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....