{"id":28253,"date":"2022-02-19T05:49:04","date_gmt":"2022-02-19T13:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=28253"},"modified":"2022-02-19T05:49:04","modified_gmt":"2022-02-19T13:49:04","slug":"the-church-has-great-potential-for-influencing-change-and-should-not-be-passive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-church-has-great-potential-for-influencing-change-and-should-not-be-passive\/","title":{"rendered":"The Church Has Great Potential For Influencing Change And Should Not Be Passive."},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Weber was a German sociologist, economist and politician who believed that the protestant work ethic was a key force in the emergence of the unplanned and uncoordinated modern capitalism. In his book, The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism, Weber states that capitalism in Northern Europe evolved as a result of the protestant ethic influencing large numbers of people to engage in work in the secular world, and established their own enterprises and engaging in trade and the accumulation of wealth for investment.[1]<\/a> While economists would not ordinarily point to Christianity as having such a significant influence on western civilization, this cannot be denied and there is evidence to that effect. Weber associates the prevalence or emergence of some protestant religions (especially the Calvinists and puritans but also the Methodists) with the psychological changes that were necessary for the development of the capitalism spirit. He is clear of the fact that the effect was an independent force and unintended. The protestant idea of a calling, with worldly asceticism is an independent force that was not created through the change of institutions or structures like money, trade, commerce, etc., but it emerged independently as an intended consequence of the reformation. The new ways of thinking and acting propagated during and as a result of the reformation, without doubt played a role in changing the views of people who became capitalists and workers.<\/p>\n

The importance of the protestant ethic as a factor in the development of capitalism, in comparison to the formal changes in institutions and structures many not be scientifically determined but Weber believed that since the inner motives for the capitalistic spirit are closely connected with the nature of capitalism, as weber views it, the religious factors must have had significant influence. Those who criticize Weber\u2019s argument point to the concepts used by Weber as narrowly defined as, the capitalism concept is different from what Carl Marx used and his capitalistic spirit is a fairy limited concept; and his notion of rationality which seems to play a big role in Weber\u2019s writings is in itself limiting in the whatever he regards as irrational is not capitalism which effectively defines away many of the characteristics of capitalism. There also other criticisms of Weber\u2019s approach include, as relates to religion, the Catholicism, especially before the reformation was not inhibiting to capitalism; empirical evidence supports to a big extent Weber\u2019s assertions for England, New England, Scotland, Holland and Geneva but others areas of Catholic dominance like Germany, France, and Italy also achieved considerable early capitalist successes; and in terms of causation, it\u2019s argued that Weber asserts that religious doctrines were separated from the economic aspects, but did nor disapprove assertions by Marxists that changes in religions did occur as a result of economic necessities, stating that Luther, Calvin, the Puritans and many others involved themselves in politics and such like pronouncements.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

Christianity cannot be dismissed whatsoever for its impact is big in every place that it has been propagated. Its important to appreciate its influence on the environment and especially because it will bring a positive impact on the society. As I read this book, it has occurred to me that Christianity greatly improves on the standards of morality in the society, the rule of lay and the respect for other people\u2019s rights. These are significant and have an impact on how the society conducts itself and its affairs. These aspects are not significantly highlighted by Weber but there other studies that have recognized the role of Christianity in positively impacting on the values of society and positively impacting on the economic status and welfare of such societies. There are also other direct ways that the Church contributes directly to the wellbeing of society, economically, psychosocially, and otherwise. It has been established that the church plays a very significant role in alleviating poverty, providing social amenities likes schools, medical facilities and economic empowerment programs, in carrying out its missional obligation to care for the needy in society. The Church is a natural factor in the holistic development in society.[3]<\/a> It is with Weber\u2019s assertions and other empirical evidence as established in dependable research that I read the book with a lot of interest. Though I could read it in full, I have been affirmed in the topic of my research as I advance the case for holistic ministry by the church. The church should not a passive player in society and should recognize the important role that it can play to bring transformation in society. The church has always been downplayed as just a institution that should limit itself to the spiritual nourishment of people and restrict its activities to \u201cthe precincts\u201d of the church, and not involve itself in secular matters. The separation of the Spiritual and the secular is not a new thing in society but it is imperative that as discerning Christian leaders, to recognize the big potential for the church to bring change in societies and nations and rise to the occasion. It had become obvious to me that there is so much that I can do to bring transformation, especially so because I live and do ministry among the World\u2019s poorest and marginalized communities. The church is a catalyst of change a great transformation and should not any longer remain passive, and the responsibility to bring the church to carry out this God given mandate lies squarely with us the Christian leaders.<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Max Weber. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. (Mineola, New York. Dover Publications, 2003)<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>[2] 1. Bert N. Adams and R. A. Sydie. Sociological Theory. (Thousand Oaks. Pine Forge, 2001)<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Anthony Giddens and David Held. Classes, Power, and Conflict: Classical and Contemporary Debates. (Berkley, University of California Press,1982). HT675 C55 1982<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    [3]<\/a> Loan Stinghe. \u00a0The Holistic Development of Society, The Contributions of the Christian Church. \u201cProceedings of Harvard Square Symposium, The Holistic Society: Multi- Disciplinary Perspectives, Volume 3 006, Research Association for Interdisciplinary Studies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Max Weber was a German sociologist, economist and politician who believed that the protestant work ethic was a key force in the emergence of the unplanned and uncoordinated modern capitalism. In his book, The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism, Weber states that capitalism in Northern Europe evolved as a result of the protestant […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"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":[144,2007,386,1457],"class_list":["post-28253","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-christianity","tag-dlgp","tag-max-weber","tag-the-protestant-ethic-and-the-spirit-of-capitalism","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28253","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\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28253"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28254,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28253\/revisions\/28254"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}