Evidence of God’s providence
What are the conditions that caused capitalism to emerge in civilization? This is the question the German sociologist, Max Weber, tackles in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.[1] Though the answer is complex, Weber highlights the influence Protestantism in particular had in creating an environment for capitalism to thrive.
Dr. Jason Clark engages with Weber’s ideas along with David Bebbington to identify the genesis and underlying conditions that made way for Evangelicalism’s entanglement with capitalism. According to Dr. Clark, Evangelicalism “is seen as both a creature of capitalism, and a way of responding to capitalism.”[2] Clark argues that Weber’s understanding of the Protestant ethic “would possibly be better centred on the migration of assurance into the doctrine of providence.”[3] What this created was an assumption that to know whether one was “saved” (the doctrine of assurance), one had to see the fruits of God’s favor (the doctrine of providence) through economic blessing. In the words of Clark, “Assurance moves from its inner experience into the outward expression of self-creation by the external providence of the market manifested in the life of the believer. Assurance becomes a matter of being self-made and of outward provision by God, which are both ultimately ceded to the market.”[4]
In this post, I am going to primarily focus on the Enlightenment’s influence on Christianity and economics followed by a reflection on the imprint this has left on ministry leadership in our day and age.
The Enlightenment’s Influence on Christianity and Economics
One cannot overstate the impact the Enlightenment had on Christianity. In shifting the focus onto the human as an individual, the Christian faith became far more individualistic. Weber displays this in highlighting John Bunyan’s influential book Pilgrim’s Progress. Weber writes,
In spite of the necessity of membership in the true Church for salvation, the Calvinist’s intercourse with his God was carried on in deep spiritual isolation. To see the specific results of this peculiar atmosphere, it is only necessary to read Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, by far the most widely read book of the whole Puritan literature.[5]
The Enlightenment also impacted people’s view of economics. Lesslie Newbigin in his book Foolishness to the Greeks, comments on the impact of this shift in people’s economic view of static to growth and progress. He writes,
It has shifted the focus of attention from distribution to production. It has made us familiar with the idea of ceaseless and limitless growth, of unending possibilities of increased mastery over nature that provides increased resources of food, materials, and energy. This is a world in which economics is mainly about increasing production, and it is assumed that if everyone pursues his rational self-interest, production will grow and distribution will take care of itself.[6]
What this created, according to Newbigin, is a shift in Protestants on their understanding of “covetousness.” It shifted from “a deadly sin” to “a law of nature but the engine of progress by which the purpose of nature and nature’s God was to be carried out.”[7] It is no wonder we are living with greed masked as progress for God embedded within our hearts.
Ministry Leadership Today – The Metric of Favor
When I was in my early days of following Jesus, I remember watching a conversation six influential Evangelical pastors were having with each other (all were white men). The conversation was around “multi-site” ministry, particularly video-venue preaching. The tension was on raising up future preachers by giving them chances at speaking, or focusing the influence on the celebrity senior pastor. One of them, in support of the latter position (with affirmation from the other pastors), said “I’m not going to taper down my fruitfulness in the most fruitful season of ministry in order to convince other young leaders that I want them to have opportunities and grow.” My highly impressionable self learned that day this lesson: hoard the favor. Hoard the blessing. This is evidence of God’s providence in your life.
In my journey of learning the paradigm of ministry according to Jesus, I have had to work hard at uprooting this lesson.
[1] Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (Wilder Publications, 2015) .
[2] Jason Paul Clark, “Evangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship” (2018). Faculty Publications – Portland Seminary. 132. https://digitalcommons.georgefox.edu/gfes/132, 74.
[3] Ibid. 107.
[4] Ibid. 65.
[5] Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, 51.
[6] Lesslie Newbigin, Foolishness to the Greeks: The Gospel and Western Culture (Grand Rapids, Mich: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co, 1986),110.
[7] Ibid. 109.
About the Author
David Beavis
David is Australian by birth, was raised in Southern California, and is the Youth and Young Adults Pastor at B4 Church in Beaverton, Oregon. David and his wife, Laura, live in Hillsboro with their dog, Coava (named after their favorite coffee shop). M.A. Theology - Talbot School of Theology B.A. Psychology - Vanguard University of Southern California5 responses to “Evidence of God’s providence”
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David,
I appreciate your posts. Thank you for putting such time and effort into your research and presenting what you have learned with us.
Bless you.
Wow, David, what a great post! I like how you concisely summarized our complex readings and put the concepts into your own words, as well as wove in key quotes. I am really working on this and appreciate your model.
Also, these two quotes stood out for me:
“It is no wonder we are living with greed masked as progress for God embedded within our hearts.”
and
“My highly impressionable self learned that day this lesson: hoard the favor. Hoard the blessing. This is evidence of God’s providence in your life.”
Those are powerful words and they make me so sad. In your opinion, what can we do about this greed and misunderstanding that’s rooted in our faith? The answer is complex and more that we can write in a blog response, but what, in your opinion, are some starting places?
Thanks, David! I appreciate your writing.
David,
What a sad lesson you learned while so young in ministry. I’m sorry. Some of God’s ministers, sadly, are not so godly after all.
Like Paul, we ought all be striving daily to be able to say, “Imitate me, as I imitate Christ”.
David,
“I’m not going to taper down my fruitfulness in the most fruitful season of ministry in order to convince other young leaders that I want them to have opportunities and grow.” That is something hard to hear for sure! It sounds like it is not coming from a place of health, though but a place of selfishness or fear. Sorry you had to experience that. How have you been able to steward the blessings in your life, in light of what you heard from these influential pastors?
David, I loved your post! Lessons are so hard!
How do you think Christian leaders can foster an environment of sharing, rather than hoarding, the blessings, opportunities, and favor they receive?