Vigna lays out compelling history for how the Church (Roman Catholic initially and Protestant ones later) became entrapped in the desire for more. Greed is good, as fictional Gordon Gecko says, and the author traces the writings (mostly) from the last 600 years that led to this point. The book starts with a critical eye towards organized religion subverting its own beliefs or scriptural mandates to justify the accumulation of wealth. With that influence, society as a whole fell in love with amassing more financial resources, with the many theologians’ blessings that such wealth is a sign of God’s favor. It is a fascinating read to learn about the different theological, papal and economic treatises that influenced society’s thought processes.

While the book ends with recommendations for political and banking reform, there are no religious reforms suggested. If the root cause is the Church, it seems reform needs to take place there as well. Unless, as a former Roman Catholic, the author has given up on any additional reform. The 1500s saw the last reform and nothing like it will occur again, so he implies. As Vigna notes some countervailing movements against the rising tide of blessing and promoting avarice, including some rebellions and revolutions, there is little evidence of how prevalent the premise that “more is better” is in society. Certainly there are such attitudes and utterances but what percentile of the populace (even if you look only at developed countries) are endeavoring mightily to accumulate? Anecdotally, there are just as many people acknowledging that we don’t own things, things own us. So are political and economic and religious leaders in the dicta of greed leading us or just spouting into the wind and the words are carried away while we go on about our lives, surviving and thriving? How much reform is really needed except where there is injustice and forced inequality? Perhaps there is nothing for the Church to fix if most of their congregations are “okay” on this point and then it proverbially comes down to “Physician, heal thyself” ensuring that religious leaders are falling into the avarice trap.

Similarly, the growth in wealth within the Roman Catholic Church may have been motivated by greed, or pure desire to display God’s glory with visible means—art, architecture, etc.. These seem to be the only two motivations researched. Could there be others to also explain the movement? Solving medieval unemployment issues such as America’s New Deal accomplished in the 1930s? Redistribution of wealth from those who give the most to the less-advantaged laborers being paid for their work? These potential drives are not fully explored nor may they have been written down for historians since only the wealthy read and who wants to tell the wealthy that they are being “used” or “robbed” in a Robin Hood fashion.

For those who need to refute “greed is good” or monitor our premises for capital campaigns in different organizations, understanding the history of thought that got us to believe certain practices are good is important. This book help us do that.

I appreciate the publisher providing an advanced copy.

Always love a good book about economics, money, finance, greed… this was just a hot mess. Not enough research done on the topic at hand (bank liquidity, fed funds, how the fed reserve works… for one). Story was all over the place. Writing was hard to follow… what was the objective here.

This book's timing was perfect. A philosophical inquiry that raises profound questions about power, human agency, and the ethical dimensions of progress. As our society is torn between those holding onto God and those worshiping science and material goods, a look into the potential to find if not harmony than at least understanding. Perhaps part of the issue is that our technological advancement has significantly outpaced our moral understanding. For example, how might AI be used ethically? For years many saw it as a competition against humans, but perhaps if used ethically it could help us transcend beyond our capabilities. Is this something that we want? If you're down to take a pause and spend a moment going down a bit of a rabbit hole here this book goes through some interesting things we have philosophically understood, and forgotten, and re-learned once more.

Thank you for providing this copy for me to read and review, I greatly enjoyed it.