The Price of Tomorrow: How Capitalism and Christian Theology Commodify the Future

[Figure: see text] This article examines how contemporary capitalism and Christian thought commodify the future through the lens of debt. Drawing on decolonial perspectives, it situates this commodification within the broader colonial matrix of power, arguing that both capitalist and Christian theological approaches to the future perpetuate systems of exploitation and control. This examination uncovers surprising parallels between economic and theological realms, challenging traditional separations between these domains. This work is organized in three parts. The first section explores three key economic mechanisms—futures markets, debt instruments, and retirement plans and pensions—to demonstrate how contemporary capitalism transforms the future into a tradable commodity. The second section analyzes how Christian economic theology, particularly through the doctrine of salvation, might have constructed the future as an asset/commodity using notions of debt. The third and final section proposes the Andean concept of Pachakuti as a potential framework for reimagining the future beyond the logic of commodification and debt. This interdisciplinary study calls for a critical examination of the profound connection between capitalism's exploitation of the future and the way economic Christian thinking has influenced our understanding of it. This study contributes to ongoing discussions in economic theology, decolonial theory, and critical examinations of capitalism's impact on temporal conceptualizations.