{"id":21375,"date":"2019-02-14T08:00:34","date_gmt":"2019-02-14T16:00:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=21375"},"modified":"2019-02-14T19:39:39","modified_gmt":"2019-02-15T03:39:39","slug":"weber-and-vocation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/weber-and-vocation\/","title":{"rendered":"Weber and Vocation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I\u2019ve spent a lot of time in the Protestant Reformation lately. Luther has been a mainstay in my research on vocation and calling, understandably so, which is why I wasn\u2019t all together too surprised to see Max Weber spend a good portion of time with Luther in The Protestant Work Ethic and the \u201cSpirit\u201d of Capitalism<\/em>. Ultimately, Weber makes the claims in this work that the seeds of capitalism could be found in the Protestant work ethic, as the title suggests.[1]<\/a> He states that, \u201cOur secular and materialistic culture is partly indebted to a spiritual<\/em> revolution: the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Max Weber was born in Germany, studied law, and hopped about from teaching position to teaching position.[3]<\/a> He spent the time of 1903 to 1905 working through the key themes and writing The Protestant Work Ethic<\/em>, after a significant battle with mental illness.[4]<\/a> In this work, and \u201c\u2019Churches\u2019 and \u2018Sects\u2019 in North America: An Ecclesiastical and Sociopolitical Sketch\u201d, Weber postulates that church membership is a \u201cphysical demonstration of financial and commercial probity\u201d[5]<\/a> or moral principals. This church membership then becomes highly valued and members must continually prove to others, above themselves, that they are hardworking and disciplined.[6]<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s where Luther and Calvin come gallivanting into the picture. Luther believed strongly in the Beruf<\/em> which translates to \u201coccupation\u201d in German.[7]<\/a> Luther went on to radically challenge the notion that the only work that was worth anything was God\u2019s work. He argued that God has called every Christian equally in their work, not just those who work in or for the Church.[8]<\/a> Luther paved the way for the Protestant Reformation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Calvin came later, and while I don\u2019t have time to indulge their main disagreements in this blog, Calvin ultimately believed in the predestination of all believers. This concept of predestination leads Max Weber to argue that one of the main ways to find assurance of salvation was through \u201crigorous, scrupulous, methodical work within a calling.\u201d[9]<\/a> Since Luther had done his due diligence at legitimizing all types of work, this desperate need of assurance of salvation led Calvinists to lead frugal lives while investing in the work, or \u201ccalling\u201d in which they found themselves. Weber said, \u201cthey must continually and indefatigably attest by their actions that they are meticulous, hard-working, punctilious, and disciplined in their vocations.\u201d[10]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should come as no surprise then, to read individuals like Polanyi who remind us that we must take into consideration the relationships between the economy and society and how economic systems can affect how individuals relate to one another.[11]<\/a> In fact, we are reminded that embeddedness expresses ideas that economies, including capitalist ones, cannot be viewed as autonomous, but must be subordinated to politics, religion, and social relations.[12]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, both Calvin and Luther point to different\nstreams to understanding one\u2019s own vocation. While Weber would stress the importance\nof Calvinism to the development of the capitalism[13]<\/a>,\nI believe it is Luther who made the more significant contribution to society as\na whole. Ultimately, Luther has a more well-rounded perspective of calling and\nvocation, which legitimizes all work as God\u2019s work, even if it isn\u2019t tied to\nthe economic benefit of a community.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/a>\n\u201cMax Weber,\u201d The Library of Economics and Liberty, accessed February 12, 2019, https:\/\/www.econlib.org\/library\/Enc\/bios\/Weber.html.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/a>\nMax Weber, The Protestant Work Ethic and\nthe \u201cSpirit\u201d of Capitalism and Other Writings<\/em>, eds. and trans. Peter Baehr\nand Gordon C. Wells (New York: Penguin Books, 2002), ix. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a>\n\u201cMax Weber,\u201d The Library of Economics and Liberty, accessed February 12, 2019, https:\/\/www.econlib.org\/library\/Enc\/bios\/Weber.html.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/a>\nMax Weber, The Protestant Work Ethic and\nthe \u201cSpirit\u201d of Capitalism and Other Writings<\/em>, eds. and trans. Peter Baehr\nand Gordon C. Wells (New York: Penguin Books, 2002), ix.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/a>\nIbid., xix. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6]<\/a>\nIbid., xix. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[7]<\/a>\nTimothy Keller, Every Good Endeavor:\nConnecting Your Work to God\u2019s Work<\/em> (New York: Penguin Books, 2016), 58. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[8]<\/a>\nIbid., 59<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[9]<\/a>\nMax Weber, The Protestant Work Ethic and\nthe \u201cSpirit\u201d of Capitalism and Other Writings<\/em>, eds. and trans. Peter Baehr\nand Gordon C. Wells (New York: Penguin Books, 2002), xviii. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[10]<\/a>\nIbid., xix<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[11]<\/a>\nKarl Polanyi. The Great Transformation\nthe Political and Economic Origins of Our Time<\/em>. 2nd Beacon Paperback ed.\nBoston, MA: Beacon Press, 2001, loc. 152.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[12]<\/a>\nIbid., loc. 389. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[13]<\/a>\nMax Weber, The Protestant Work Ethic and\nthe \u201cSpirit\u201d of Capitalism and Other Writings<\/em>, eds. and trans. Peter Baehr\nand Gordon C. Wells (New York: Penguin Books, 2002), xviii. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve spent a lot of time in the Protestant Reformation lately. Luther has been a mainstay in my research on vocation and calling, understandably so, which is why I wasn\u2019t all together too surprised to see Max Weber spend a good portion of time with Luther in The Protestant Work Ethic and the \u201cSpirit\u201d of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"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":[1449,1448,408,814,11],"class_list":["post-21375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-calvanism","tag-calvin","tag-luther","tag-protestant-work-ethic","tag-weber","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21375","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\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21375"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21375\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21381,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21375\/revisions\/21381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}