I have lots of respect for this Clive Hamilton. But, for all of Affluenza’s brilliance as a cultural and economic study into Australian greed, the weakest parts of the book are the “solution” chapters at the end.
You can’t blame someone for wanting to move from the “what is the problem?” discussion to the “what is the solution?” discussion. But it’s a very different ball game.
My conviction is that our Western affluenza is a deeply spiritual and idolatrous problem, and therefore can only be redeemed by substituting idols for the true and living God. The message of the New Testament is couched in categories of freedom from slavery-to-idols, by the death and resurrection of God’s Son, in order to be “set free indeed” by the truth of Jesus Christ. We do not have power in ourselves to do this, but God offers it freely in the gospel of Jesus Christ, through the power of his Spirit.
Good luck Clive, I look forward to reading what you come up with.
CLIVE Hamilton has considerable drawing power among the reading public, but will a book about non-religious spirituality based on the premise that we need to be good for goodness’s sake walk off the shelves?
Professor Hamilton took to the airwaves yesterday morning to talk up his latest offering, The Freedom Paradox: Towards a Post-secular Ethics.
After struggle with affluenza come intimations of morality | The Australian
