Capitalism, religion and the consumer liturgies

Abstract

In this paper we address the subject of capitalism as religion through a dialogue between two frameworks, namely the critique of capitalism by Latin American Liberation Theology and the critique of the liturgies of capitalism developed by the evangelical philosophical theology of James K. A. Smith. Using an exploratory methodology and exclusively bibliographical sources, the article aims at understanding the capitalist social dynamics of a religious nature present in market societies. To this purpose, we explore, first, the conceptual foundations of the notion of capitalism as religion by Walter Benjamin, the mythical structure of capitalism according to Liberation Theology, and some contemporary developments developed by Jung Mo Sung. Following this, we present the anthropological proposal of James K. A. Smith, who, influenced by Augustine, understands the human being as a liturgical animal (homo liturgicus), formed from the ordering of his affections, offering to the present discussion a critique of capitalism as a (de)formative force of individuals in consumer societies. Therefore, by proposing an approximation of the two critiques of capitalism, the article intends to be a contribution for the Sciences of Religion and Theology to enrich their conceptual frameworks that are used to analyze contemporary social phenomena.