Summary<\/p>\n
The self-regulating market is often billed as the means of reaching utopia on earth. It is said that the market, if left to adjust itself, will solve labor, hunger, property, social issues, and the balance of power. According to Polanyi, this is a fallacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cSuch an institution could not exist for any length of time without annihilating the human and natural substance of society; it would have physically destroyed man and transferred his surroundings into a wilderness. Inevitably, society took measures to protect itself, but whatever measures it took impaired the self-regulation of the market, disorganized industrial life, and thus endangered society in yet another way. It was this dilemma which forced the development of the market system into a definite groove and finally disrupted the social organization based upon it.\u201d[1]<\/p>\n
This one paragraph sums the entire book and Polanyi\u2019s substantivism<\/i> in which there is an economy of resource and an economy of human interaction. Polanyi contends that the resource side of the economic equation is inseparable from the impact on the human side of the economy.[2] \u00a0They are more than directly related; each has impact on the other; in fact, one cannot exist without the other. The economy is after all social.[3]<\/p>\n
Application<\/p>\n
What does that mean for the mission of the Church? Of the many questions that arise in this topic of markets, money, resources and the Church, the one that resonates throughout the scriptures is, \u201cWhat about those who do not have money, resources, or property?\u201d How does the self-regulating market impact them? One of the cruelest outcomes of a free-market system is its impact on people. One quote, in particular, is formulated on the idea that society and therefore the market is based on two equally opposing forces, those who own property and those who labor. \u201cThe number of the latter [laborers] was listed by the amount of food; and as long as property was safe, hunger would drive them to work. No magistrate was necessary, for hunger was a better disciplinarian than the magistrate.\u201d[4]<\/p>\n
And now to my point. I fear that as believers living in a market driven society, we have a tendency to rely on the market system or even the government to solve a problem God intended for the Church to solve. Namely to take care of those who live on the margins of society.\u00a0 Paul Hiebert said, \u201cOne of the measures of the godliness of a church is the way it treats the marginalized. The world takes care of the successful, the powerful and the wealthy. The church exists for other. It is entrusted with the care of the lost on the margins.\u201d<\/p>\n
We rely on the market economy to take care of the marginalize when we say, \u201cif you\u2019d just get a job you wouldn\u2019t have these problems.\u201d Maybe God is asking us to help them find work, train them, place them. We rely on the government to meet the needs of the marginalized when we say, \u201cI\u2019m so sorry you\u2019re hungry, let me pray for you. Now, go and have a nice day.\u201d Maybe God wants us to provide a meal\u2014at our table!<\/p>\n
I agree whole heartedly that the Church of today has a vast and positive impact on the world. \u00a0For the millions who would otherwise be forgotten, the Church is feeding, clothing, housing, training, serving and healing. I understand that the needs are great and that we can\u2019t solve all of the problems everywhere. But we can start, one at a time. One meal, one coat, one moment.<\/p>\n
I pray that this will be the time in history where the church rises\u00a0up and says, “enough!” I pray that this will be a time when a new generation of believers shouts, \u201cWe are ready, with the power of the Holy Spirit and the help of Almighty God to be more Christ-like and reach from the middle to the margins.\u201d\u00a0 When that happens, we will begin to see the greatest outpouring of the Holy Sprit our country and the world has ever seen. But for that to happen we first must see clearly. We cannot confuse the purpose of the markets with the commission of the Church. \u00a02 Chronicles 7:14\u2014Let the healing begin!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Summary The self-regulating market is often billed as the means of reaching utopia on earth. It is said that the market, if left to adjust itself, will solve labor, hunger, property, social issues, and the balance of power. According to Polanyi, this is a fallacy. \u201cSuch an institution could not exist for any length of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4],"class_list":["post-11355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-polanyi","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11355\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}