"In this analysis of the genealogy of western capitalist 'development', The Political Economy of Desire departs from the common position that development and underdevelopment are conceptual outcomes of the Imperialist era. Instead, it positions the genealogy of development within early Christian writings in which the western theological concepts of sin, salvation, and redemption are expounded. Linking the writings of early theologians, such as Augustine and Anselm, to the processes of modern identity formation - of which phenomena such as the West, the First World, the Rule of Law and the individual subject and his or her freedoms are but a part - the concept of development is thus traced to a particularly Christian dynamic. As such, the promise of development is considered as analogous to the way in which the Word of God was used to call Christianity into being, with the promise of salvation."--BOOK JACKET.