God in the Cubicle: Amos and Economic Justice

“YOU HAVE A CHOICE!” THE DECLARATION, from a woman in Detroit trying to stop a foreclosure, captured in Michael Moore’s recent film, Capitalism: A Love Story, has been echoing through my week.

    As have two stories in the morning paper. One, headlined “In a Job Market Realignment, Some Workers No Longer Fit,” unspools the unsettling truth that many of the jobs lost in the recession resulting from the 2007-8 financial collapse “are not coming back.”  “I know I’m good at this,” says a 52-year-old administrative assistant who’s been out of work for two years. “So how the hell did I end up here?” The other story, “Prosecutors Ask if 8 Banks Duped Rating Agencies,” peeled back another other layer of the inside machinations of the collapse. Says one discomforted insider who knew something was wrong, “I can’t tell you how upset I have been in reviewing these trades.”

    I don’t profess to have a direct line Upstairs. But I think something deep and spiritual speaks to us through others. In the voices of the people being quoted in films and stories in these hard times, I believe, is a prophetic voice for our times. It’s a voice of anger, frustration, and bewilderment. And it’s a voice carrying moral weight, reflected, for example, in the three priests quoted in Moore’s film, who call the current economy “immoral,” “obscene,” “outrageous,” and “radically evil,” and warn that “in some form and fashion God will come down” and punish capitalism. It is a voice that says to our society, like the woman to the foreclosure officers, that we have choices. 

    A parallel voice can be found in scripture. More than 2,500 years ago, the biblical prophet Amos sounded a similar warning. He denounced the exploitation of the poor that he saw in Israel. “They sell the righteous for a pair of sandals… They trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way… They lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge…and…drink wine bought with fines they imposed.” (Amos 2:6-8)

    Amos criticized the consumer culture of the affluent, with its preening over lying on “beds of ivory,” being anointed with “the finest oils,” and real-estate-pride of “the winter house and summer house” and homes “of hewn stone” (6:4-6, 3:15, 5:11). He challenged the country’s smug patriotism, pointing to the countries surrounding Israel, and asking, “Are you better than those kingdoms?” (6:2). He questioned which gods Israel really worshiped – the god of Israel, or “Sakkuth,” “Kaiwan,” “your images, which you made for your self” (5:26) – and disparaged the false piety of going to church then putting it all aside the other six days of the week. “I hate, I despise your festivals, and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies” (5:21). 

    Instead of “burnt offerings and grain offerings” (5:22), said Amos, God desires  justice. “Let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream” (5:24), he says in one of the Old Testament's most famous passages. Following God, he says, means doing good. “Seek good…that you may live…and the Lord…will be with you. Hate evil and love good, and establish justice in the gate” (5:14-15).

    As one modern theologian writes, reading Amos today feels “like a blast of cold, clean air.” And with good reason. Amos was called to prophecy in a time like ours. According to The New Oxford Annotated Bible, Israel was reaching “a height of territorial expansion and national prosperity.” That prosperity “led to gross inequities between urban elites and the poor.” By “manipulation of debt and credit,” the wealthy amassed capital and estates at the expense of small farmers.” Those loans became “a wedge” that separated farmers from “their land and personal liberty.” 

    Amos was the “consummate outsider,” “blue collar rather than blue-blooded,” “a farmer from little Tekoa, about 12 miles southeast of Jerusalem,” says Daniel Clendenin, author, professor, and founder of the website Journey with Jesus. Not surprisingly, given his critique of the culture, the elites of his day "despised Amos as a redneck.” They tried to run him out of town.

    Rereading Amos this week, I’ve been wondering if there should be an “Amos day” – a Sunday in which every house of worship across the country turns over its services and education programs to reflecting on Amos’ message. Doing so might give comfort to those afflicted in this economy; they are not alone. It might prod those who are in positions of responsibility in business, government, the media, and other institutions, to take action – through their decisions, investments, purchases, and other actions – to create a more just economy.  And it could bring a moral, spiritual dimension to a discussion that all too often seems to be dry and remote, about regulations more than spiritual intent. 

    What would Amos say today? Would he growl out his prophecies in a rock band, on YouTube, or in rallies on Wall Street and Washington? Would he proclaim, “They buy sports cars with the fees they’ve taken from CDOs of subprime mortgages”? “Your offer of a new wing of the library won’t make up for the way you earned your money”? “You have built mcmansions but you shall not live in them”? Would he, too, say “You have a choice”?

***

There’s a lot of good writing on Amos’ relevance for modern times on the Web. Daniel Clendenin’s essay on Amos, “Growing Strong By Destroying Others: To the ‘Notable Men of the Foremost Nation,’” though written in 2007, before the crash, is particularly good:

http://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20070716JJ.shtml

Clendenin’s website is also worth checking out for book and movie reviews and perspectives on other topics:

http://www.journeywithjesus.net/index.shtml

To read The New York Times story “In a Job Market Realignment, Some Workers No Longer Fit,” see: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/business/economy/13obsolete.html?scp=1&sq=job%20market%20realignment&st=cse

To read The New York Times story “Prosecutors Ask if 8 Banks Duped Rating Agencies,” see: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/business/13street.html?scp=1&sq=ratings%20agencies%20duped&st=cse

 

Comments

[George Russell]

It would be interesting to do a book club with an excerpt of the Bible as the subject matter... if you could give some cultural/historical context (as here) and recommend a particular translation and specific section of the Bible -- and then I could get some people together. A blog post might focus on comparative translations, short related works (contemporary or historical) and salient contemporary foci for a discussion. "Amos and Economic Justice" is of interest to me as is, e.g., the subject of apocalyptic consciousness in the Bible and in the work of other Christian writers through history.

[Jon Berry]

Hi, George, I think that's a great idea. I'd be happy to help make such an event possible, and would be glad to do additional research and post something onto my blog to start the conversation. Let's talk! Jon