Early in the text the author utilizes a time-honored method for relating what will be a major thematic concern he plans to pursue. It is tantamount to the anecdote given by a speaker at the beginning of his speech. A way to set things into context early so that everything which follows will make more sense quickly and efficiently. The subject of the book is, of course, the 2008 economic meltdown which nearly pulled the entire country into a second Great Depression is widely viewed as the worst economic crisis since the 1930’s. (At the time of this writing, the full impact of the Covid crisis could still not be determined.) The story which the author uses to foreshadow the track which his thematic analysis will pursue is not about the Great Depression or the Communist Revolution in Russia or dire lesson to learned from the end of feudalism. In fact, it is not technically related to economic theory at all. It is the Biblical story of Jesus entering the temple and trashing the moneychangers tables.
As the author points out, the story of Jesus and the moneychangers is not a parable about commerce at all. The lesson that is to be gained is related to the level of anger which was enough to provoke Jesus—who up to then has not exactly been a portrait of uncontrollable temper—to such an extreme emotional display. Fortunately for those not familiar with scripture, he then goes on to explain just that. Without getting into the same detail he covers, the upshot is thus: the moneychangers in the temple were essentially a market that was taking advantage of the circumstances of those at the lowest end of the economic spectrum.
Even for those with a natural inclination to dismiss a book of economic advice based on religious morality in general and Christian morality specifically, it is actually an astonishingly effective example of using a very common literary device to make an argumentative point. One need not be a Christian or religious at all to get the connection between the temple and Wall Street, the moneychangers and financial advisors, and the selling of doves at inflated prices and the selling of investments to those least capable of handling the risk. Make no mistake, this is a book selling theories about economics on some pages and theories about Christianity on others. Simmering beneath those subjects that will seem naturally connected to many readers and absolutely unconnected to many non-readers is another topic of equal significance: the positive power of anger.
The point of relating that well-known story of Jesus overturning the tables in the temple is not really about making a connection between the moneychangers and Wall Street. Anyone can make that connection and it would be a waste of space were that the author’s intent. Rather, his point is all about Jesus making his decision and the action which followed. It is so out of character for the person the scripture describes up to that moment. In fact, it is so extremely out character that the extremity alone makes it worth studying rather than the motivation. The motivation was the display of greed, but greed exists in many forms and could likely be found in many places even back then. It was specifically the type of greed and the target of the greed that simply became too much even for a man who not many pages before had been preaching a sermon about remaining meek. At the temple, Jesus suddenly becomes anything but meek. In fact, it is appropriate to say Jesus went into a rage. Much latter in the book, the author describes the difference:
“The difference between blind rage and an effective anger is simple. Rage is a reaction defined and controlled by the injustices committed. It is a weak form of response because all that it knows how to do is lash out at what is wrong. In contrast, effective anger carries with it a vision of how things could change. Instead of simply decrying what is wrong, it shows the way forward to how things could become better.”
At first glance that commentary seems to criticize the reaction of Jesus in the temple, but closer inspection make it clear that he is not saying rage is worse than effective anger. In fact, he has earlier credited the rage Jesus demonstrates as an act of passion stimulated by the sight of injustice.
Anger is stipulated in the text as a necessary step toward changing economic injustice. The point, ultimately, is that most people start and stop with rage. They become enraged at the state of the country which allows—even rewards—injustice and then give up and accept that things can’t or won’t change. To those who are put off by the idea of a “Christian” approach to the morality of economic and see the two as irreconcilable, the book can still be quite useful. The type of Christian morality the author is actually describing is Christ-like morality: outrage at injustice and the will to lower the temperature of the rage down to “effective anger” that can envision actual change and work diligent to make it happen
