Credit And Faith

In line with the development of political theology and economic theology in contemporary European thought, Credit and Faith offers a critical account of the faith structures within economic life and institutions. Goodchild’s ground-breaking work provides a philosophical appropriation of the economic dimension of the New Testament and fresh theological, philosophical and economic perspectives on the present. Covering the theological roots of the way economic life was, and is, articulated, the philosophical roots of value and debt and the economic roots of credit and creation, this book charts the emergence of early theories of capital and banking through a consideration of credit. It draws on some neglected historical figures, as well as Jules Lagneau, Simone Weil, the Kantian problem of freedom and necessity and a critical reading of the early Marx and of Nietzsche’s genealogy; through this Goodchild explains how the Financial Revolution was able to conceal the credit economy which was its foundation and foster the pursuit of self-interest instead of the common good. This innovative interweaving of theology, philosophy and economics constructs a new metaphysical framework for a critical account of the faith structures within economic life and institutions and returns to the practice of philosophy as a way of life – a practical, engaged, worldy discipline.

Following Credit and Faith and Economic Theology, this third volume in the series develops a metaphysics which is missing when trust is ordered around economic theories and institutions. Human existence may be conceived according to its temporal dimensions of appropriation, participation, and offering. Engaging with the Western philosophical tradition from the Neo-Pythagoreans and Plato to Heidegger and Arendt, drawing especially from Augustine and Weil, Goodchild offers striking reconstructions of the meanings of economic, political and religious dimensions of life. The outcome is an elaboration of conceptions of wealth, power, contingency, necessity and grace which give a new orientation to human life and endeavour. Goodchild situates this discussion within the current historical era of the breakdown of global financial capitalism. He draws from the Financial Revolution in England as a time of crisis which illuminates our own. Faced with a range of global crises, Goodchild proposes an alternative between strategies for survival: either submission before a Great Machine of Credit as an autonomous, unthinking system for regulating human behaviour or accession to the necessity of grace as a way of empowering the pursuit of wealth, justice and thought.

In Economic Theology, Goodchild offers a philosophical analysis of the contemporary economy in terms of the way it structures credit and faith. The Great Financial Crisis of 2007 and onwards has exposed the extent to which the economy functions as a network of credits and debts. Credit and debt may now be understood as the driving force of economic behaviour. In this analysis, economic theories of markets and money are also ways of ordering trust. Similarly, the institutions of money, finance and banking provide the framework enabling trust and cooperation. Goodchild explores how reliance on such theories and institutions produces disequilibrium dynamics, growing inequalities, increasing enclosure, resource depletion and breakdown. Nevertheless, the failures of the system only intensify efforts to extend the system itself. Building on and extending Goodchild’s Theology of Money, the author exposes the extent to which humanity has become enslaved within theories and institutions of its own making. As the second volume in his Credit and Faith trilogy, Goodchild explains how the economy itself is a way of shaping time and attention, care and evaluation, trust and cooperation, so directly assuming a theological role. This volume extends the theological critique of the dynamics of financial capitalism.

This work examines all the aspects of the Full Faith and Credit Clause and its importance in the development of United States law. It begins with the birth of the clause and the history underlying its adoption. This includes discussions held at the Constitutional Convention and the early judicial interpretations of the clause. The book looks separately at the individual components that embody the clause—those that deal with records, public acts, and judicial proceedings. The book also zeroes in on the relationship between the clause and the issues of family law. It covers marriage, divorce, support, and child custody, all issues that have demanded serious attention in recent years.

The authors compare the ideologies of the free-market with religious faith, giving the World Bank the role of a secular church setting out to convert the world's underdeveloped economies to the consumer capitalist way, and so to create an enormous secular empire. This book is published in September 1994 to coincide with the World Bank's 50th annive

Tale of a stock market crash and its aftermath.