Phenomenology #1

Benson & Wirzba introduce us to the idea of an "Earthly Economy" wherein "we pray to God for some object and often promise something to God, some sacrifice on our part, in return" (63). This obviously seems quite lopsided on first inspection: a human offers something to God in return for something God will give to him. Certainly whatever man has to offer to God is completely useless if one believes that God is the creator of all things. What man wants or expects from God, is usually a sort of miraculous intervention. They go on to point out: "What benefit could the gods receive from us?" (63) and then to explain how this can be so primarily through kenosis, or self-emptying. I believe that this explanation does make sense, especially when one is considering a "wholly other" God who has no interest in us or our possessions, possibly a view of an indifferent God.

However, it does seem to me like the premise of this "earthly economy" doesn't quite make sense when thinking about a God who created and cares for us. Many religious people believe that God created everything, humans and their possessions included, and that often times those possessions are gifts from God himself. Furthermore, it is commonly understood that God has a plan for people's lives, and does not want them to go astray or to be influenced by forces of evil. In these beliefs, it is more clear to see how humans and God can communicate and make exchanges. The idea that a human who makes a personal sacrifice cannot benefit God at all is at odds with the idea that God cares about us. If God cares about us, one would understand he would empathize with the sacrifice being made at the level it is being made. The biblical story of the Widow's Offering provides evidence for this idea -- even though Jesus is God incarnate and has no need at all for coins or human currency, he sees the offering as more worthy than the money of the rich. This suggests that God sees sacrifices as the sacrifices seem to us. It makes sense, then, that if we are able to make requests and attach sacrifices to them which are truly sacrifices for us, this notion of the "earthly economy" is removed. As for whether sacrifices should be offered contingent upon a fulfilled request, that's another story.