{"id":21084,"date":"2019-01-27T23:05:08","date_gmt":"2019-01-28T07:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=21084"},"modified":"2019-01-27T23:06:18","modified_gmt":"2019-01-28T07:06:18","slug":"political-economy-christianity-and-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/political-economy-christianity-and-society\/","title":{"rendered":"Political Economy, Christianity and Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

Polanyi has brought many issues of life\u2019s concern which we are still facing today even after he addressed them in the mid-1900s. It disturbs me to find out that as far asthe 1780, when the significance of poverty was realized, the stage was set for the 19th century[1]<\/a> to address this issue. \u00a0I am confused when I see this happening more in Kenya. These issues are being discussed now as if they are the first time to talk about them.<\/p>\n

As I continue reading Polanyi book which has taken me time, I connect this book very well with my research question. I have read laughing and feeling sad about many ignorant I witness in Africa. Some of these issues that were discussed are being witnessed now in most African countries. I feel sad when I see the gap between the poor and the rich increasing just because of greediness and corrupt strategy plans that robs the public its resources to one person. Polanyi quoted Hobbes who argued the need despot because men were like beasts; Townsend insisted that they were actually beasts\u2026[2]<\/a> When I look at my research question which touches on the conflict between the clergy and the laity in the Friends church in Kenya; I see some of the challenges rising from some of what Polanyi is written here. We have land but hunger is all over and poverty is growing day and night. While people are improving on the food production many communities in Africa are not even aware, they need to improve. The apparently insoluble problem of pauperism was forcing Malthus and Ricardo to endorse Townsend\u2019s lapse into naturalism.[3]<\/a> \u00a0But on the other hand, the poor will always be there whatever the case. However, as it is written, Poverty was nature surviving on society; its physical sanction was hunger. Bu all that was needed was the scientific and economical treatment of the poor.[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

It is recorded that, in 1757, George Washington, one of the wealthiest men in America, was charged with purchasing and distributing liquor for voters in his district in an attempt to buy their votes. In the words of the columnist Molly Ivins, \u201cThey have danced with the ones who brung them.\u201d[5]<\/a> \u00a0Why is it that there are many disparities in wealth distribution in the world? Why is it that Africa continues to swim in poverty when it has many valuable natural resources? I get disturbed with what I see, and many of our churches are full of people praying and worshiping; which is a good thing but why is it becoming an expense to the well being of the people? While people are making wealth, others are very busy in churches praying. Polanyi, quotes Robert Owen who was first to recognize that the Gospel ignored the reality of society. He called this the \u201cIndividualization\u201d of man on the part Christianity and appeared to believe that only in cooperative commonwealth could \u201call that is truly valuable in Christianity\u201d cease to be separated from man. Owen recognized that the freedom we gained through the teachings of Jesus Christ was inapplicable to a complex society.[6]<\/a> Is this where the problems facing Africa emanating from? Or is it in the context of Polanyi saying that \u201cNo society built on other foundations is said to deserve to be called free.\u201d[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> (Polanyi 1957) pg 116<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> (Polanyi 1957) pg 119<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> (Polanyi 1957) pg 120<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> (Polanyi 1957) pg 122<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> (Churck Collins and Felice Yeskel 2005) pg 68<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> (Polanyi 1957) pg 267<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> (Polanyi 1957) pg 264<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Polanyi has brought many issues of life\u2019s concern which we are still facing today even after he addressed them in the mid-1900s. It disturbs me to find out that as far asthe 1780, when the significance of poverty was realized, the stage was set for the 19th century[1] to address this issue. \u00a0I am confused […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":120,"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":[],"class_list":["post-21084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21084","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\/120"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21084"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21084\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21085,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21084\/revisions\/21085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}