Economy as Most Prevalant Idol

"One could see Johns Howard Yoder’s and Hauerwas’s analyses largely working within a paradigm in which the state is the looming idol that the church is most tempted to worship. But Bell suggests that this is a dated and therefore somewhat impotent mode of analysis and critique, for in a globalized world it is no longer states that wield imperialist power but rather capitalism and the market." (p. 248)

"Every aspect of society – schools, athletics, even the church – must insert itself in the capitalist machine. Capitalism, then, is the new empire the gospel must oppose because it demands an allegiance that rivals allegiance to Christ." (p. 249)

"‘The conflict between capitalism and Christianity is nothing less than a clash of opposing technologies of desire,’ for each is trying to form very different people for very different ends.’ (Bell, LTAEH, 2)" (Book is Liberation Theology After the End of History, quoted in Smith)

James K.A. Smith, Introducing Radical Orthodoxy