"This book arose out of one observation. Despite the huge improvements in our material wellbeing in the last50 years, we have become no happier.' (113) "Since the early 1990's Australia has been infected by affluenza, a growing and unhealthy occupation with money and material things' (178). "Australians feel materially deprived, even though they are richer than ever before' (179).

So say Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss. These two are the face of the Australia Institute, a progressive think tank which is highly critical of current western economics, politics and consumer lifestyles. Their book is forceful and passionate and aims to rouse Australians from the sickbed of affluenza, and galvanise us to pursue a better life. This better life attains wellbeing through relationships with family, friends and the community, rather than through chasing the extra $10,000 p.a. that will allow you to buy more of what you want. This better way of life is attained through dethroning the market, with its marketing culture which constantly makes us feel incomplete, and its political culture driven by economic growth.

The book seeks to analyse contemporary consumer culture. It is full of entertaining, if extreme, examples of affluenza. For example, the humble Aussie BBQ (once made of old bricks) is now a "prestigious gourmet outdoor entertainment system'. Ads declare "I love the look on the neighbours face when I roll out the Rinnai'. Status and competition are now not the shameful subtext of neighbourly relationships, but are openly used to sell $2500 BBQs.

Affluenza explores the social cost of the quest for wellbeing through the thrill of consumption. It identifies debt, overwork, waste and the use of drugs to medicate our misery as the true personal, social and environmental cost of the consumer lifestyle. Society is "in the grip of a collective psychological disorder' (6) and something has to be done.

Affluenza seeks to chart a way out of this disorder. The authors name "downshifters' as the pioneers of a recovery from affluenza. "Downshifters are people who make a conscious decision to accept a lower income and a lower level of consumption in order to pursue other life goals' (153). Dissent from consumer values and desire for balance, fulfilment and health drives downshifters. Finally Affluenza calls for a renewal of progressive politics aimed at persuading us out of our sickness, towards wellbeing.

This is a thoroughly moral work. Its most prominent moral categories are health and sickness " we are sick, and we need healing. Selfishness, drivenness and social isolation are ills. Generosity, balance and connected communities are our health. Further, we can through reflective and courageous action find our way out of sickness and towards health.

Moral judgements rest on a view of reality. So what view of reality underlies the moral argument of Affluenza? It seems to me that it is a secular and humanist view of reality. Despite some mention of spiritual values contributing to human welbeing, such spiritual values must get with the wider programme; hence despite an acknowledgement that evangelical Christian churches provide the kind of meaningful community that is rare, essential and unobtainable through TV, shopping or political parties, there is hostility towards any "retrograde conservative morality' (181). Criticising homosexuality, for example, is out.

Christians might wholeheartedly agree with Hamilton and Denniss about the evils on display in a consumer culture, and that modern society is diseased, and that more wealth will not solve our problems. Christians may even participate in "downshifting' and hope to see stronger, healthier communities. Yet we are not secular humanists, and must criticise the view of reality that underlies Affluenza. It is not deep enough. Allegedly affluenza has gripped Australia since the 1990s. But what about the famously greedy 1980s? And what about before that? If society has changed, what are the roots of those changes? Why have Australians become susceptible now to this allegedly extreme manifestation of greed? And what can we build community upon? What can bring the diversity of Australian society together in local communities strong enough to provide the kind of moral strength to withstand the marketing onslaught? Sport? Music? The marketers have those things in their back pockets. Politics? The authors themselves admit that politicians are powerless "as long as we remain preoccupied with [" ] interest rates, tax cuts and getting ahead financially' (139). 

So where will we find the source for reflective and courageous action? For Hamilton and Denniss this must come from our own better nature " an appeal to self-preservation, care for our children's future and a sense of common decency. Again, is that deep enough? Can an appeal like that really change people's selfishness, greed and blindness to the shallow damaged lives they live?

Christians have argued, and continue to argue that only the power of God, exercised in the work of Jesus Christ, can heal human beings of their sickness. Only that power can change people's selfishness, greed and blindness. Only that can create real and morally strong communities. Although this healing is always partial in this age, God at work in our midst is our best hope of leaving behind greed and enjoying wellbeing. Call upon him to be at work to deliver us and our society from affluenza.