In a message dated 06/20/2000 12:23:04 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:

<<  If the essense [sic] of the teaching
 of Jesus of Nazareth is "Love your God with all your strength . . ." and
 "Love your neighbor as yourself", I would not say that such a teaching is at
 all incompatible with the production of wealth.  Such production should not
 be carried out by means of exploitation, or with a view toward creating
 greater disparity, and reinforcing power relationships that make human
 brotherhood more difficult.
  >>

but if the essence of teaching is to be found in the exemplar of the lived
experience of Jesus of Nazareth, then the production and accumulation of
wealth is incompatible.  I dare say that the image of Jesus driving the
moneylenders from the temple serves as a large exclamation point -- the point
being that the "production of wealth" (don't you just love these capitalist
euphemisms) has no place in the holy place of god.  further, to blithely add
a shibboleth against engaging in exploitation and power relationships while
accumulating wealth is disingenuous; any fair examination of the record of
the accumulation of wealth in any historical period shows that exploitation
and the creation of power relationships are fundamental to such accumulation.


jb....