{"id":28219,"date":"2022-02-16T12:00:30","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T20:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=28219"},"modified":"2022-02-15T20:12:38","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T04:12:38","slug":"excellence-in-all-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/excellence-in-all-things\/","title":{"rendered":"Excellence In All Things"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Protestant Ethic and the \u2018Spirit\u2019 of Capitalism and Other Writings <\/em>is a compilation of essays written by the late Max Weber. As a historian and sociologist, many have argued that his essay, The Protestant Ethic and the \u2018Spirit\u2019 of Capitalism,<\/em> is one of the most influential social science works of our time.[1]<\/a> Weber notes a distinction between Catholicism and Calvinism concerning capitalism. Whereas Catholicism placed a high regard on the ascetic life, such as eliminating personal property, he said this was \u201cfatal for the capitalist spirit.\u201d[2]<\/a> Contrarily, as an expression of the spiritual life, Calvinism encouraged the engagement of secular life, much like Beddington observes of the Protestant movement. Such an outward expression of faith in secular life resulted in a \u201ctough, upstanding, and active mind of the middle-class capitalist entrepreneur.\u201d[3]<\/a> Driven to work, perhaps out of an aspiration to ensure one\u2019s salvation, Calvinists engaged the social sector successfully. However, like Catholicism, there remained a \u201cProtestant asceticism,\u201d which discouraged overindulgence and the consumption of luxuries.[4]<\/a> To this point, Clark makes the following observation:<\/p>\n

Alongside this new \u2018work ethic\u2019 ran a Protestant ascetic of desire, in which an ascetic of the material life of the cloistered monks was aspired to. The more strongly this Calvinistic asceticism was practiced, the more it resulted in an individual being driven further away from the material world. Andre Bieler calls this combination of work ethic and ascetic \u2018Protestant occupational asceticism.\u2019 Bieler describes how this ethic stimulates production, whilst the ascetic stops consumption, such that the capitalistic spirit is to produce much and consume little.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Hence, the birth of capitalism. Clark effectively summarizes Weber\u2019s position, noting the \u2018salvation anxiety\u2019 in collaboration with a pursuit of ordered lives and calling. Ultimately, this resulted in the \u201cmastery of economic life and the \u2018Spirit of Capitalism,\u2019 in which much is produced, little is consumed, and the pursuit of profit is established as a morally good issue.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

Contemplating Beddington and Weber, I am challenged to reflect on what I can glean from the Protestant, Evangelical, and capitalist movements. A few points of consideration:<\/p>\n