Idea Transcript
Proverbs 22:22 enjoins the reader, ""Don't take advantage of the poor just because you can."" Mammon's Ecology is a systematic investigation into the mysterious nature of modern money, which confronts us with the perplexing fact that, in the global economy as it is, we take advantage of the poor whether we want to or not. We destroy natural systems whether we want to or not. Ched Myers describes Mammon's Ecology as a ""workbook"" about ""the secret life of money."" Where Prather and others have shown that money is one of the perverse Powers described in Ephesians 6, Mammon's Ecology details precisely how money exercises this peculiar power and outlines suggestions for Christians who feel trapped in this complicity--not just as individuals, but as church. Mammon's Ecology is not a book about economics (which the author calls ""the world's best antidote to insomnia""), but rather a book about the ""deep ecology"" of (post)modern power and injustice. Read individually or as a group, Mammon's Ecology will leave you unable to think about money the same way again. ""Stan Goff has written that rare book: ambitious yet concise, erudite yet accessible. Mammon's Ecology is breathtaking. Deftly combining critical political economy and ecological thought with a radical Christian perspective, Mammon's Ecology should be read by everyone concerned about money, ecology, and justice. Goff challenges us to unthink the ways of knowing that have made today's planetary crisis, and in so doing to begin to think, hope, and imagine a world beyond modernity's violence."" --Jason W. Moore, Binghamton University, author of Capitalism in the Web of Life ""In a time when you might feel trapped between the megalomania of the charlatan who purports to explain everything, and the bubble mentality of the academic who won't step outside disciplinary fences, Goff's work is important. While being directly critical of thinkers who try to come up with simplistic universal explanations or cures, Goff also invites the reader to work out just how interconnected everything is."" --Rebecca Bratten Weiss, farmer, lecturer, and editor of Convivium Stan Goff has authored five books on war and militarism--including Borderline: Reflections on War, Sex, and Church (Cascade Books, 2015)--on gender and militarism. He has written numerous articles on socioeconomic issues since 1995. This is his first book on ""monetary ecology."" He is a former career soldier, a peace activist, and a Roman Catholic with latent Mennonite tendencies.