Weber, Max, Talcott Parsons, and R.H. Tawney. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism<\/i>. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2003.<\/p>\n
Summary:<\/p>\n
Most of us have seen the commercials about the DNA testing that helps one know the origins of their family tree. One guy says, “I thought I was Italian and my test showed I was actually Eastern European.” Another says, “I thought I was German, but the test revealed that I’m Scottish! Now I have to change the way I view myself and the world.<\/em>” \u00a0Max Weber did a DNA test of modern capitalism and came up with some rather unique and intriguing results. The capitalist commercial goes something like this.<\/p>\n Que the music! Roll! A camera pulls back from a close-up shot of water coming from the top of a fountain to reveal a sprawling mansion. The camera continues to pull back and pans left to reveal a new Lamborghini parked just left of the fountain which can now be seen as being at the center of a large circular driveway. The camera pans back to center and then to a wide, rising shot, over the top of the mansion, where both the helicopter and the ocean come into view. The pan continues upward to the sky, fading into to a Lear jet flying across the ocean. A zoom through the window over the wing to a full shot of \u00a0Capitalism sitting in a leather seat. Capitalism smiles and says, \u201cI thought I was from the USA, but my DNA test showed I\u2019m actually from the protestant church and not just the Protestant church, but from a guy called Calvin!\u201d Fade out to a website where you can get your test too!<\/p>\n Weber\u2019s thesis is simply this: The DNA (Spirit of Capitalism) of modern capitalism is Protestantism and specifically Calvin\u2019s doctrine of predestination and his view of the \u201ccall.\u201d According to Weber, the \u201ccall\u201d is the idea everyone is created\u00a0by God with a single purpose. \u00a0Therefore, to prove their faith in God, everyone must work hard to fulfill the purpose for which God created them. Anything that kept them from the call was sinful and should be shunned. With the addition of Calvin\u2019s doctrine of predestination, hard work presented itself as the outward symbol of those where were \u201cthe elect\u201d and were predestined by God as one who will surely go to heaven.<\/p>\n Keeping this in mind, one might say that many years ago the ancestor of capitalism looked something like this. The camera zooms in; the ancestor speaks. “I am laboring not so much to make uncontrollable amounts of money, but because this is my single God-created purpose in life. I will make ever increasing profits in a controlled and rational way (because there is no magic\u2014only rational thought) over an extended period. However, I want little gain for myself, because spending the profits on myself and the enjoyment of life would only lead me away from the hard work, for which God created me to do. Consequently, if I am lead away from hard work into a state of idleness, I am not pleasing God. In fact, the only way that I can please God, and therefore be assured of my place in heaven, is through hard work and an ascetic lifestyle. And so I work hard, and I live frugally. I put the capital gains back into the enterprise instead of spending it on my enjoyment. The result is that the business grows, signifying I am one of the elect and I am pleasing to God.”<\/p>\n According to Weber’s\u00a0description, \u00a0this is the ancestor and the “Spirit of Capitalism.” Even though modern capitalism doesn\u2019t look exactly like this, when you look closely in the mirror you can see that it has the same eyes, nose and build. It looks just like family.<\/p>\n Application:<\/p>\n The first thought that comes to mind is the influence and impact the church has had on our world. Any study of the history of our world that is absent from an understanding of the influence and impact of the of the church\u2014both good and bad\u2014is wanting.<\/p>\n My second thought was when I look for Weber\u2019s distant cousins of capitalism in our modern capitalistic society; I see the Amish communities. This is by no means a negative, my wife\u2019s family has their roots in the Amish communities of Pennsylvania.\u00a0I don\u2019t want to over-generalize, but for the purpose of this application, the Amish are from the Reformed tradition. They are hard-working, they have an entrepreneurial spirit that leads to the starting the running of extremely successful business. Additionally, they live quite austere lives and therefore the profits from business flow back into the business and into the community\u2014which continues that cycle of growth. They look like cousins to me.<\/p>\n The third thought is, why does capitalism seem so familiar to the Western Protestant Christian? \u00a0Is it so familiar that is can easily express itself in the way we worship, in our signs of successful churches, pastors, missionaries, evangelists, and teachers? Can it be so \u201cfamiliar\u201d (see FAMILY) that we are not aware of it\u2019s impact how we view God and his Commission? Is it so familiar that we carry it with us\u2014unnoticed\u2014when we go into the whole world to preach the Gospel to all.<\/p>\n The questions go back to Anderson\u2014what stories are we telling ourselves that make us who we are? [1] \u00a0They go back to Bebbington\u2019s quadrilateral\u2014what is it that makes us evangelical?[2] They go \u00a0back to Garner\u2014how are we contextualizing the Gospel? [3] Are we contextualizing in the light of our family tree or the light of God\u2019s plan?\u00a0 I don\u2019t have the answers; but now that I am more aware of my family tree a great question arises: will this knowledge lead me to change how I view myself and the way I view the world?<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Weber, Max, Talcott Parsons, and R.H. Tawney. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2003. Summary: Most of us have seen the commercials about the DNA testing that helps one know the origins of their family tree. 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