By: Greg McMullen on February 21, 2023
This last week after we learned how capitalism has affected the Great Commission, we now see how geography and culture can have an impact on Christianity and the Great Commission. We take another step in learning and growing in Tim Marshals book Prisoners of Geography and Winchester, The Map That Changed The World. Both authors bring…
By: Elmarie Parker on February 21, 2023
“We are goldfish swimming in Christian [I would suggest Judeo-Christian] waters.”[1] Tom Holland’s colorful description of Christianity’s influence on the western mind left me smiling. Throughout his Theos Annual Lecture, Holland gave illustration after illustration of how the dogmas of Western, secular-humanism are implicitly rooted in the Christian narrative. What has been tacitly assumed by…
By: Russell Chun on February 21, 2023
¿Eres un árbol o un animal? Are you a tree or an animal? (Spanish) Edwin H. Friedman uses the tension of opposites, intentional polarization of thought to challenge the readers concepts on leadership. Going out on a limb, I reached back to the definition of dialectic dialogue. (philosophy a: discussion and reasoning by dialogue as…
By: Kim Sanford on February 20, 2023
Edwin Friedman writes in A Failure of Nerve : Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix , “The notion that an entity can modify surrounding relationships through its presence rather than its forcefulness, moreover, is not unknown to science. Catalysts function that way, for example.”[i] Friedman emphasizes leading by presence, by virtue of who…
By: Jennifer Vernam on February 20, 2023
Before I can wholeheartedly get into my assessment about this week’s reading, I have to clear the air about my initial reaction to Friedman’s Failure of Nerve.[1] It took me a few days to figure out how to articulate what wasn’t sitting right with me, and I think it is worth calling out. Friedman’s use…
By: John Fehlen on February 20, 2023
Every once and awhile a book surfaces “for such a time as this.” The content is a prophetic punch in the face. Such is the case with “A Failure of Nerve” by Edwin H. Friedman. I remember feeling this many years ago with Mark Senter’s “The Coming Revolution in Youth Ministry”[1] and more recently with…
By: Travis Vaughn on February 20, 2023
“Calm is contagious.” About a decade ago, I read Rorke Denver’s book, Damn Few: Making the Modern Seal Warrior. While reading Edwin Friedman’s book, A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix, Denver’s story of a particular combat event came to mind. After he described a pretty horrific scene, Denver wrote,…
By: Chad McSwain on February 19, 2023
Are our vocations a means of grace? Do we fulfill the very calling of God by being employed? These are some of the questions that are considered by the investigation of Max Weber in his work, The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism [1]. Weber concludes that the rising Protestantism gave the context and…
By: Audrey Robinson on February 19, 2023
In his book, The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism and Other Writings, Max Weber (1864-1920) utilized his professions of sociology and history to investigate the causality of modern capitalism and the religious forces of his day known as the Protestant Reformation. It is important to note that his work is considered a classic,…
By: Becca Hald on February 19, 2023
“It’s all about making the bed!” That was my brilliant deduction. It was 2:00am in the morning. I was a college student studying for my midterm on the Protestant Reformation. In my exhausted stupor, I decided that this was the reason for the Protestant Reformation. The Catholic Church was all about making the bed. What…
By: Caleb Lu on February 18, 2023
Max Weber’s work, Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, gives some insight into the influence of the Reformation, especially Calvin’s thoughts on predestination, on the development of capitalism. More exactly, Weber’s thesis is that Calvinistic predestination created an anxiety amongst Christians that found its resolution in the doctrine of providence. That providence was…
By: Laura Fleetwood on February 18, 2023
The forces that shape our culture and worldviews are layered and complex. It’s quite an undertaking to look back on history and attempt to trace the threads that form our current leadership environments. Anyone who does so must acknowledge that such discoveries, while insightful and helpful, are also surely biased through the lenses through which…
By: Daron George on February 18, 2023
The Summary “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” by Max Weber and “Evangelicalism and Capitalism” by Dr. Jason Clark explore the relationship between religion and the rise of modern capitalism. Weber’s book focuses on the historical and cultural factors that led to the development of capitalism in Europe. At the same time, Clark’s…
By: Jean de Dieu Ndahiriwe on February 18, 2023
Max Weber, German Social Scientist and author of The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism, Explains and reveals an interesting way of looking at Capitalism and its relationship to Protestantism. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (German: Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus) is a book by Max Weber, a German sociologist, economist, and politician. Begun as…
By: Mary Kamau on February 18, 2023
Critical Theory has become a buzzword common in politics and social justice academic talks and even found its way to the school curriculum, yet only a few know its sources. James Lindsay and Helen Pluckrose have delved into this topic. They have tried to demystify it in their book, Cynical Theories: How Activist Scholarship Made…
By: Jenny Steinbrenner Hale on February 17, 2023
The reading this week was challenging and engaged my intellect and emotions from a variety of angles. Main Points from Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism (1904-1905) Max Weber, German Social Scientist and author of The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism (PESC) argues that the Protestant work ethic, promoting…
By: Michael O'Neill on February 17, 2023
Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is one of the most influential books in modern sociology.[1] Written by German sociologist Max Weber, this book examines how religious beliefs can shape economic behavior. Weber looks at how Calvinism, a branch of Protestant Christianity, encouraged what he called “the Spirit of Capitalism.” His…
By: Greg McMullen on February 17, 2023
It was fall quarter in my fourth year of bible college when I had to make some hard decisions. Most of my experience in ministry up to this point had been with youth ministries. The focus was more on entertaining and making Jesus exciting for young people. I was ministering more and more with adults,…
By: Noel Liemam on February 17, 2023
The word, “Leadersmithing,” sounds so catchy and interesting. It made me wanted to rush into the book and find out exactly what it is or what does it mean. Then, I look closely at it, it has some similarities with words like locksmith and blacksmith in which I said to myself, “ha-ha,” I kind of…
By: Dinka Utomo on February 17, 2023
“Leaders are made, not born” -Eve Poole- Introduction Leadership could be said to be a skill that has existed since the beginning of human civilization and continues to be relevant today. It has long been a scientific field that is studied and applied to various aspects of human life. Knowledge of leadership and its developments,…
