consumerism

When I’m tempted to click “Add to cart,” I hear creation groaning.

For Jesus, the inverse of scarcity isn’t abundance—it’s accumulation.

Eric Freeze and his family moved to Nice—in order to spend less and live better.

The stories we tell about consuming our way to a healthy environment

Marie Kondo works to restore right relationships between humans and objects.

I was raised in an ecumenical church community affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. When I later joined a Mennonite church, where many members were not raised with the church calendar, I became a bit of an Advent purist. Maybe a lot of one.

Scott Dannemiller narrates his family's year of simpler living. By the end, he acknowledges that "stuff" is not bad.

Drugs are perhaps the ultimate consumer product. They give an instant, intense hit, and they're used up in one go.

Wow. Here's a commercial aimed at folks who think a month-long vacation sounds horrible, especially if it means suffering the indignity of driving a Honda or not living in a McMansion. In other words, it's aimed at lots of Americans.

I'm particularly eager for Advent this year. Per­haps it's because recent world events have been so relentlessly grim.

God doesn’t hate stuff. God invents stuff.

Reverend Billy, otherwise known as Bill Talen, sports poorly dyed blond hair blown and sprayed back in a mighty bowl. In his cheap white suit and a clergy collar, he invites consumers to a booth where they can “confess your shopping sins” and be absolved. He is the pastor of the Church of Stop Shopping, and his Shopocalypse tour has been captured on film in What Would Jesus Buy? directed by Rob VanAlkemade and produced by Morgan Spurlock (creator of Super Size Me).