The BEMA Podcast 473: Vice & Virtue — Greed
Oct 2, 2025
Elle Grover Fricks, a scholar in Christian ethics and reception history, joins the conversation to explore the complex nature of greed. They discuss iconic films like Wall Street and The Wolf of Wall Street, relating them to the disordered desire of greed. Elle emphasizes how greed obstructs kingdom living and shapes identity in consumer culture. The hosts examine the isolation it causes, the psychological toll it takes, and challenge norms around ownership and community practices, advocating for a mindset of liberality and reflection on our possessions.
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Greed Starts From Legitimate Desire
- Greed often begins as a legitimate desire for security, comfort, or to provide for others but becomes disordered when it insists on more and more.
- Vice is a warped form of love that pursues a good wrongly and ultimately harms relationships and purpose.
Estate Cleanout Reveals Hidden Accumulation
- Brent describes cleaning out his father's house and finding many unused new items that hinted at fear and accumulation.
- He couldn't yet discern the good intention behind the excessive buying and saw isolation tied to the possessions.
Culture Favors Having Over Being
- Society tends toward a 'having' mode that centers things rather than persons, shaping desires and identity around possession.
- Advertising and algorithms reinforce the idea that having more equals being more, deepening greed's cultural roots.
