Summary Of Scarcity And Abundance By Cavanaugh

Cavanaugh in the book of being consumed in economic and Christian desire he argues that this has corrupted the society. It is naturally normal for humankind to desire things, but it is this desire that may result as a negative impact. According to Cavanaugh he argues that we need to desire accordingly or righteously and not according to society or norms. All human beings have needs and wants, some may even be regarded as essential and others not essential but when this needs want to overrule the needs then what we refer to as scarcity which is shortage of resources creeps in.
Scarcity & Abundance
In this chapter Cavanaugh emphasizes that human desires are endless. The fear of no money to live on is what we call scarcity. If we live on the same
According to Cavanaugh we live in a world of freedom of choice. However he asks the question, what makes us free? He explains this by saying, a market is only free when we consume without exploiting others. As humans we all have desires and this desires tend to be more important to an extent whereby one cannot even think of his or her neighbour’s needs. Cavanaugh says the right way to follow your needs is by desiring things with a right motive and not by hurting others or robbing
Everyone wants more, and nobody wants to share and this contrary to the kind of life Christ lived. This problem leads to greed. However we can overcome this by channelling our desires and prioritising our needs and not idolising material things as though if we do not get them we might die. Sometimes human desires can very enticing that one may buy one thing three times just because it is more attractive and fits their profile despite the fact that it serves the same purpose. However we cannot discard consumerism as a whole according to Cavanaugh. Consumerism is not about having more, it’s about having something else. This poses an important question? Are we happy with what we have? If we aren’t, as many of us are, then our ideals are all wrong. We have discarded the simplicity of Christian life. On the contrary Cavanaugh forces us to examine what we have and asks how many things have we made ourselves? It has become easier to go to work, get paid and buy things rather than working and making things in our own capacity, hands and strength. Pope John Paul the second cited in Cavanaugh says, “Work is a good thing for man.” (Cavanaugh 2008:38). In this chapter we realise that we have pushed slavery into a reality because of our own greed and selfish desires which only benefit us. Cavanaugh is not saying we shouldn’t have enough or buy what we want but he emphasizes the way of doing things by God and