The Gospel according to Price

I was walking to the library earlier this week after a late class, bracing myself for an hour or two of studying, when I saw a sign advertising an event with Reynolds Price in the Rare Book Room. "Hear Reynolds Price read his translation of the Gospel of Mark," the poster said. I sensed an opportunity, not only to put off studying for an hour or two, but also to hear Price's uniquely melodious voice for the first time since last year. I ducked in just as Price was beginning and sat down.

For most Christians, the Gospels of the Bible's New Testament are pretty tired territory. They're read in church services every week, studied in Sunday school and generally speaking are a part of America's cultural lexicon. But sitting down and listening to one all the way through is rarely done. Generally, Jesus' parables and stories from his life are lifted out of context and read individually, with little overarching narrative attached.

As a result, Jesus has become less of a historical or literary figure and more of a source for familiar quotations. Tales about Jesus are selectively pulled out by people as evidence of their own wisdom. The fact that Christianity is so closely associated with mainstream culture and even political power in this country generally means that Jesus can become a tool of the ruling class to promote the status quo.

A recent example has been the rise of what's called prosperity gospel. This kind of pseudo-theology has recently exploded in popularity with the success of figures like Joel Osteen, the grinning pastor who can regularly be found on the half-dozen Christian television stations piped into the Carolinas. The basic message of the prosperity gospel is that if you do what God wants, He will reward you with money. Of course, what "God wants" is entirely dependent on which televangelist you're watching, but it typically involves buying his latest book or paying to see him in person.

Without becoming too theological, I think it's pretty clear there's something wrong with this kind of morality. There's no need to point out the fact that the huge number of poor yet religious people in the world make it obviously false. But philosophically, it's basically an affirmation of greed and the worst excesses of American capitalism. Even the most brazen economist won't claim God's sanction. Adam Smith said an invisible hand will move people to make rational economic decisions, but that hand wasn't divine. Economic forces are the result of worldly, human systems that are in our power to influence.

But once those systems become the will of God, there's no reason to even consider adapting them. If some divine force wills us to become rich, why care about those who are poor? If they aren't wealthy, it's because they haven't earned God's favor. In a world where our socioeconomic condition is a divine decree, most social obligations disappear, and with them our humanity.

When you read the Gospel of Mark straight through, however, it's hard to find a Jesus that could be called pro-status quo. It is a complete narrative of a man's life that's difficult to twist one way or another. Whether or not one agrees with Christianity or the morality Jesus presented in the Gospels, it's clear the ethical system he outlined is not represented in modern American society, the pretensions of the prosperity gospel aside.

And that's the benefit, I think, of people like Reynolds Price and the academic ideal they try to achieve. They're part of an epistemic system-that is, one that seeks truth. Ultimately institutions like Duke don't exist to try to be popular or make money but to undermine those who obscure facts to gain power or influence. But, as the groups of high schoolers descending on Duke this month demonstrate, universities like ours do indeed now depend on being popular and making money. It's up to us, as the lifeblood of the University, to demand that Duke never loses sight of the importance of working for truth, first and foremost. It's a tough job, but we're up to it.