The word “redemption” is used in two particular ways. First, it’s a religious word, referring to the process by which human beings are saved. But it’s also an economic word, referring to the paying off of a loan. These two meanings may not seem to have an obvious connection. But they do share a common Biblical root, and have been entwined throughout Christian thought.
Consider the current debate about Greek debt. What's fascinating here is that the respective attitudes of the eastern and western churches towards theological redemption can be seen to be tracked by the respective attitudes of the Greek and German governments towards debt redemption.
The dominant western theological model of redemption is basically that of debt repayment. It goes like this: human beings have sinned against God and thus incurred a debt that has to be repaid. It's a bit like speaking of criminals “paying back” their debt to society. But because this debt has become impossibly enormous, Jesus comes and pays it back on our behalf. That's what happens on the cross. Remember the hymn “there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin”. That is redemption. And it's not insignificant that Angela Merkel, who insists that the Greeks must repay their debt, is also the daughter of a Lutheran minister, for whom the debt-repayment model would have be the very essence of the biblical narrative.
But the Greek Orthodox Church sees the salvation story completely differently. For the Eastern Orthodox Churches, the key event is the Resurrection not the Crucifixion. Indeed, they see the idea that the Cross is some sort of cosmic pay-back for human sin as a no-pain-no-gain obsession with suffering. For one thing, they are not into sin language. And for another, they do not believe that a God who can cheat death must abide by the strict logic of the Western pay-back model. For the Eastern Church, we are released from the burden of impossible debt by a God who believes in new life through extravagant forgiveness. In the economy of salvation, abundance of life trumps the iron cage of debt. For the Western Church, however, this a "free lunch" model of salvation that allows believers to elude any responsibility for past behaviour.
It is unsurprising that capitalism itself was built upon this Western model of redemption. As Max Weber explained in The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism, the two are mutually reinforcing ideas. But there are many expressions of the Christian faith that do not subscribe to the pay-back model of redemption – and these are often popular in places where the spirit of capitalism is not so enthusiastically received. It may look like the argument between Greece and Germany is simply an argument over money. But look deeper, and there's a whole difference of worldview. And it’s there in their prayers as well as in their banks.
Revd Dr Giles Fraser is priest of St Mary's, Newington in south London
His above BBC Radio 4 Thought for the Day was broadcast on 30 June and you can listen to it here.
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Still if an individual borrows money in C21 that individual is required to pay it back or risk bankruptcy. If the Christian message is that debts should always be forgiven then lending would be difficult in which case where would the Greeks be? I am not sure that is what the message is about. Surely the real message is that of compassion? If so there has to be some work towards reconciliation by borrowers as well as lenders.
Greece has watched the devastation austerity has caused to Ireland, Portugal & Spain, and have voted against further austerity in their country. Lucky for them they got to vote on it, which the other countries didn't.
While having great sympathy for Greece it is not possible for the Eurozone to write off their debts without the others wanting the same deal.
Thank you for this short piece. It has provided a deep reflection on not only the deeper meaning of redemption for myself and others, but spurs me on to explore and reflect on the individualism vs communitarian aspects of ethics nowadays.
This is an interesting perspective on a complex problem but it does sound a little like Hamlet's "Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so".
One line of "Protestant European thought would insist that the Greeks are feckless -- they don't work hard enough, they evade their taxes and other social responsibilities. Another -- a realist -- perspective is: if the censorious Europeans thought this, then why did they lend so much precarious money? Surely not just our of warm-heartedness?
The response of the IMF and the ECB suggests that they want to achieve political and social change in Greece, as wall as more "responsible" economic practice (with disapproval of the current government a part of their hostility). That approach seems extremely dubious in both ethical and pragmatic terms.
The source of the behaviour of those financial institutions might also lie in theological formation but I'd suspect that there are other reasons. Unless Dr Fraser intends to analyse Western European behaviour in terms of an approach to money and its value which derives from the Reformation?
John Carmody
I agree with Dr. Fraser in that as far as I can see (I am neither a historian of Eastern Europe nor a scholar of modern Greek), "Greekness" is run according to different values to "Westernness" and that's a national right, if "national" is to have any meaning. So it's true that "the institutions" (ECB, IMF, EU) and Greece seem to be talking past one another. Christine Lagarde's exasperated exhortations that the Greeks should "grow up" are here not really helpful. Greece is a member of the Euro - that's all that matters. As a German citizen, if I wish to hear the news at all, I am currently obliged to listen to hours of political agonising in smallest detail over Greece. I would add to Dr. Fraser's considerations a further Christian element of Angela Merkel's thinking: Justice. She absolutely does not want to sell Portugal, Italy and Ireland down the river, they having "done their homework" correctly. I do believe she is genuine in her wish not to be seen as favoritising Greece with measures not (also in the future) available to others.
I listened to your Thought for the Day while making breakfast and found it really interesting, but it is easier to see it written down. It helps to illustrate the different mind sets / world view operating in the Greek and German/EC situation over debt repayment. Thank you.