Gifford Lectures (audio) Prof. Kathryn Tanner - Nothing but the Present
Jun 1, 2018
Prof. Kathryn Tanner, a Marquand Professor of Systematic Theology at Yale, explores the implications of a present-focused mindset shaped by finance-driven capitalism. She reveals how this urgency affects workers and the indebted poor, often leading to risky behaviors and fragmented memories. Tanner contrasts this with a Christian perspective that emphasizes grace and eternal depth, suggesting that a divine focus can unify our experience of time. Her insights challenge listeners to reflect on the balance between immediate pressures and long-term well-being.
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Speed Creates Asymmetric Harm
- Short-term profiteers often escape long-term costs, shifting burdens to slower, less liquid people like workers and later shareholders.
- Liquidity and speed create asymmetric vulnerability that fuels exploitation.
Liquidity Makes Presents Disposable
- Liquidity changes whether present choices damage your future: those with reserves can treat presents as disconnected opportunities.
- The cash-rich enjoy breezy, unburdened succession of presents unlike the resource-poor trapped in cumulative scarcity.
Fear Anchors The Resource-Poor To Now
- For those without liquid reserves, present instability produces fear, loss-aversion, and paralysis rather than entrepreneurial risk-taking.
- People cling to precarious presents because losing them seems immediate and catastrophic.
