GroshLink

Wow! Thanks to Marcy and Arlan, I finally got my hands on a copy of Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores The Hidden Side of Everything and had some time to read and discuss it. This fascinating piece seeks to establish the unconventional premise: if morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work . . . It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world. One of the stories I enjoyed the most was What the Bagel Man Saw: An Accidental Glimpse at Human Nature.

You should not be surprised that I agree with the value of stories, particularly those which tell how we act in relationship to what we articulate as our beliefs/understandings of the real world. Although the Story which I embrace has space for the below assertions to be true in the larger society, none-the-less followers of Christ are called (and empowered by the Holy Spirit) to live a different way. Is this true or am I filled w/wishful thinking? In Freakonomics there are individuals and communities (not to mention the authors) which overcome, but by in large our destiny is set by our family's socio-economic status and community of origin.

So yes the book describes much of modern life and human nature, but we are called to live in a manner different than this world. And it is hard as the systems which surround us are complex and directive. But God can redeem the structures and provide proper direction, even when we find ourselves one of the only uncorruptable sumo wrestlers, real estate agents, public school educators, university professors who writes books about the world in which we find ourselves