{"id":28307,"date":"2022-03-02T21:45:29","date_gmt":"2022-03-03T05:45:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=28307"},"modified":"2022-03-02T21:45:29","modified_gmt":"2022-03-03T05:45:29","slug":"in-but-not-of","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/in-but-not-of\/","title":{"rendered":"In but not Of"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karl Polanyi, author of The Great Transformation<\/em> was credited for saying “my life is a ‘world’ life–I lived the life of the human world…. My work is for Asia, for Africa, for the new peoples.”[1]<\/a> While much of this economic and historical book was beyond my basic understanding of economics, what struck me in both his book and Dr. Clark\u2019s analysis of his work in Evangelicalism and Capitalism <\/em>was what I would consider his innate connection to the human function within society. Born and raised in Budapest \u201cin a family remarkable for its social engagement and intellectual achievements,\u201d Polanyi encountered his fair share of what was referred to as \u201cmultiple exiles\u201d throughout this life.[2]<\/a> The significant historical and global events that he witnessed during his life would undoubtedly be influential in his worldview and economic bent. As Clark encapsulates:<\/p>\n

“Central to Polanyi\u2019s thesis is the assertion that society and social relationships are vital to humans, and that the SRM is problematic to that, owing to how the SRM is disembedded from social constraints. Where previous methods of market exchange existed, they did so with reciprocity. The SRM marks the first time that the market became an institution itself, based around the fictions that lacked relational reciprocity, specifically labour, land, and money.”[3]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Polanyi emphasizes that the movement from the regulated to self-regulated market completely transformed the structure of society and \u201cdemands nothing less than the institutional separation of society into an economic and political sphere.”[4]<\/a> I found Clark\u2019s analysis of Polanyi helpful in laying the framework for understanding the context in which Polanyi wrote and why others would not fully agree with his perspectives. While the connection between the SRM and Evangelicalism is still rather dubious in my mind, the questions Clark poses help me process the role of the church and the Christian leader. He writes,<\/p>\n

“\u2026informed by Polanyi\u2019s thesis, I continue to ask: can Evangelical Christianity rediscover its ability as a countermovement in differentiation from secular hopes? Evangelicalism provided an unparalleled response to the pathologies of the SRM with hospices, welfare, education, etc. Can Evangelism repeat that move and countermove today, and what is it currently doing with regard to late-capitalist markets?”[5]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the foreward of Polanyi\u2019s book, Joseph Stiglitz writes that \u201cmost societies have evolved ways of caring for their poor, for their disadvantage. The industrial age made it increasingly difficult for individuals to take full responsibility for themselves.”[6]<\/a> He continues on to give specific examples, including the number of those living in poverty in Russia, and explains Roosevelt\u2019s famous quote about fear during the Great Depression.[7]<\/a> As I\u2019m attempting to process the readings this week, I cannot help but be distracted by what is taking place between Russia and the Ukraine as I type and the correlations with today\u2019s events:<\/p>\n