DE Ponderings

by Kevin Kessler

Harvey Cox, Hollis Research Professor of Divinity at Harvard University, wrote a book published in 2016 entitled, "The Market as God". Cox contends that The Market has become deified primarily because of centralization. Rather than the market being a means to an end, The Market has become the end. Thus, it takes on a form of religion, something that becomes an object of worship, a deity of sorts. Cox goes to great lengths throughout the book comparing The Market to God. However, in the end, he clearly articulates that The Market is unlike God primarily because God intends not to centralize but to decentralize. Cox, fascinatingly, points to the creation story to make his case.

On the first day of creation, God separated the light from the darkness. Cox contends that the first action of God in the Bible, in this act of separating light from darkness, is one of decentralization. An Israeli scholar, Avivah Gottlieb Zornberg, provides support to Cox’s claim. Zornberg believes God was occupied with “breaking up…unitary and monolithic power into other centers.” The goal was not in simplifying creation as an end unto itself but rather making it more complex so that it became a means for exploring and enjoying the possibilities of God.

Cox moves through each day of the creation story to illustrate how decentralization continued. In so doing, he defends his understanding that The Market in all of its efforts for centralization cannot rightly be deified.

Therefore, Cox suggests that The Market should find ways to decentralize, not endeavoring to become deity, but to realistically follow the example of God’s creative work of decentralization. Summarily, Cox emphasizes that colossal financial institutions and empires would better serve the world community if they were dis-integrated, clearing the way for small-scale community or state banks who would be better equipped to serve constituencies in a more culturally localized manner.

In this way the market serves the people rather than the opposite. The market becomes a means to an end whereby all people receive an opportunity to have their needs met. Hence, the market points not to itself as an object of worship but rather opens the way to understand the Creator whose decentralized measures make a way forward for all and is ultimately the center of our worship.

The journey Cox takes readers on is much more fascinating than I’ve described in a few short paragraphs. I recommend taking the tour with Professor Cox and learning more about The Market as it has come to be associated with deity and what we may be able to do to begin viewing this theme differently.