Shifting our economic consciousness begins with recognizing that the dominant narrative is that the economy is by nature competitive, individualistic, and self-interested; winner take all. If you can’t make it, there is something wrong with you. If you are labelled as poor or homeless, a dropout or any other deficiency category, you are placed in exile from the world around you. We think that is just the way things are.
It is not. We made it up and not too long ago. We have a choice to shift our thinking and construct an economy that is co-operative, communal and generous. A compassionate or Jubilee economy that begins with the idea of debt forgiveness and then goes deeper. Jubilee is an act of imagination to welcome all in from exile.
We are conducting a series of Jubilee Forums that convene a wide range of citizens, business, social service, faith and neighborhood people, to identify and begin to shift the landscape of credit and debt in our neighborhoods. It explores the meaning of Jubilee, restoring the land and people every seven and forty nine years. We want to understand the role debt plays in our lives and how to keep it in perspective. We are working to invent forms of investment and interest-free vehicles that are realistic and would work to give people in vulnerable neighborhoods more control over their economic lives, including how to increase their capacity to capitalize their gifts and build more economic vitality into their lives. Jubilee can jump start this.
Recordings of the main speakers at the forums are below:
Jubilee Forum 1, August 13, 2015
This begins with Tim Kraus, Chairman of Interfaith Business Builders, giving the context for the Jubilee Forum Series.
Listen to audio: Tim Kraus – Jubilee Forum 1
Walter Brueggemann, retired (supposedly) Old Testament Scholar and author, speaks to our relationship with money. He speaks to the exodus story and the wilderness from the Old Testament and the Pharaoh economy. It is about our passion for austerity and the possibility of creating an alternative.
Listen to audio: Walter Brueggemann – Jubilee Forum 1
Reverend Damon Lynch III welcomes us to New Prospect Baptist Church as the Village Well. He connects the biblical idea of Jubilee to our modern cultural struggles. He quotes extensively from the Randall Robinson book: The Debt: What America Owes to Blacks and narrates the story of a black male over the generations. He explores what this means for us today.
Listen to audio: Reverend Damon Lynch III – Jubilee Forum 1
Jubilee Forum 2, September 3, 2015
Reverend Rob Rhodes of Christ Church Cathedral speaks of the Kingdom of God in contrast to the Kingdom of Pharaoh, and the presence of Jubilee in the New Testament. The idea of Jubilee has existed at times, now is the time of remembering it, living the Gospel, bringing it into our community, embracing an alternative economy, as the center of Christianity.
Listen to audio: Reverend Rob Rhodes – Jubilee Forum 2
Rabbi Miriam Terlinchamp, hosting Forum 2 at Temple Sholom, opens the window to Jubilee from a Jewish perspective. She speaks of a history of exile and building a future in today’s world and what burden this places on us. She says, “Pray as if everything depends on God, act as if everything depends on you.” How taking care of our own is not enough, we need to question the systems that have maintained us and cast the net as widely as possible.
Audio posting soon
Commentary by Xavier theology Professor Adam Clark. Jubilee is about a shift in culture, consumer culture. This begins with an inward look. The earliest Christian communities were about sharing one’s possessions in meeting community needs.
Audio posting soon
Jubilee Forum 3 October 29, 2015
Reverend Rob Rhodes, host of Jubilee Forum 3 at Christ Church Cathedral, speaks in a very personal way about how financial institutions can draw us into debt almost without notice. The ease and subsequently high cost of debt pairs with the seduction of a certain life style to put us into very difficult conditions. He also notes that debt has become a substitute for increased wages. In the end Jubilee is not just about forgiveness, it also about liberation.
Audio posting soon
Professor Adam Clark, Xavier Theology Professor, speaks about how consumerism has become our dominant religion. It is the narrative that defines today’s forms of slavery. He discusses what will be required to deal with this and live into the spirit of Jubilee. Note: for this talk of Adam’s, there is a short video soon to be available.
Audio posting soon
Jubilee Forum 4 December 3, 2015
Professor Waleed El-Ansary, Islamic Scholar and Xavier Professor of Islamic Studies, speaking from the perspective of the Koran and Islamic culture on debt and economics. This includes how the land and earnings were committed to the common good. This means there was no such thing as consumer debt. He also explains the close connection between art, production and the presence of God. There was never a separation between science, work and spiritual meaning.
Audio posting soon
Reverend Troy Jackson is Executive Director of the Amos Project. He speaks in a personal way about how debt becomes isolating and something we feel we must hide. He connects the Jubilee idea to the civil rights movement. We now have the opportunity to create an alternative economy, which is the unfinished business of that movement.
Audio posting soon