Justin Welby

The Archbishop, a former group treasurer of the French oil company Elf Aquitaine and a student of history and law, issues a loud call to repentance in this book. Dethroning Mammon urges Christians to turn aside from worshiping a god of wealth and returning to one that calls us to love and care for our fellow creatures and the place where we all live. He characterizes the contemporary Mammon in two aspects which he calls homo economicus whom he nicknames "Cony" and his brother homo financiarius whom he nicknames "Fin" in other words, economics and finance, as the false idols of the 21st century.

Noting that it is not money, but the love of money, that causes us problems, and quoting extensively from the last chapters of the Gospel of John he calls attention to Mary, Joseph of Arimathea, and Nicodemus, people who freely and extravagantly gave their wealth without expecting a return from what they gave. They acted out of love not calculating a return on their investment. While addressing his remarks primarily to his flock in the United Kingdom, when he sums up his argument in the final chapter, "What we master brings us joy," he cites an example from America which is worth quoting at length.

"The 1776 Declaration of Independence by the 13 colonies that would become the United States of America was revolutionary, not merely in throwing off the authority of King George III, but also because it talked of the right of every human being (or at least, at that time, of every white male human being to 'Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.' That breathtaking sentence, which has echoed around the world ever since, promotes the idea of autonomy, of being in charge of ourselves. Yet personal autonomy is an impossibility that conceals the enthroning of Mammon. In personal terms, autonomy assumes its own slavery—slavery to Mammon."

Returning to the UK he goes on to apply this principle to tax policy and the language used to describe it.

"We need to say positively what tax should do for human flourishing, and to say it in a way that enables policy to be decided simply and clearly. We can challenge this language of tax 'liabilities', dethroning Mammon by saying that the ultimate aim of taxation is to provide money to enable the state to ensure the dignity, safety, health, and education of all citizens, which guarantees our common good, and allows us to show solidarity abroad."

Then he pointedly asks, "Are you proud to pay tax?" before concluding with a note on individual spending decisions by asking, "How are you using your spending power to enthrone Christ in the economy around you?"… (meer)