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Why We Think Money Can Defeat Death (It Can’t)

Why We Think Money Can Defeat Death (It Can’t)

Last updated on: April 7, 2026 at 6:28 pm by Ted Peters

Why We Think Money Can Defeat Death (It Can’t) 2026-04-07T18:28:58-07:00 Ted Peters

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The Immortality of Money

“So give back to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s” (Matthew 22:21). That’s what Jesus told interlocutors about a Roman coin. I wonder, did Caesar think coins with his visage on the obverse would last forever? There is nothing in this dialogue about the immortality of money. Yet, it seems to have implications.

In his 1973 book, The Denial of Death, Ernst Becker observed that acquiring money — lots of money — is a psychological trick we play on ourselves to deny that we are mortal. If we possess money or anything else that will outlive us, we convince ourselves that we too live beyond death. Facing death is so frightening that we invoke a mechanism of delusion to feel secure by thinking of ourselves as cosmically special.

Might this apply to the 47th president of the United States? We have seen that, like a Roman emperor who determines life or death of a gladiator with a flip of the thumb, America’s current president brags when someone dies upon his ordering it. Did Rome’s emperor and our president as well believe that the power over someone else’s life demonstrates power over one’s own mortality? Does the president hold power over his own life and death, too?

I wonder if POTUS thinks that his visage, signature, or inscribed name might last forever. The signature of the 47th US president will soon appear on dollar bills and be seen by money spenders for generations. This same president has proposed the erection of a monument — the Memorial Circle Arch or Independence Arch to be constructed on Columbia Island in Washington DC — that would memorialize this president for as long as stones resist weather erosion. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has signed a bill to rename Palm Beach International Airport after the current POTUS.

The Immortality of Money in American Currency

In a previous post, “Patheos PT 3296 The New Presidential Dollar?,” I asked about the New Presidential Dollar. Do I want to spend it or collect it as a souvenir? If I keep it without spending it, will I contribute to POTUS’ immortality?

Actually, the US Mint anticipates two coins, a commemorative coin and an actual dollar. The 24-karat gold commemorative coin would be a collector’s item and wouldn’t enter circulation. The $1 coin could go into circulation as legal tender.

According to the US Mint, the Commission of Fine Arts voted for this presidential profile to appear on the $1 coin

As I mentioned before, I am a coin collector. Does this mean I’m looking for immortality in money?

As a teenager, I began with American Indian Cents and Lincoln Cents. I became fascinated with the history that accompanied the minting of coins.

Barber Silver Dollar (1892-1915)

I especially admired those Barber Silver Dollars (1892-1915) with Lady Liberty on the obverse. But I did not earn enough on my paper route to collect much more than pennies.

One day, when delivering the Detroit News, a man asked me to get off my Schwinn bicycle and come to talk. He knew I was a numismatist. He had pulled out of his own treasure box a Lincoln cent, a 1914D. Oh, how I had yearned for that rare coin! I coveted what I saw. No matter how many thousands of pennies I took home from the local banks I examined, the 1914D was elusive. I’d gone to bed many nights dreaming of the day I would get one. And he gave it to me as a gift? I guess the guy liked kids. Well, that’s my only explanation. What a thrilling moment!

In 1914, when Abraham Lincoln’s visage appeared on the penny, Lady Liberty’s face appeared on the dollar coin. By concluding the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln had earned a place in history. This warrants his profile on the penny. Now, I ask: should the 47th president of the United States join the coin club with Lady Liberty and Abraham Lincoln on a New Presidential Dollar plus a commemorative gold coin? Well, he certainly thinks so. Does he believe in the immortality of money?

Conclusion

Should the American people feed the president’s voracious delusion — the delusion of the immortality of money?

Whereas President Lincoln ended a civil war, the current president is starting multiple wars by sending US troops into Portland, Chicago, Venezuela, Iran, and soon Cuba, along with Mexico. I wonder if we should wait to see how he ends the wars he is starting. Then, if we have a country left, we can mint the New Presidential Dollar.

Patheos PT 3296 The New Presidential Dollar?

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Substack PT 4023. The winds of America’s next wars are already blowing

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Meet Ted Peters. For Patheos, Ted Peters posts articles and notices in the field of Public Theology. He is a Lutheran pastor and emeritus professor at the Graduate Theological Union. His single volume systematic theology, God—The World’s Future, is now in the 3rd edition. He has also authored God as Trinity plus Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society as well as Sin Boldly: Justifying Faith for Fragile and Broken Souls. In 2023 he published. The Voice of Public Theology, with ATF Press. This year he has published an edited volume, Promise and Peril of AI and IA: New Technology Meets Religion, Theology, and Ethics (ATF) and along with Arvin Gouw an edited collection, The CRISPR Revolution in Science, Religion, and Ethics (Bloomsbury 2025). See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com and Patheos blog site on Public Theology.

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About Ted Peters

Meet Ted Peters. For Patheos, Ted Peters posts articles and notices in the field of Public Theology. He is a Lutheran pastor and emeritus professor at the Graduate Theological Union. His single volume systematic theology, God—The World’s Future, is now in the 3rd edition. He has also authored God as Trinity plus Sin: Radical Evil in Soul and Society as well as Sin Boldly: Justifying Faith for Fragile and Broken Souls. In 2023 he published. The Voice of Public Theology, with ATF Press. This year he has published an edited volume, Promise and Peril of AI and IA: New Technology Meets Religion, Theology, and Ethics (ATF) and along with Arvin Gouw an edited collection, The CRISPR Revolution in Science, Religion, and Ethics (Bloomsbury 2025). See his website: TedsTimelyTake.com and Patheos blog site on Public Theology. You can read more about the author here.

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