God's Coin: On Monetary and Divine Economies
Department of Religious Studies 451 College St New Haven, CT 06511
Kathryn Tanner
This dissertation examines the interrelations between ideas of God and the nature and function of monetary economy in the West. I contend that money left its mark upon foundational ideas of God and Christ in Christian theological tradition, and that, in turn, such theological discourse in the West has shaped the deployment of money and influenced the ways economies have developed. I examine early Christian models of how God relates to and redeems the world, setting them into conversation with prevailing models of economic administration in Rome. Uncovering the nature of this early link may aid in conceptual models of how theology remains implicitly influential in modern global economy.
Systematic Theology I and II Medieval Theology Cultural Engagement Social and Cultural Exegesis Fundamentals of Teaching in the Humanities
Publications: Book chapters: “Monetized Philosophy and Theological Money: Uneasy Linkages and the Future of a Discourse.” In The Future of Continental Philosophy of Religion, edited by John Caputo, et al. Postmodernism, Culture and Religion 4. (Indiana University Press: forthcoming). Journal articles: “Incarnating the Money-Sign: Notes on an Implicit Theopolitics.” Implicit Religion 14:2 (2011): 129-140. “Resurrection as Surplus and Possibility: Moltmann and Ricoeur.” Scottish Journal of Theology 61:3 (2008): 1-19. Reviews: Ilsup Ahn, Position and Responsibility: Jürgen Habermas, Reinhold Niebuhr, and the Co-Reconstruction of the Positional Imperative, in Studies in Christian Ethics (forthcoming) Montague Brown, Restoration of Reason, in Trinity Journal 28:2 (2007). Kathryn Tanner, Economy of Grace, in Trinity Journal 28:1 (2007). Papers and Presentations: “Monetary Aesthetics and Christological Formulations in Greco-Roman Context.” Paper to be presented at the Early Christianity and the Ancient Economy unit, Society of Biblical Literature, San Francisco, CA, Nov 2011. “Irreplaceable? Beyoncé, Hip-Hop, and the Logic of Commodification." Paper to be presented at the Critical Approaches to Hip-Hop and Religion consultation, American Academy of Religion, San Francisco, CA, Nov 2011. “Disciplining Eusebius: Discursive Power and Representation of the Court Theologian.” Paper presented at the Foucault and Patristics workshop, 16th International Conference on Patristic Studies, Oxford University, Oxford, UK, Aug 2011. “Christology and Monetary Economy: Reflections on Greco-Roman Context.” Invited paper for the German-English New Testament Colloquium, Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, DE Apr 2011. “Theological Money and Monetized Philosophy: Uneasy Linkages and the Future of a Discourse.” Paper presented at the Postmodernism, Culture and Religion 4 conference, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, Apr 2011. “Cosmic Currency and Divine Economist: Christology, money, and the limits of social critique.” Paper presented at the Religion and Liberation conference, Durham University, Durham UK, Dec 2010. “Money, Sovereignty, and Divine Oikonomia.” Paper presented at the North American Patristics Society annual meeting, Chicago, IL, May 2010. “Money as Biopolitical and Theopolitical.” Paper presented at the Politics of Religion conference, Macaulay Honors College, CUNY, New York, NY, Apr 2010. “Comparative Economies: Monetary, Symbolic, Divine.” Paper presented at the New England Regional Meeting, AAR, New Brunswick, NJ, Mar 2010. “Money and the Theopolitics of Incarnation.” Paper presented at the Theology and the Political Consultation, American Academy of Religion, Montreal, QC, Nov 2009. “Alternative Modernities and the Fragile Secular: the Decolonial Difference.” Paper presented at the Theology and Religious Reflection Section, American Academy of Religion, Montreal, QC, Nov 2009. “Theology as Social Theory: Inhabiting the Secular.” Paper presented at the Theology and Continental Philosophy Group, American Academy of Religion, Chicago, IL, Nov 2008. “God and Fictitious Capital: Hazarding a Theology of Financial Markets.” Paper presented at the Theology and Religious Reflection Section, American Academy of Religion, Chicago, IL, Nov 2008. “Creation as Alienated Labor.” Paper presented at the Transdisciplinary Theological Colloquium VII, Drew Theological School, Madison, NJ, Nov 4, 2007. “Asian American Christian Hospitality.” Presenter and panelist at Practicing Life at the Table consultation, Dominican University, River Forest, IL, Oct 25, 2007. “Second Generation Identity, Religion, and Social Justice.” Presenter and panelist at Controversial Asians: a Panel on Asian Identity, Christianity, & Social Justice, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, Apr 14, 2005. “Distance and Belonging: Asian American Theology and Empire.” Paper presented at the Asian Pacific Americans and Religion Research Initiative, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, Aug 6, 2004.
North American Doctoral Fellowship, Fund for Theological Education, 2010-2011; Baden-Württemberg Exchange Scholar Grant, Baden-Württemberg Foundation, 2010-2011
Fellow at Yale Graduate Teaching Center; Steering Committee member for Asian North American Religion Culture and Society Group at the American Academy of Religion