Some years ago the Harvard University professor of divinity, Harvey Cox, was advised by a friend to read the business and financial pages if he really wanted

to know what was going on in the world. At first Cox felt he would be out of his depth, coping with new vocabulary and new ideas. However, he quickly discovered that he was at home with the new concepts because they resembled those of his own area of religious studies. In a recent article ("The Market as God," The Atlantic Monthly, March, 1999, 18-23), he explores what he discovered with wit and insight. I would like to summarise the main points of his article.

In the introduction to the article, Cox points outs out that the themes of financial pages are similar to those found in theological texts. The meaning of human history, why things have gone wrong and how they can be put right are themes common to The Wall Street Journal and also to Genesis, St. Paul, and Augustine's City of God. Heresy and orthodoxy play a role in both economics and theology.

He cites the recent East Asian economic crisis as an example of a failure caused by "heretical deviation from free-market orthodoxy." Likewise, a life of faith is essential for the economic and the theological enterprise. In spite of the near collapse of markets and the billions of dollars that have been pumped in to revitalise them, the devotees of the Market God have had their faith renewed, for "faith is strengthened in adversity." Cox claims that in the business pages, we can find an entire theology waiting to be systematised to produce a new Summa.

In his article, he looks at the notion of God in the business pages. The God of the business pages is The Market in capital letters. The theology that best suits The Market devotees is similar to modern 'process' theology, which was influenced by the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead.

In process theology God is not yet omnipotent, omniscient, or omnipresent, but he wills to be so. At present God does not possess these attributes in full, but is moving towards this goal. This process theology gives comfort to Cox's 'econologians' (economist-theologians) because it helps explain 'the dislocation, pain, and disorientation' resulting from moves from heterodox economies to the free market system.

Don't the advocates for SAP remind us that the bitter pill has to be swallowed now so that the better future will be guarantied? Cox then examines the three attributes of divinity--omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence--as applied to The Market.

First, omnipotence. In the past The Market was never God, because there were other centres of value and meaning. Today, these other gods have been replaced by The Market to such an extent that The Market's reign is universally accepted. The Market will allow no other gods, no other rivals, before it.

Cox says that omnipotence is "the capacity to define what is real," "the power to make something out of nothing and nothing out of something." The Market is moving toward omnipotence. It has the power to change all created things into commodities.

Whereas the doctrine of transubstantiation teaches that bread and wine are truly transformed into the body and blood of Christ at the Mass, a reverse transubstantiation takes place in the liturgy of The Market.

What was held holy is now transformed into what is saleable. This can be land - tribal homelands, ancient forests, shrines, churches; all can be bought provided the price is right. It can be the human body, that former temple of the Spirit, whose parts--kidneys, bone marrow, sperm, liver, heart--are now available as purchasable commodities.

Cox points out that religion in the past has also charged for services--prayers, blessings, funerals, indulgences. Martin Luther brought a halt to such trafficking when he posted his theses on the cathedral door. But the practice of The Market

devotees to turn everything into a commodity has far greater consequences today.

When all creation carries a price tag, even human beings, then nothing has inherent value. Cox muses, "One wonders what would become of a modern Luther who tried to post his theses on the church door, only to find that the whole edifice had been bought by an American billionaire who reckoned it might look nicer on his estate."

Does this mean that The Market will decree the death of a child born handicapped because the child has no economic value? The answer is not so simple. The profits for others derived from medicines, hospital stays, surgery; leg braces have to be brought into the equation to calculate the worth of the child. Economic value determines someone's worth; inherent value is not part of the equation.

There has been some resistance to The Market putting a price on everything. Some countries have prevented the transfer of works of art, considered to be national treasures, to outside buyers. But this is just a temporary set back. The Market is not omnipotent yet. However, It is in the process of acquiring the omnipotence it wills.

The Market is also in the process of moving toward omniscience. The Market knows what human needs are, the value of goods and services, the worth of the sweeper and of the managing director. The Market knows (or is in the process of coming to know) the deepest secrets and longings of our hearts.

How do we find out the will of The Market? The Market's will is discovered daily from such centres of prophetic utterance as the Dow-Jones, the Hang Seng and the Nikkei. "Thus we can learn on a day-to-day basis that The Market is 'apprehensive,' 'relieved,' 'nervous,' or even at

times 'jubilant." The financial experts are the high priests and prophets of the Market. To act against their advice is to risk excommunication and damnation. If government policy upsets the high priests of The Market, those responsible will pay dearly for their failure to obey The Market's will.

Cox longs for a Voltaire who would expose the bogus miracles of The Market. However, current orthodoxy has such a strong grip no one in his right mind would question the providential care of The Market.

Finally the new divine being is becoming omnipresent. The Market is moving into areas of life that were once thought exempt from economic calculations--dating, family life, marital relations, child-rearing. The Market is becoming more and more Paul's God "in whom we live and move and have our being." Even the innermost or the spiritual part of ourselves is not resistant to the pursuit of The Market.

Catalogues offer tranquillity and peace in a virgin wilderness, ecstasy and spirituality in a weekend workshop, or miraculous self-realization at a Caribbean resort. "Thus the Market makes available the religious benefits that once required prayer and fasting, without the awkwardness of denominational commitment or the tedious ascetic discipline that once limited their accessibility."

Cox concludes by pointing out the conflicts between Christian denominations or even between world religions are insignificant compared with the one that is developing between the older religions and the new religion of The Market.

They hold diametrically opposing views on creation and the environment, the value of the human person, the nature of community and the purpose of life. Although throughout his life, Cox has been in favour of an ecumenical spirit, when faced with the contradictions between the world view of the older religions and that of The Market, he is "secretly hoping for a rebirth of polemics."

Will the new religion of The Market overcome the older religions as Christianity overcame the ancient religions of Greece and Rome? Cox sees one chink in The Market's divine armour.

Whereas all the great religions of the world teach that creation is finite and there are limitations to any worldly project, the religion of The Market has as its first commandment, "There is never enough." The Market that stops expanding dies. Cox believes this could happen. Then, Nietzsche's prophecy, "God is dead," will occur; only he had the wrong God in mind.

Jim McGloin, S.J.
Charles Lwanga College
Chikuni