{"id":16898,"date":"2018-03-06T23:12:25","date_gmt":"2018-03-07T07:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=16898"},"modified":"2018-03-06T23:12:25","modified_gmt":"2018-03-07T07:12:25","slug":"will-the-rich-be-in-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/will-the-rich-be-in-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"Will the Rich Be in Heaven?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I decided to start this blog with a little research around this concept of Protestant Ethic and the author who coined the term in 1904. Max Weber was a German sociologist who was born the eldest son to parents Max and Helen in Erfurt, Germany on April 21, 1864 and died June 14, 1920 in Munich, Germany. His father was an aspiring liberal politician, and his mother was raised in Calvinist orthodoxy. In 1893 he started teaching jurisprudence at the University of Berlin and met and married his wife, Marianne Schnitger, who were actually \u201ckissing cousins\u201d since she was in fact his second cousin. It is no surprise that Weber was a workaholic and had a huge capacity to create intellectual works and quickly rose in ranks to become a full professor in political economy at Freiburg and later Heidelberg. Interestingly, after his father\u2019s death in 1897 he had his first nervous breakdown and became intermittently institutionalized for the next five years and was forced to resign his professorship at Heidelberg. In 1903 he finally recovered and resumed his scholarly work and produced his most famous work, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism<\/em>.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

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His concept of the Protestant ethic was later referred to as the Protestant work ethic, the Calvinist work ethic or the Puritan work ethic. \u201cIt is a concept that spans\u00a0theology,\u00a0sociology,\u00a0economics and\u00a0history\u00a0and emphasizes that hard work, discipline and\u00a0frugality are a result of a person’s subscription to the values espoused by the\u00a0Protestant faith, particularly\u00a0Calvinism.\u201d[2]<\/a> It was interesting to learn about the connection between these Protestant ethics and capitalism, and the influence his Calvinist roots had on his theory. At the foundation of his concept was his Calvinist belief that the elect were predestined by God, and since God was behind this determination, man tried to figure out who was actually in this special group. \u201cSince it was impossible to know who was predestined, the notion developed that it might be possible to discern that a person was\u00a0elect\u00a0(predestined) by observing their way of life. Hard work and frugality were thought to be two important consequences of being one of the elect. Protestants were thus attracted to these qualities and supposed to strive for reaching them.\u201d[3]<\/a> In fact, Weber \u201cheld that the Protestant\u00a0ethic\u00a0was an important factor in the economic success of Protestant groups in the early stages of European capitalism; because worldly success could be interpreted as a sign of eternal salvation, it was vigorously pursued.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

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In applying this concept of the Protestant work ethic and its connection to capitalism to the church today, I would say we have lost any connection to the church being the catalyst. As Weber states, \u201cAny relationship between religious beliefs and conduct is generally absent, and where any exists, at least in Germany, it tends to be of the negative sort. The people filled with the spirit of capitalism today tend to be indifferent, if not hostile, to the Church.\u201d[5]<\/a> I\u2019m hoping my Calvinist brothers\/sisters in the cohort can shed light on whether this belief is still present among people seeking to discover who those predestined individuals might be. This idea of worldly success being a sign of eternal salvation reminds me of those \u201cname it and claim it\u201d, \u201cprosperity gospel\u201d ministries that popped up in the 1950s and became more prevalent in the 1980s with the televangelism movement. It was taught that if you are a true Christian you should be blessed by God in every area of your life, finances, possessions, health, etc. When I was younger, I remember having discussions with people who were concerned about unconfessed sin or lack of spiritual discipline as to why they were not experiencing this level of success in their life. It some ways it seems that these leaders believed what Weber said, \u201cIn practice, this means that God helps those who help themselves. Thus the Calvinist, as it is sometimes put, himself creates his own salvation, or, as would be more correct, the conviction of it.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

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I found the following summary rather helpful in understanding the results of this Protestant ethic on society:<\/p>\n

\u201cWeber’s conclusion is a unique one. Weber found that under the influence of Protestant religions, especially Puritanism, individuals were religiously compelled to follow a secular vocation with as much enthusiasm as possible. A person living according to this worldview was therefore more likely to accumulate money. Further, the new religions, such as Calvinism and Protestantism, forbade wastefully using hard-earned money and labeled the purchase of luxuries as a sin. These religions also frowned upon donating money to the poor or to charity because it was seen as promoting beggary. Thus, a conservative, even stingy lifestyle, combined with a work ethic that encouraged people to earn money, resulted in large amounts of available money. The way these issues were resolved, Weber argued, was to invest the money\u2014a move that gave a large boost to capitalism. In other words, capitalism evolved when the Protestant ethic influenced large numbers of people to engage in work in the\u00a0secular world, developing their own enterprises and engaging in trade and the accumulation of wealth for investment.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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The other famous concept from Weber, the \u201ciron cage\u201d, was interestingly not from him directly. Since his original book was written in German in 1904, it was translated into English in 1930 by American sociologist Talcott Parsons, who took what Weber referred to in German as a stahlhartes Geh\u00e4use<\/em>, which literally translated means \u201chousing hard as steel\u201d and translated it to say \u201ciron cage\u201d in English.[8]<\/a> This concept and the English name for it has been widely accepted among sociologists today. The fact that capitalism has become its own animal apart from, what Weber would argue as its Calvinist roots, is proof that we all live in this \u201ciron cage\u201d called capitalism. \u201cIn Weber’s view, the Protestant ethic was the driving force behind the mass action that led to the development of capitalism. And it was Weber who famously articulated the concept of the\u00a0“iron cage”<\/a>\u2014the theory that an economic system\u00a0can become a restrictive force that can prevent\u00a0change and perpetuate its own failings.\u201d[9]<\/a> It is my prayer that we are not restricted in our efforts to change the world with the transforming power of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

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________________________________________<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [1] Arthur Mitzman, Max Weber<\/em>, Encyclopedia Britannica (January 5, 2018) Accessed March 6, 2018, https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Max-Weber-German-sociologist<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [2] https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Protestant_work_ethic<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [3] https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Protestant_work_ethic<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [4] https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Protestant-ethic<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [5] Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism<\/em>, (Skyros Publishing) Kindle Edition, p. 26.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [6] Ibid., 57.<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [7] Ashley Crossman, “A Book Overview: “The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism”.” ThoughtCo. https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/the-protestant-ethic-and-the-spirit-of-capitalism-3026763 (accessed March 6, 2018).<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [8] Nicki Lisa Cole, Understanding Max Weber\u2019s \u201cIron Cage\u201d, January 26, 2018, https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/understanding-max-webers-iron-cage-3026373<\/p>\n

<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 [9] Ashley Crossman, “A Book Overview: “The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism”.” ThoughtCo. https:\/\/www.thoughtco.com\/the-protestant-ethic-and-the-spirit-of-capitalism-3026763 (accessed March 6, 2018).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I decided to start this blog with a little research around this concept of Protestant Ethic and the author who coined the term in 1904. Max Weber was a German sociologist who was born the eldest son to parents Max and Helen in Erfurt, Germany on April 21, 1864 and died June 14, 1920 in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"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":[2,11],"class_list":["post-16898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminlgp","tag-weber","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16898","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16898"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16898\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16900,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16898\/revisions\/16900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16898"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16898"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16898"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}