Out of Ur is currently sponsoring a contest related to my book, The Divine Commodity: Discovering a Faith Beyond Consumer Christianity. I’m not surprised that a few readers have posted questions and comments about the possible hypocrisy of publishing, promoting, and selling a book that critiques Consumerism. That’s what I love about Urbanites—you are a sharp bunch.

At least one reader has come to my book’s defense. “Elly at” writes:

It seems far too simple and circular a criticism to say that selling a book about the pitfalls of consumerism is hypocritical. The same could be said about anyone who gets paid for writing a book about the problem of poverty…. Or about rendering any critique of film, books, current affairs, or blog posts, because in order to criticize media, you must use media yourself… Yes, selling a book that criticizes consumerism is a paradox, but I believe there must be a point at which such paradoxes must be considered inconsequential.

As you might imagine, I am asked fairly frequently about this paradox of writing and selling a book about the dangers of Consumerism. (In fact my wife asked me that question while I was still working on The Divine Commodity.) The problem stems, I believe, from our failure to differentiate between consumption (a behavior) and Consumerism (a worldview). Defining the difference between these two ideas is something I lay out in the introduction of the book.

Consumption, or the consuming of goods, is not inherently wrong. As contingent beings our Creator has designed us to consume resources to survive. In addition the global economy and interconnection of markets and resources means every time we eat a meal, listen to music, put on clothing, or read a book we are being consumers. My book is not a critique of consumption or even materialism. The Divine Commodity doesn’t lambast people for buying a BMW rather than a used Buick or for shopping at Wal-Mart rather than weaving their own garments from home-grown hemp. There are plenty of other books designed to make us feel guilty about our purchasing decisions. Mine isn’t one of them.

Simply put my book is not about consumption. It is about what happens to our faith when we adopt a consumer worldview. The Divine Commodity is an exploration of Consumerism as the predominant worldview of North Americans. I believe Consumerism represents a set of presuppositions most of us have been formed to carry without question or critique. More than merely an economic system, it is the framework through which we understand everything including God, the gospel, and church. As such, Consumerism is competing with the kingdom of heaven for the minds and hearts of God’s people, and therefore my book is more concerned about the transformation of our minds rather than merely critiquing our behaviors.