Economy, Exception and Excess

Economy, Exception and Excess
– a Discussion with Devin Singh (Dartmouth College)

Why does money seem to have such an overarching influence on public governance and private lives in the Western world? In his book Divine Currency: the Theological Power of Money in the West (Stanford University Press, 2018), Devin Singh offers a surprising answer. Early Christian theologians used Ancient monetary metaphors to develop and explain their ideas about God, the world, Jesus, the Devil, life and death. Thus God became an economic administrator and Christ a ‘coin’ to purchase human redemption. Such economic-theological metaphors provided models and legitimation for the way medieval and early-modern authorities organized people and material resources. This slowly paved the way for conceptions of self-regulating markets and an idea of ‘economy’ as a way to overcome the threat of the state of exception.  
At the discussion event, Professor Singh will provide an introduction into the main arguments of his book. This will be followed by a brief response by Professor Ole Bjerg (MPP), author of Making Money: the Philosophy of Crisis Capitalism (Verso, 2014).       
About the author: Devin Singh is Assistant Professor of Religion at Dartmouth College. He has a PhD from Yale and an M.A. from Chicago University, and has published widely on political and economic theology. His work on sovereign debt, debt cancellation, speculation, and irrational exuberance in financial markets has appeared amongst others in the Journal of Religious Ethics; Political Theology; the Harvard Theological Review; and in Religion.  

Registration:

If you wish to join the event, please send an email to the organizer, Stefan Schwarzkopf (ssc.mpp@cbs.dk). All participants are expected to have read the Introduction and chapter 5, ‘Redemptive Commerce’, of Divine Currency. A pdf copy of these two sections will be emailed to registered participants.

Time
November 27, 2018, 10:00-11:30.
 
Venue
Copenhagen Business School
Kilen, Kilevej 14, 2000 Frederiksberg
Room: K 143