{"id":21441,"date":"2019-02-14T14:21:36","date_gmt":"2019-02-14T22:21:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=21441"},"modified":"2019-02-14T14:28:25","modified_gmt":"2019-02-14T22:28:25","slug":"when-the-tail-wags-the-dog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/when-the-tail-wags-the-dog\/","title":{"rendered":"When the Tail Wags the Dog"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since the 1870\u2019s \u201cthe tail wagging the dog\u201d is used when something that should be driving circumstances is instead being driven by them, \u201cit is a role-reversal.[1]<\/sup><\/a>This idiom came to mind as I read Max Weber\u2019s work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalismas the progression from virtue to task master takes hold. Weber describes the Protestant, and specifically, the Puritan attitude toward vocation and how it was a moral, even spiritual value of the proof of grace in one\u2019s life and he makes the connection of this influence upon the development of the spirit of capitalism.[2]<\/sup><\/a>He perceives a \u201cvery peculiar elective affinity\u201d between what he \u201cconceived as a rational economic system in fieri<\/em>and a new religious doctrine initiated by the Protestant Reformation and its aftermaths.\u201d The characteristics of \u201csobriety, self-discipline, honesty, preciseness\u201d were seen as beneficial attributes to an ethic that built the foundations of capitalism.[3]<\/sup><\/a>Philip S. Gorski of Yale University describes Weber\u2019s work as \u201cone of the most influential and widely read works in social science\u201d even over a century later.[4]<\/sup><\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weber\u2019s work has been translated and interpreted multiple times with varied criticisms of the translations for their effects on Weber\u2019s original intent. In this version, as edited and translated by Baehr and Wells, I was particularly struck by evolution of this ethic resembling \u201cthe tail wagging the dog.\u201d As an example, Weber describes the viewpoint of the employers as follows: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For employers imbued with this new \u201cspirit,\u201d economic activity is an end in itself, central to their identity, a calling with rigorous implications that transgress old ways of doing business\u2026The enterprise is greater and more important than those it employs\u2026The priority of work over the worker, of the enterprise over the entrepreneur, means that there is little room here for sentimentality. In order to survive, the firm must constantly reinvest capital and adapt to an impersonal market\u2026Steely objectivity and discipline are the orientations demanded from this godless mechanism.[5]<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What began as a moral and spiritual drive of people using work as the tool of virtue proving grace, the work and the economy it produced became the machine that drove the people and is valued above them. The \u201ceconomic activity is an end in itself, central to their identity\u201d and the work has a higher value than the worker. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This reminded me of much of my research as I consider the cultural reformation needed in denominations today. The ninety-five-year outcome of our denomination was the loss of focus on the identity and purpose we were birthed with and we had to reimagine why and how we exist. Organizations can easily lose their way as they begin to feel the need to produce in order to keep the organization growing. A common example is when local churches begin using \u201cvolunteers\u201d to grow ministries rather than using ministries to grow people (disciples). When churches are serving denominations rather than the denominations serving local churches. The tail wags the dog again and again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The correlation between the Protestant ethic and capitalism are very interesting to consider within the church and the results through the centuries. Regardless of the larger sociological argument Weber makes, this affinity has definitely produced varying effects on the very people who carry this ethic. In the last few years, a bible and multi-volume commentary series have been created by the Theology of Work Project to help followers of Jesus put their vocation back into a spiritual context.[6]<\/sup><\/a>Their premise is that if we are going to spend the majority of our lives at work then God must care about it and we can live more fully in Christ every day if we understand his calling. It sounds like our denominational reimagining to remember the \u201cwhy,\u201d to get the dog wagging the tail again. All of us have no doubt experienced the church member driven by climbing the corporate ladder so they can acquire and consume more and the wrestling this produces with the internal knowledge of what God says about where our treasure is, what we put first, and when money gains our affection. The Theology of Work Project is helping Christians see their work motivation differently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As I read this website, various books written on the subject, and recall several workshops I have attended, I hear the echoes of the reformers reminding us of the virtue of vocation.  Though not possible to stop the normal process of evolution (dog to tail wagging), it is a clear reminder of the necessity to be a reflective and a reforming people making regular course corrections. May our \u201cprotest\u201d spirit be renewed in Protestantism and keep us always reforming back to the virtues that define us.
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[1]<\/sup><\/a>https:\/\/grammarist.com\/idiom\/tail-wagging-the-dog\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a>Max Weber, Peter Baehr and Gordon C. Wells, ed. The Protestant Ethic and the \u201cSpirit of Capitalism and Other Writings (<\/em>New York: Penguin Books, 2002), xviii. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/sup><\/a>Sara R. Farris, “New and Old Spirits of Capitalism.” International Review of Social History<\/em> 55, no. 2 (08, 2010): 297-306. doi:http:\/\/dx.doi.org.georgefox.idm.oclc.org\/10.1017\/S0020859010000210. https:\/\/georgefox.idm.oclc.org\/login?url=https:\/\/search-proquest-com.georgefox.idm.oclc.org\/docview\/733019438?accountid=11085.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[4]<\/sup><\/a>Philip S. Gorski, “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism\/The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and Other Writings.” Social Forces<\/em>82, no. 2 (12, 2003): 833-839. doi:http:\/\/dx.doi.org.georgefox.idm.oclc.org\/10.1353\/sof.2004.0008. https:\/\/georgefox.idm.oclc.org\/login?url=https:\/\/search-proquest-com.georgefox.idm.oclc.org\/docview\/229879042?accountid=11085.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[5]<\/sup><\/a>Weber, xvii.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[6]<\/sup><\/a>https:\/\/www.theologyofwork.org<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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