{"id":31165,"date":"2023-02-18T12:48:48","date_gmt":"2023-02-18T20:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=31165"},"modified":"2023-02-18T12:48:48","modified_gmt":"2023-02-18T20:48:48","slug":"coming-to-america-will-kill-your-love-and-pursuit-for-godliness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/coming-to-america-will-kill-your-love-and-pursuit-for-godliness\/","title":{"rendered":"Coming to America will kill your love and pursuit for Godliness."},"content":{"rendered":"

Max Weber, German Social Scientist and author of\u00a0The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism,<\/em> Explains and reveals an interesting way of looking at Capitalism and its relationship to Protestantism.\u00a0The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of\u00a0Capitalism\u00a0(German:\u00a0Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus) is a book by\u00a0Max Weber, a German\u00a0sociologist, economist, and politician. Begun as a series of essays, the original German text was composed in 1904 and 1905 and was translated into English for the first time by American sociologist\u00a0Talcott Parsons\u00a0in 1930.\u00a0[1] <\/a>I realized that Weber\u2019s work has been very influential in many areas of our society, being highly referenced by authors and academicians in various areas of study, including sociology and religion. \u201cIt is considered a founding text in\u00a0economic sociology\u00a0and a milestone contribution to\u00a0sociological thought\u00a0in general.\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

My few remarks as I review Weber and Clark\u2019s work are primarily on the Protestant Work Ethic and how materialism continues to show up.<\/p>\n

Capitalism began because of technological developments, especially power, but adding a set of ideas did make Capitalism possible, and these are religious ideas, not just any religious ideas. Still, Capitalism was created by Protestantism, specifically Calvinism.<\/p>\n

Below are some of the critical points that Weber makes.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. The burden of proof. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Weber gives as one of his reasons to support his idea that Protestantism makes you feel guilty; Catholics can become a priest and confess their sins and transgressions for cleansing and purification but Protestantism.\u00a0Weber argues protestants believed only God could forgive sins, and he does not reveal his intentions till the day of judgment, which left them anxious and guilty desires. \u201cProtestants are left with heightened feelings of anxiety as well as life-long guilty desires to prove their virtual to a severe all-seeing God.\u201d[3]<\/a><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. God likes Hard work.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Weber speaks about the Protestant Work Ethic; Due to guilty in the eyes of an angry God who will require accountability at the end of their life on earth, Weber believes protestants became obsessed with hard work \u201cThe sins of Adam could only be expunged through constant toil.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n

        \n
      1. All work is holy.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        For the Catholics, the Weber writes that holy work was limited to the ministry by priests and nuns, yet this was different with Protestants, who way that \u201cany kind of work would be done in the name of God.\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Belonging to the Community counts rather than a family. <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Weber adds that in countries where Catholicism values are upheld, family values are greatly upheld yet in for Protestant countries he says, community belonging is given more value than family. \u201cThe family could be haven for selfish and egoistic motives; for early Protestants, one was meant to direct one\u2019s selfless energies to the community as a whole, the public realm, where everyone deserved fairness and dignity.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

          Anxiety, assurance, and Providence<\/strong><\/p>\n

          Clark, in his \u201cEvangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis <\/em>did return to Protestant Work Ethics as well.
          \nThe ongoing measure of whether this inner assurance was valid was now located and \u00a0 anchored in the doctrine of providence. The confirmation of feelings about assurance was to be seen in providence operating in the daily life of individuals.          [7]<\/a><\/p>\n

          I see what my friend meant now.<\/strong><\/p>\n

          \u201cJean coming to America will kill your love and pursuit for Godliness.\u201d Was Al\u2019s response when I pleaded with him to help me come to America in 1992. I remember writing back to Al and trying to hide my inner sadness since I did not understand the logic behind his denial. Part of me thought Al was not ready to do the hard work and struggles of sponsoring a young refugee boy from Uganda to North America. \u00a0Seven years later, I came to America without Al\u2019s sponsorship. I had vowed to show him I would remain passionately serving Jesus regardless of the material wealth found in North America. Still, he was unfortunately diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and died while I had just arrived. Inside these pages, I see my relentless passion for professional growth and helping others realize God\u2019s potential. Al\u2019s prophecy must be catching up with me as I race against age and attempt so hard to become a person of influence in a world that seems to present nothing but resistance.<\/p>\n

          [1]<\/a> \u201cThe Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism<\/em>,\u201d Wikipedia<\/em>, February 1, 2023, accessed February 18, 2023, https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/w\/index.php?title=The_Protestant_Ethic_and_the_Spirit_of_Capitalism&oldid=1136817341.<\/p>\n

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

          [3]<\/a> Warwick, \u201cMax Weber and the Spirit of Capitalism,\u201d Universty of Warwick research, Education Studies<\/em>, n.d., https:\/\/warwick.ac.uk\/fac\/soc\/ces\/research\/current\/socialtheory\/maps\/weber\/.<\/p>\n

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

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

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

          [7]<\/a> Jason Paul Clark, \u201cEvangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship,\u201d Faculty Publications – Portland Seminary (June 2018), https:\/\/digitalcommons.georgefox.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1131&context=gfes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          Max Weber, German Social Scientist and author of\u00a0The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism, Explains and reveals an interesting way of looking at Capitalism and its relationship to Protestantism.\u00a0The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of\u00a0Capitalism\u00a0(German:\u00a0Die protestantische Ethik und der Geist des Kapitalismus) is a book by\u00a0Max Weber, a German\u00a0sociologist, economist, and politician. Begun as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"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":[2617],"class_list":["post-31165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-weberclark","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31165","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\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31165"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31167,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31165\/revisions\/31167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}