Are our vocations a means of grace? Do we fulfill the very calling of God by being employed? These are some of the questions that are considered by the investigation of Max Weber in his work, The Protestant Ethic and the \u201cSpirit\u201d of Capitalism [1]. Weber concludes that the rising Protestantism gave the context and impetus for the establishment of capitalism as the dominate characteristic of society [2]. This perspective is critiqued in the dissertation by Jason Paul Clark in which the historical accuracies of Weber\u2019s work are scrutinized with the implications being that the examples given to not accurately capture the theological ascetic that underpins the connection to the \u201cSpirit of Capitalism\u201d [3]. What I want to focus in is the implication of calling as contributing force that perpetuated capitalist forces and the implications upon the vocation of a person as a means of assurance of faith.<\/p>\n
A Modern Example<\/b><\/p>\n
Much can be said about a theology of work, in particular, the sacred vocation that person performs as means of serving God. Typically (traditionally?) the \u201ccalling\u201d that is associated with a sacred vocation is reserved for those who are in engaged in religious vocations. As Weber highlights from Luther, \u201cthat one\u2019s duty consists in pursuing one\u2019s calling<\/i> [Berufspflicht]<\/i>, and that the individual should have a commitment to his \u201cprofessional\u201d [beruflichen<\/i>] activity\u2026\u201d [4]<\/p>\n
As Weber points out, this was not always a familiar idea [5] but it is regularly used now. This weekend, I ran into a church member who just rotated off the board. He gleefully informed me that he only had \u201ctwo more meetings\u201d before he rotated off the school board, then he was going to spend his days on the lake. His wife, over hearing the conversation, retorted, \u201cYou must fulfill your purpose!\u201d The point being, that his purpose or calling is to provide leadership in the community and church and would not be fulfilling his God directed purpose by taking it easy on the lake. While I am grateful to have this person in leadership in the church and community, it did make me wonder if this is indeed the purpose that he must fulfill.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Weber\u2019s Observations<\/b><\/p>\n Weber observed that the gift of Protestantism to the capitalism is the \u201ccalling\u201d as a means of production. Weber writes, \u201cHere is the most fertile ground for the growth of that attitude to work as an end of itself, as a \u201ccalling<\/i>,\u201d that capitalism demands. Here, as a result of<\/i> religious upbringing, the chances of rising above the familiar old traditional ways are the greatest\u201d [6]. Weber argues that the associations were sociologically causal and mutually beneficial and theologically substantiated, with Benjamin Franklin being the central example [7]. The historical and theological connection is adequately critiqued by Clark to show that Weber\u2019s argument is not best situated on Benjamin Franklin as the case study for the religiously motivated prototypical capitalist [8].<\/p>\n Work and Identity<\/b><\/p>\n Clark argues that a better understanding of Weber is to delineate multiple Protestant ethics at work, rather than just one [9]. The motivation to work and consume became a locus of the self that interfaced with the internal pleasures in addition to finding identity in the capitalist milieu [9]. Which makes me consider the example shared about a board member who fills that he has served his time. He wants to move to a season of consuming, while he receives pressure to continue to engage with the identity of \u201ccalling to serve\u201d out of a divine (or spousal) obligation. It seems to me that the stronger force is not the engagement in the economic location, but the wrestling with perceived and constructed identity. Is the person called to be employed or is the employment a means of grace? The person seems to have confidence in his assurance – enough to live out his days on the lake. His spouse, on the other hand, seems to see it as a means of grace. Perhaps, her insight should be considered further.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Are our vocations a means of grace? Do we fulfill the very calling of God by being employed? These are some of the questions that are considered by the investigation of Max Weber in his work, The Protestant Ethic and the \u201cSpirit\u201d of Capitalism [1]. Weber concludes that the rising Protestantism gave the context and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":163,"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":[2625],"class_list":["post-31193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dlgp01-weber-clark","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31193","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\/163"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31193"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31194,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31193\/revisions\/31194"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n