{"id":21491,"date":"2019-02-14T18:44:29","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T02:44:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=21491"},"modified":"2019-02-14T19:39:56","modified_gmt":"2019-02-15T03:39:56","slug":"miracles-v-hard-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/miracles-v-hard-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Miracles v. Hard Work"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Weber\u2019s book, The\nSpirit of Capitalism,<\/em> is a founding sociology text. In this book, he advocates\nthat capitalism is a direct result of the protestant work ethic. He argues that\nwe are indebted to our religious heritage for the successes of capitalist economies.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Weber, it all began with the dawn of\nProtestantism. In contrast to the Catholic belief in confession to a priest for\nabsolution, Protestants believe only God is able to forgive anyone and he will\nnot reveal those who have been predestined until the day of judgment. This left\nProtestants, specifically Calvinists, with high levels of anxiety and desires\nto prove their worth to God, hoping it would make an impact on their eternity.\nThis led way to the \u201cProtestant work ethic\u201d in which Protestants tried to earn\nGod\u2019s pleasure through constant work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, Catholics had limited the concept of holy\nwork to that of the clergy, but Protestants believed all work was holy work,\nand could be done in the name of God. This caused Protestants to relate their\nprofessional work to a sense of divine purpose. As Protestants reinvested their\nsurplus money back into their work, capitalism was born.[2]<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weber makes an interesting point when he states Protestants\nstopped believing in miracles. Weber called this, \u201cthe disenchantment of the\nworld.\u201d[3]<\/a> They\nbelieved prosperity wasn\u2019t God-ordained but came only through working hard over\na number of years. Without a belief in the miraculous, people turned to science.\nThis energy led to new discoveries and technological advances and, according to\nWeber, capitalism emerged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weber\u2019s response to the lack of successful attempts at\nCapitalism across the globe is simply that those countries still believe in\nmiracles, so their work ethic is not as strong.[4]<\/a> In\norder for capitalism to be successful, Weber says the culture of the nation\nmust trump the advancement of the familial status. He explains that anyone can\nbring about change with the right ideas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading Weber has caused me to reflect on the way the\nProtestant work ethic has made a impact on the way I view my own work. This is\nparticularly interesting as it pertains to my research on the formation of\nfemale leaders in the renewal tradition. I came across a popular article in\nChristianity Today titled \u201cWorkaholic Women and the Wager of Success.\u201d In it,\nthe author wrote, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a meritocracy such as the modern West, the biggest piece of the pie is supposedly reserved for the hardest working. Erin Callan, the former CFO of Lehman Brothers, credited her professional success to her indefatigable work ethic. Only after her divorce and resignation in 2008 could she admit the underbelly of that ethic. In a recent\u00a0New York Times<\/em>\u00a0piece, “Is There Life After Work?” she wrote, “[W]hen I left my job, it devastated me. . . . I did not know how to value who I was versus what I did. What I did\u00a0was<\/em>\u00a0who I was.”[5]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Though workaholism is a plight of many westerners, it seems that since women tend to have a more difficult time advancing in their careers, they are often driven to work increasingly harder\u00a0in order to prove their worth to their organizations. Perhaps we should try Weber\u2019s hypothesis in our own contexts by exercising faith in miracles and leaning less on our own striving. It seems the protestant work ethic served not only as a catalyst for capitalism, but potentially for a misalignment of values when it comes to balancing faith and work. I am faced with the probing question, \u201cHow often do I attempt to earn God\u2019s pleasure through my constant work?\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

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

[2]<\/a>\nIbid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/a>\nIbid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

[5]<\/a> Michel, Jen Pollock. \u201cWorkaholic Women and the Wager of Success.\u201d ChristianityToday.com. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Weber\u2019s book, The Spirit of Capitalism, is a founding sociology text. In this book, he advocates that capitalism is a direct result of the protestant work ethic. He argues that we are indebted to our religious heritage for the successes of capitalist economies.[1] According to Weber, it all began with the dawn of Protestantism. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"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":[1322],"class_list":["post-21491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-lgp9","cohort-lgp9"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21491","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\/125"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21491"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21497,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21491\/revisions\/21497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}