Exodus 3:14

A serious candidate for the worst book I will read in 2010: Joerg Rieger's No Rising Tide: Theology, Economics and the Future.

Here is the complete text of the book:
"Marxist Economics is Truth; Insofar as it reveals Marxist Truth, Liberation Theology is Good; Anyone who disagrees with either of those two statements is at best Complicit in Evil."

Of course it takes Rieger 160 pages of tiresome, sophomoric Marxist drivel to say that.

It took me all of two pages to be certain that this was the entire point and content of this book. But, the book was a Christmas gift, and it is good to read things with which one knows one will disagree, so I read the whole thing. For anyone else, just read Marx--oddly he is a better writer--and Marx is not known for his prose.

The funniest part of the book is that Rieger sounds just like many of my colleagues at Mount Holyoke.

Also, of interest: for a book with a subtitle promising Theology and Economics, there is remarkably little actual theology in the book. Every time religion gets mentioned, it takes about half a paragraph to wander off into yet another refrain of Marxist economics. After reading 160 pages of Rieger's ruminations, I have no idea if Rieger even believes there is an Actual God as opposed to some general principle of Good which arises whenever anyone asserts solidarity with the working class.

The oppressed working class, by the way, includes tenured university faculty. Fortunately Rieger realizes how a tenured professor at SMU is every bit as oppressed as someone living in a garbage heap. Indeed, it is that general tone of Enlightenment that makes people like Rieger so absurd. The whole world is duped by Evil Powers of Oppression; if you don't feel oppressed it is because you have been deceived. But, lo and behold, people like Rieger have thrown off the blinders to see the blazing Truth of Oppression. Rieger Alone stands enlightened--he has come back to the cave to show us all the truth. But, and this is the absurd part, if Rieger is right, then he too is deluded by the Structures of Power, he too is a product of his social situation, and thus there is no reason to think he is enlightened. Well, of course he tells us he is enlightened. We know Rieger is right because Rieger told us he is right. Rieger Is Who He Is. I guess there is some theology in this book after all.