In Part 1, we discussed how the modern religious machine exhausts itself fighting ghosts—creating endless culture wars to keep the pews scared and distracted. But what happens when the fog machines clear and your eyes adjust to the room’s reality? You finally see what the empire has been hiding: a massive, gold-hoarding dragon coiled around the altar.
In Part 2 of our Comfortable Theology series, Ellison Keller draws on J.R.R. Tolkien’s concept of "dragon-sickness" to examine the American Church's deafening silence on the biblical sins of greed, hoarding wealth, and economic exploitation. Why does the institution quickly excommunicate a marginalized member, yet place a billionaire who ruthlessly exploits workers on the elder board? Because you do not bite the hand that funds the fortress.
Today, we move beyond the smoke and mirrors to face Mammon, break down the comforting myths we’ve been told about wealth, and turn to the wilderness to rediscover the radical, anti-hoarding Economy of Manna.
Key Topics in This Episode:
Smaug in the Sanctuary: How the American Church effortlessly merged the Gospel of the foot-washing Christ with the harsh realities of late-stage capitalism.
The Hypocrisy of the Elder Board: How the gatekeepers shrunk the moral universe down to the size of a bedroom so they wouldn't have to look at the boardroom.
The Myth of the "Eye of the Needle" Gate: The linguistic sophistry and historical fabrications pastors use to protect the dragon's hoard.
The Economy of Manna vs. Dragon-Sickness: God’s literal anti-hoarding mechanism, and why attempting to secure your future by hoarding community resources always leads to rot.
Firing the Black Arrow: Understanding Jesus’ cleansing of the temple not as a temper tantrum, but as a calculated, prophetic strike against systemic economic violence.
Connect & Support:
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Until next time—may we refuse the paranoid isolation of dragon-sickness, and instead gather the manna to share our bread with those the gatekeepers have cast aside.
