{"id":14837,"date":"2017-10-26T19:22:36","date_gmt":"2017-10-27T02:22:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=14837"},"modified":"2017-10-26T19:22:36","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T02:22:36","slug":"hirschman-meets-martin-exit-voice-and-luther","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/hirschman-meets-martin-exit-voice-and-luther\/","title":{"rendered":"Hirschman meets Martin: Exit, Voice, and Luther"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been reflecting this week on the layers of complexity and messiness within institutions, specifically during experiences of dissatisfaction. How do we respond within the church when we\u2019re frustrated? As I\u2019ve pondered this, I\u2019ve also procrastinated on writing my sermon reflection for this week, which will eventually focus on the 500th<\/sup> anniversary of the Protestant Reformation; perhaps this is a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.<\/p>\n

The Restoration Movement, my church tradition, is not particularly fond of church history, especially anything that hints of Catholicism or denominations, so I didn\u2019t grow up hearing the stories of Martin Luther, Zwingli, Calvin, etc. The era between the biblical narratives and the present doesn\u2019t exist in our storyline, to our detriment, I believe. But as I consider the tale of Luther\u2019s frustration at the Church\u2019s promotion of indulgences, \u201cpaying for salvation,\u201d I also see parallels with Albert O. Hirschman\u2019s triangle of exit, voice, and loyalty.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Voice<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As Martin the monk became aware of the disintegration of quality within the institution of the Church, he began using his voice to reform the institution from within. He taught and preached, and studied scripture to create an alternative theology to the teaching of salvation through works. He wrote, and nailed his critiques to the church door. He utilized his contemporary social media platform\u2014the printing press\u2014to increase the volume of his voice, translating his Latin writings into German. Throughout this initial stage, Luther sought to \u201cuse voice for the purpose of making the [Church] live up to its image.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

This makes sense, according to Hirschman. Rome held a monopoly on the concept of \u201cchurch\u201d, which included vast economic and political powers: \u201cone important way of bringing influence to bear on an organization is to threaten exit to the rival organization. But this threat cannot be made when there is no rival, so that voice is not only handicapped when exit is possible, but also, though in a quite different way, when it is not.\u201d[3]<\/a> Initially, the authorities in Rome dismissed the lone wolf attempts of Luther to call out the deterioration of the institution. Luther, himself, had no intention of leaving the Church, but desired renewal. He was loyal, and \u201cas a rule\u2026 loyalty holds exit at bay and activates voice.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

Exit<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Luther\u2019s choice of action to register his disapproval\u2014using his voice\u2014follows Hirschman\u2019s expectations for what he calls \u201cprimordial human groupings\u201d[5]<\/a>, as does what happened next: excommunication: \u201cwith exit either impossible or unthinkable, provision is generally made in these organizations for expelling or excommunicating the individual member.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

With Martin Luther excommunicated, but continually calling others to identify Christ \u2014not the Pope\u2014as the head of the church, the possibility of competition with the Catholic Church opened floodgates and suddenly members of the institution had the option to exit a deteriorating organization for a new (and improved) church. Politics and social pressure played large roles in the sudden growth of this new Lutheran Church as a competitor (followed as well by other emerging Churches), as did the fresh theologies being disseminated. How delightfully freeing it is to hear that salvation is not earned through good works or payments, but given as a free gift through our faith in Jesus! But, I imagine, just as welcome was the possibility of choosing a church tradition based on its merits (or quality) rather than it simply being the only option. Suddenly, Christians could exit a church tradition if it declined in substance. This then encouraged the multiple developing denominations\u2014as well as the Catholic Church itself\u2014to grow into quality institutions and foster loyalty. For a time\u2026<\/p>\n

Loyalty<\/strong><\/h3>\n

As we observe the 500th<\/sup> anniversary of this watershed event, it bears a moment\u2019s thought to consider the situation of the American Church today, as many young people choose to exercise their dissent with their feet and exit the institution; and others\u2014in their attempt to use their voice for dissent, are blacklisted and expelled from positions of influence.[7]<\/a> The era of a monopoly is over, loyalty is lost, and voices silenced. Where does that leave the American Church? I\u2019m not sure Hirschman\u2019s thesis can answer that. I might suggest, though, that those who remain loyal to the institution of the church do so only in light of our loyalty to the head, which must always be Jesus. And if we \u201cfix our eyes on the author and perfecter of our faith,\u2026we might not grow weary or lose heart.\u201d[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Albert O. Hirschman, Exit, Voice, and Loyalty<\/em> (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press), 1970.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid., 114. \u201cCountry\u201d<\/em> in original text.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 55.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid., 78<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> These include family, tribe, church, and state. Ibid., 76.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Ibid., 76.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Women bloggers, for instance: http:\/\/religionnews.com\/2017\/05\/02\/why-ill-take-courageous-jen-hatmaker-over-her-cowardly-critics-any-day\/<\/a><\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Hebrews 12:2-3<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been reflecting this week on the layers of complexity and messiness within institutions, specifically during experiences of dissatisfaction. How do we respond within the church when we\u2019re frustrated? As I\u2019ve pondered this, I\u2019ve also procrastinated on writing my sermon reflection for this week, which will eventually focus on the 500th anniversary of the Protestant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"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":[251,408],"class_list":["post-14837","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-hirschman","tag-luther","cohort-lgp7"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14837","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\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14837"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14837\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14840,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14837\/revisions\/14840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}