Devin Singh is Associate Professor of Religion at Dartmouth College, where he teaches on religious thought in the modern West, philosophy of religion, and social ethics. He is the author of Divine Currency: The Theological Power of Money in the West (Stanford University Press, 2018).
Rendering to God what was God’s meant offering our lives as living sacrifices of worship to God, as one would offer coins as tax and tribute to one’s sovereign. The human was theologically monetized—or coined—in the name of dedication to God.
Even while the concept of canon has been thoroughly critiqued and deconstructed, implicit canons remain and it may be best to acknowledge their presence rather than seek to repress them.