Becki,

Two observations:

1. The article you cited describes an attitude toward participation in “capitalism”/a market economy, not a third way (i.e., a distict economic system). In that vein, except for some of the terminology and the reliance on the “Sophia” concept (something else could be substituted to replace that idea) it seems to be good advice as to how to think about our economic activity. Looking at our efforts to make a living in terms of service and participation in the life of the Trinity will certainly bless us in our efforts both externally and internally/emotionally and spiritually.

2. Some considerable swath of Orthodoxy considers Bulgakov’s musings regarding Sophia to be heresy. I make no judgments in that regard but mention it to point out that some fine tuning may be necessary to mould Bulgakov’s idea into a form palatable to many Orthodox.

There is no symphonia in a Western style democracy. To pretend otherwise is to feed the beast. In Orthodoxy, “symphonia” refers to the symbiotic relationship between the Church and state; i.e., a real Establishment of Religion where the state and Church establish and defend a Christian social structure, encouraging and enforcing by law Christian moral teaching.

Capitalism (or “free market” economics) may be compatible with Christianity. There have always been merchants in the Christian world. Though the governments of Christian societies often “interfered” in the marketplace, there were also larger economic organizations somewhat analogous to modern corporations in a sense.

Speaking from a strictly economic point of view then, there is much to be said for Christianity and capitalism. But democracy gets thrown into this mix much too easily. It is certainly possible to have capitalism without democracy. The problem with democratic capitalism is that, though it may yield strong economic benefits (although it certainly commercializes religion too much and prioritizes women’s economic productivity over reproduction), the democratic part corrupts the morality of the Christian citizenry to such an extent that the mere allegiance to democracy is an endorsement of 1) tolerance of montrous evil and 2) the perpetuation of a moral system (democracy) that is always directly at odds with Christian morality. The voice of God is not the voice of the people. The demos becomes an idol, a source of public morality above and contrary to God. Much like communism and Naziism, democracy is a form of idolatry. This explains the holocaust of the unborn. Feminism has been adopted as a moral imperative by the false god of the demos and resulted in more murder than Stalin, Hitler or Pol Pot perpetrated (if you count all abortions in all democracies).

Moreover, the morals of the demos have been corrupted in other ways as well. The traditional patriarchal family simply no longer exists in Western democracies (outside, for example, Amish communities, which are not exactly democratic). Feminism, embraced by the demos, has resulted in high rates of divorce and high rates of unwed pregnancy and single parent “families”. Simply put, democracy has utterly destroyed the Christian social structure – – so much so that the younger generation today does not even have any memory of a normal Christian family or society.

We should never forget this reality when casually discussing the “virtues” of democracy. That we would wish the people to choose otherwise makes no difference. They have not and will not so long as the ultimate standard is their own capriciousness and selfish desires. People who defend democracy in the face of its obvious evil remind me of communists who defend communism even after all the carnage that communism caused in the twentieth century. “Real communism has never been tried.” Perhaps. Perhaps democratic societies just need to exterminate a few hundred million more unborn lives before they finally mature.

Or perhaps it is insane to keep pursuing the same foolishness and continually expect different results.

The real task is not to defend democratic capitalism. The real task is to speculate and work for what comes next after democracy, like communism, finds its way to the ash heap of history.