The question of international debt has been identified by all the regional pre-Lambeth 1998 meetings as a major concern for the Anglican Communion. An Anglican bishop, who is currently Professor in Applied Theology at Durham University, has just published a book which provides a challenging theological critique of the issue.
Grace and Mortgage - The Language of Faith and the Debt of the World is written by Bishop Elect of Worcester, the Rt Revd Professor Peter Selby. The Primate of Southern Africa, the Most Revd Njongonkulu Ndungane has written the book's foreward. The Archbishop writes: "International debt is something that is stifling human freedom and has disastrous consequences for our global family. The debilitating reality of nations trapped in the consequences of debt creates, in my opinion, another form of slavery. Again, it seems, the poor are providing for the rich. Indeed the awesome burden of international debt causes, at the most extreme level, a loss of dignity and hope."
The book provides a challenging study of debt and its consequences for society today. Bishop Peter Selby traces what happens to individuals, nations and the world economy when the 'piggy bank' is thrown away and people rely on credit to buy what they want today. The book shows how relationships based on debt and credit affect everyone - from a student in Britain trying to pay back a loan, to a family saddled with a mortgage, to a Third World economy struggling to pay back international loans. Linking personal debts and international debt Bishop Peter Selby maintains that debt has an enslaving effect on people and nations.
Christians today must regain a theological understanding of debt, says the Bishop. "The subject of this book is not debt in and of itself, but debt as a key term for understanding the person of Christ in our time." He believes that people have to rediscover the biblical metaphor of the debt paid by Jesus and see its consequences for a renewed Christian understanding of economics and a Christian lifestyle.
Although the New Testament speaks of humanity being in debt to God, and of Jesus being in some sense a repayment of that debt by his death, the language of debt today, says Bishop Peter Selby, has lost much of its original power in religious circles. He believes that Christians have made it possible to worship God and Mammon, Oby simply allowing ourselves two separate kinds of language and not letting them interact in any way that would confront our dependence on the economy of credit.O The language of Christian faith is often OprivatisedO away from the language of the real world of debt and mortgage. He calls for Christians to see Jesus Christ for today as a way to freedom from the indebtedness of people's emotional and material lives.
Throughout religious history there has been strict teaching on usury, debt repayment and care for the poor which recognised the powerful link between debt and relationships. Bishop Selby endorses the wisdom behind this ancient teaching for the modern world. He maintains that the use of money, of giving or taking credit and reclaiming debts by Christians are spiritual issues because they determine how people relate to each other, to God and to the world.
Grace and Mortgage - The Language of Faith and the Debt of the World is published by Darton, Longman and Todd (fax 0181 875 0133) and is published on 19 May.