{"id":28300,"date":"2022-03-02T12:33:25","date_gmt":"2022-03-02T20:33:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=28300"},"modified":"2022-03-01T20:36:49","modified_gmt":"2022-03-02T04:36:49","slug":"do-not-worry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/do-not-worry\/","title":{"rendered":"Do Not Worry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1886, Karl Polanyi had a colorful career that in and of itself is worthy of a sociological review. Having begun to write The Great Transformation <\/em>in 1930, it was not until 1944, when Polanyi was living in the United States, that it was first published during WWII. However, remaining in the United States was next to impossible due to his wife\u2019s close affiliation with communism. Thus, Canada was to become their final resting place.<\/p>\n

Written as a three-part economic sociology book, Polanyi argues that economy<\/em> cannot be understood merely through the lens of economic theory as embedded deeply within are social and political factors. I found the six-point summary of Dr. Zaman helpful:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cAll societies face the economic task of producing and providing for all members of society.<\/li>\n
  2. Market mechanisms for providing goods to members conflict with other social mechanisms and are harmful to society.<\/li>\n
  3. Unregulated markets are so deadly to human society and environment that creation of markets automatically sets into play movements to protect society and environment from the harm that they cause. Paradoxically, it is this counter-movement, this opposition to markets, that allows markets to survive.<\/li>\n
  4. Certain ideologies, which relate to land, labour and money, and the profit motive are required for efficient functioning of markets. In particular, both poverty, and a certain amount of callousness and indifference to poverty are required for efficient functioning of markets.<\/li>\n
  5. Markets have been fragile and crisis-prone and have lurched from disaster to disaster.<\/li>\n
  6. Market economies require imposition by violence \u2014 either natural or created.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    In consideration of our ongoing conversations regarding capitalism, Dr. Clark notes the debate as to whether capitalism arose early or late in human history and its cause. He writes, \u201cPolanyi considered capitalism to be a recent invention in human history where \u2018the self-regulating market is a new human invention for which there are no parallels in past human history.\u2019 Weber similarly considered capitalism a late arrival in human history, inextricably linked to the emergence of the Protestant church.\u201d[2]<\/a> Is capitalism beneficial? Or is it detrimental to the well-being of humanity? In line with what Dr. Clark noted, as to the newness<\/em> of the self-regulating market, Polanyi writes,<\/p>\n

    Our thesis is that the idea of a self-adjusting market implied a stark utopia. Such an institution could not exist for any length of time without annihilating the human and natural substance of society; it would have physically destroyed man and transformed his surroundings into a wilderness.[3]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Continuing with this consideration of the detriment of a self-regulating economy, Dr. Zaman writes,<\/p>\n

    The market economy emerged after a prolonged battle against these traditions. As Polanyi clarifies, this is not a good development. The commodification of human beings and land required by the dominance of the market has done tremendous damage to society and environment. The value of human life has been degraded to their earning power.[4]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    I have a few thoughts regarding this topic. First, let it be clearly understood that I do not consider myself an economist. Whether or not Calvinism gave birth to capitalism as Weber suggests, I cannot help but embrace the call to activism Beddington speaks of in his discussion on evangelicalism. Considering both principles taught by Weber and Beddington, I have little difficulty adopting Polanyi\u2019s understanding that the self-regulating market is indeed a relatively new \u201ceconomy.\u201d Yet, reflecting on the pitfall of humankind since the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, I do not doubt that what good this new economy may have birthed, it also had tragic implications for the society in which it was to serve. Ironic, is it not?<\/p>\n

    I am far less a theologian than a practitioner , though I strive to be well informed. As Christ-followers, I believe we are to strive to practice orthodoxy <\/em>and orthopraxy. <\/em>To neglect one is to inadequately portray the gospel as Jesus demonstrated time and time again. Matthew 4:23 says, \u201cJesus was going throughout all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people.\u201d[5]<\/a> In summary, perhaps our current economy has its pitfalls, no doubt, but thankfully our focus is far grander and more certain. Herein lies our call and hope:<\/p>\n

    \u201cBut seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

    [1]<\/a> Asad Zaman, \u201cSummary of the Great Transformation by Polanyi,\u201d Medium<\/em>, August 25, 2018, accessed February 27, 2022, https:\/\/asaduzaman.medium.com\/summary-of-the-great-transformation-by-polanyi-c329541e8532.<\/p>\n

    [2]<\/a> Clark, \u201cEvangelism and Capitalism,\u201d 124.<\/p>\n

    [3]<\/a> Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time<\/em>, 2nd Beacon Paperback ed. (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2001), 3.<\/p>\n

    [4]<\/a> Zaman, \u201cSummary of the Great Transformation by Polanyi.\u201d<\/p>\n

    [5]<\/a> New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update<\/em>.<\/p>\n

    [6]<\/a> Ibid., v. Matthew 6:33-34.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Born in Vienna, Austria, in 1886, Karl Polanyi had a colorful career that in and of itself is worthy of a sociological review. Having begun to write The Great Transformation in 1930, it was not until 1944, when Polanyi was living in the United States, that it was first published during WWII. However, remaining in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"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":[467,4,383],"class_list":["post-28300","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-clark","tag-polanyi","tag-the-great-transformation","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28300","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\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28300"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28300\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28301,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28300\/revisions\/28301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}