This essay seeks to formulate a critical account of the genealogical link between capitalism and Christianity by interrogating the ontology and the processes of subjectivization which subtend these two apparently disparate social and political formations. To this end, I make use of the philosophical thought of Gilles Deleuze, in particular his readings of Spinoza, Foucault, Nietzsche, and Sacher-Masoch. The central themes of the essay--the identity of God and money, and the vicissitudes of the creditor-debtor relation--culminate in a theory of a theodicy of money, which deploys an apparatus of forgiveness in order to obscure and displace the stakes and the site of the game of guilt and innocence. In short, to produce, by means of the Christian logic of forgiveness, a subject of forgiveness capable, not only of standing guarantor for herself, but as the ground of the formal freedom and formal equality required of liberal democracy and the capitalist mode of production.
","abstract_html":"<p>This essay seeks to formulate a critical account of the genealogical link between capitalism and Christianity by interrogating the ontology and the processes of subjectivization which subtend these two apparently disparate social and political formations. To this end, I make use of the philosophical thought of Gilles Deleuze, in particular his readings of Spinoza, Foucault, Nietzsche, and Sacher-Masoch. The central themes of the essay--the identity of God and money, and the vicissitudes of the creditor-debtor relation--culminate in a theory of a <em>theodicy of money</em>, which deploys an apparatus of forgiveness in order to obscure and displace the stakes and the site of the game of guilt and innocence. In short, to produce, by means of the Christian logic of forgiveness, a subject of forgiveness capable, not only of standing guarantor for herself, but as the ground of the formal freedom and formal equality required of liberal democracy and the capitalist mode of production.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Snediker, Timothy"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"M.A.","degree_level":"Masters Thesis","degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Carl Raschke, Ph.D.","Thomas Nail","Gregory Robbins","Sarah Pessin"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2016,"date_issued":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","date_published":"2016-01-01T08:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T02:02:45Z","subjects":["Capitalism","Christianity","Forgiveness","God","Immanence","Money","Economic Theory","Religion","Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
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