas A. Langford Research Professor of Theology, Duke University

Jazz music—so creative and free, so grounded and disciplined—provides a vivid and illuminating metaphor for reflecting on the internal dynamics of faithful and fruitful Christian lives and worship practices. This book pushes readers beyond any initial superficial appeal of this analogy to explore how it might radically convert our perceptions about the shape, tone, and sheer beauty of Christian discipleship.

—John D. Witvliet, director, Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, Calvin College and Calvin Theological Seminary

Drawing upon the rich resources of Gadamer, Marion, and others, Bruce Ellis Benson forges a distinctly improvisational vision of how the arts can be newly embedded in the fabric of our lives, our worship, and our communities. He also calls for the church to acknowledge the crucial nature of the arts for envisioning an incarnate spirituality that celebrates beauty.

—Bruce Herman, Lothórien Distinguished Chair in Fine Arts, Gordon College

‘Call and response’ and ‘improvisation’ are only two of the many ideas Benson fleshes out in this book. I appreciate these two especially because our culture has so misunderstood the terms ‘liturgy’ and ‘creativity’ (which is God’s alone). We need a philosopher to set us right.

—Marva J. Dawn, teaching fellow in spiritual theology, Regent College, Vancouver, Canada

Bruce Ellis Benson’s refreshing book critiques common ideas about art and liturgy that often limit our access to them. Drawing on a wide range of philosophy and theology as well as his own experiences as a musician, Benson engagingly argues that our lives are inescapably artistic and liturgical. He proposes that all art and worship are characterized by improvisation, which responds to what has come before but changes and adds to it. Liturgy as a Way of Life embodies such improvisation, as Benson builds on and weaves together ideas from the past and present to create a dynamic, helpful way to see, to know, and to be.

—Ted Prescott, emeritus professor of art, Messiah College

Bruce Benson has performed an important work for the church by demonstrating that the arts can neither be ignored nor merely confined to worship styles or outreach ministries. Benson’s theological and philosophical study of call and response opens up space for pastors and worship and arts ministry leaders to explore the implications of the aesthetic in the Christian life and in the life of the church.

—Daniel A. Siedell, director of theological and cultural practices, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida