Homebrewed Christianity Podcast

So here's what we're wrestling with in this episode: What if economics isn't just a topic theology comments on, but actually the bigger framework that shapes what's theologically possible? That's the question that sent Brian McLaren searching, and it's what led him—and us—to the Japanese philosopher Kojin Karatani and his game-changing framework about modes of exchange laid out in his book, The Structure of World History We're talking about how nation, state, and capital work together as these integrated energies, and how if you try to critique just one without seeing the others, you end up reproducing the very thing you're trying to escape. The biblical narrative becomes this fascinating case study—starting with naked hunter-gatherers in a garden with no religion, state, or market, and ending with the New Jerusalem coming down with no need for a temple. And maybe, just maybe, understanding these modes of exchange—the symbolic, the coercive, the economic—helps us see what kind of future we're actually moving