How does Jesus counter the framing story of theocapitalism? Here, from Brian McLaren’s Everything Must Change are the four counter framing stories for Jesus.
First the four spiritual laws of theocapitalism and then the four spiritual laws that counter them:
1. The law of progress through rapid growth — the one god of progress.
2. The law of serenity through possession and consumption — happiness through owning.
3. The law of salvation through competition alone — saved through competition.
4. The law of freedom to prosper through unaccountable corporations — etc.
Now Jesus’ counter framing story that offers us an alternative society, the kingdom of God:
1. The law of good deeds for the common good. [Economy isn’t a bad thing; money isn’t bad; ownership isn’t bad; the key — how do you use what you have? The goal is amassing a portfolio of good deeds. Concern is with common good and not simply self- or national interest.]
2. Law of satisfaction through gratitude and sharing. [Consumption follows the Fall of Adam and Eve; an “avalance of alienation crashes into the human story” (217). What matters is in build-up of goods and possessions is not the thing itself but what it stands for: number, status, coolness, youth, beauty, fashion, growth.]
3. The law of salvation through seeking justice. [Here McLaren focuses on the beatitude’s focus on “righteousness” or “justice”.]
4. The law of freedom to prosper by building better communities. [Communism, Rene Padilla says, is good at distribution but bad at production; capitalism is good at production but bad at distribution. Jesus calls to both. We need to be collabotors for co-liberation.