By: Adam Harris on October 26, 2023
I’ve been in full time ministry most of my vocational life, but while getting my master’s degree I took a detour into the business world for a few years. While working as a fitness trainer, a sales manager position opened that sold fitness training packages for a national gym chain. I was hesitant at first,…
By: Mathieu Yuill on October 26, 2023
I live near Lake Ontario, about 350 metres (or 400 yards). Almost 30 kilometres north (or 19 miles), my colleague lives in Stouffville and her backyard borders the southern side of what is called The Greenbelt[1], a vast expanse of protected land around Lake Ontario. When visiting her one day and looking over the fence…
By: Cathy Glei on October 25, 2023
“Ours is not a historical work; what we are searching for is not a convincing sequence of outstanding events, but an explanation of their trend in terms of human institutions.” Karl Polanyi [1] “The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time” is a seminal work by Hungarian-American economist and social theorist Karl…
By: John Fehlen on October 23, 2023
Many agree that in the realm of economic and social thought, Karl Polanyi’s seminal work, “The Great Transformation,” has left an indelible mark. Although awed by his incredible level of intellect, that mark for me will be, well, delible and unremarkable. Published in 1944, this exhaustive (!) work explores the complex interplay between economic systems,…
By: Dinka Utomo on October 20, 2023
“Beware of thinking all your own that you possess, and of living accordingly. It is a mistake that many people who have credit fall into.” -Benjamin Franklin- Assurance and anxiety stand as polar opposites. Throughout history, individuals have striven for assurance through a multitude of guarantees that offer a sense of confidence. Anxiety is…
By: Jenny Dooley on October 19, 2023
In The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, a key question that author Max Weber raised was, “How can we live under modern capitalism, which gives priority to the laws of the market over longstanding traditions, ethical values, and personal relationships?”[1] That is a very good question for us to ask ourselves today. In…
By: Todd E Henley on October 19, 2023
July 20, 1996, I was being interviewed for a Youth Pastor position. The one question I remember from the lead pastor was, “Are there any topics you tend to emphasize more than others on a consistent basis?” I felt the atmosphere in the room change after that question. No one had ever asked me that…
By: Adam Harris on October 19, 2023
Reading a book like Max Weber’s, The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, makes for a difficult blog post, at least for me. Books like these remind me of just how much I don’t know, and I still don’t think my mind is completely wrapped around everything Weber proposes. I think I would…
By: Mathieu Yuill on October 19, 2023
My introduction to Calvinism occurred in my 40s, quite by chance, through a conversation with a pastor I had become acquainted with. To my initial bewilderment, he confessed his affiliation with Calvinism, a theological doctrine. At that moment, I mistakenly believed he was referring to his affinity for the popular comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes.”…
By: Cathy Glei on October 19, 2023
“We are interested rather in something entirely different: the influence of those psychological sanctions which, originating in religious belief and the practice of religion, gave a direction to practical conduct and held the individual to it. Now these sanctions were to a large extent derived from the peculiarities of the religious ideas behind them.” [1] …
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on October 17, 2023
Not For Me I struggled with The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. From start to finish, I had a hard time following Max Weber’s writing style. I’m not sure if I’m built for 100-year-old literature, certainly not literature that is extremely dense and filled with so many references to other writers. I have…
By: John Fehlen on October 16, 2023
My copy of Max Weber’s book has a blurb on the back cover. It says “First published in 1905, “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” is listed by the International Sociological Association as the fourth most important book of the 20th century.” Personally, if this is true, then I would hate to read…
By: Dinka Utomo on October 13, 2023
The inner self is the basis of human dignity, moreover the inner sense of dignity needs recognition -Francis Fukuyama- Identity politics seems to be a scourge in our national and state life. I still clearly remember the moment of the Governor’s election for our nation’s capital in 2017. Of the three pairs of candidates…
By: John Fehlen on October 13, 2023
Before sunrise on May 16, 2023 I boarded an Alaska Airlines flight from Portland (PDX) to San Francisco (SFO). I got on a return flight later that evening. I only needed to be in San Francisco for approximately 2 hours, but decided to make “a day of it.” I had a singular meeting at 2…
By: Adam Harris on October 12, 2023
During last week’s discussion I mentioned the natural temptation to categorize people into groups. I continually caught myself trying to pin down Francis Fukuyama’s political affiliation in his book Identity with little success. While reading I would think, he must be a democrat…well… maybe he is a republican…. libertarian? People who can critique and call…
By: Todd E Henley on October 12, 2023
The spring of 1978 my 6th grade class was preparing for graduation by rehearsing the song, “The Greatest Love of All”1 Every time we sang it, there was one line we nearly screamed at the top of our lungs, “No matter what they take from me. They can’t take away my dignity” This was because…
By: Mathieu Yuill on October 12, 2023
In my city, the stark divisions between neighborhoods are more than just geographical boundaries; they are metaphorical objects that separate communities with contrasting realities. These divisions are often represented by elements such as train tracks, specific streets, or even a park, and they bring to light severe income disparities and, at times, ethno-racial differences. It’s…
By: Jonita Fair-Payton on October 11, 2023
Identity is defined as “the distinguishing character or personality of an individual”(1) I read it a couple of times so that I could let it sink in. I then tried to find a single, only one, distinguishing character that makes me ‘me”! I could not. I am so many things, a beautiful and complex combination…
By: Cathy Glei on October 10, 2023
Each year, when our school district returns from summer vacation the staff are presented with a new inspirational focus, or buzz word, to frame our collaborative work. It is a method for framing our thinking around our collective mission and pursuits. This year, when we returned to begin the 2023-24 school year, we were presented…
By: Kim Sanford on October 9, 2023
“If we do not agree on a minimal common culture, we cannot cooperate on shared tasks and will not regard the same institutions as legitimate; indeed, we will not even be able to communicate with one another absent a common language with mutually understood meanings.” [1] In his book Identity: The Demand for Dignity and…