Five years ago, my wife, Laura, and I moved from Southern California to Oregon. This was a dream come true. For years I had the vision of pastoring in the Pacific Northwest. An opportunity presented itself, we packed, and drove north. Dream come true.<\/p>\n
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It wasn\u2019t long after we arrived that the dream became a nightmare. Laura and I were offered jobs at a church. But Laura received a full-time job offer. Mine was a part-time, entry-level youth ministry position. Though it was a pay raise for Laura, my massive pay cut caused our newly-married monthly budget to become even tighter.<\/p>\n
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The next few months provided a crisis of identity, feelings of failure, and insecurity. How would I explain our financial situation to my parents or my new wife\u2019s parents? Was this<\/em> the husband my father and mother-in-law expected for their daughter?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Unbeknownst to me, I had fallen victim to the entanglement of my identity with the market reality. This is due to the change brought upon society through the self-regulating market (SRM). Karl Polanyi\u2019s book, The Great Transformation[1]<\/strong><\/a>, <\/em>highlights the immense impact the transition from pre-industrial to industrial had upon society at every level \u2013 sociologically, politically, and economically. A fundamental transition Polanyi focuses on is the disorganization and re-organization of societal norms due to the emergence of SRM.[2]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The market was originally at the mercy of social-institution regulation, such as the church or state. Dr. Jason Clark utilizes Polanyi\u2019s work in understanding the entanglement of Evangelicalism and capitalism. Clark points out the move of separation from entity-regulation to self-regulation in the market and what that caused: “Indeed, it was religion which held capitalism at bay, being able to \u2018discipline\u2019 behaviours away from motives for gain. For Polanyi, the defining feature of capitalism is the emergence of the self-regulating market (SRM), where, for the first time in history, the market was disembedded from social relationships, such as those of religion.”[3]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n The market was separated from the social fabric of society, which opened the door for learning who we are in relation to the market. Clark continues, \u201cPolanyi provides us with two pathogenic mechanisms of the market: the problem of the separation of state and market, and the ethical impoverishment of society, in which humans are reduced to a Homo oeconomicus<\/em> understanding of humanity.\u201d[4]<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n People who, generally speaking, used to find their worth, status, and identity through social institutions such as family, locality, and religion, now found their self-understanding through the market. This opened the door to a new understanding of ethics based on the market.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Because of this entanglement, there is a Gospel opportunity to help people learn their self-understanding in light of Jesus as well as learn what it means to be human, not from the market, but through the teachings of Rabbi Jesus.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Five years ago, the message I continually repeated to myself was \u201cMy worth is not in my net worth. My identity is not in how much money I make.\u201d In partnership with God\u2019s Spirit, this refrain aided me in dislodging the anxious tie money has to my heart. This is an ongoing internal dialogue, for I am continually in process. Through pay raises and job losses, promotions and unexpected car repairs, my worth is not found in my net worth. I am daily fighting the heart battle of trusting God, and not money.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cNo one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money.\u201d[5]<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time<\/em>, 2nd Beacon Paperback ed (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2001).<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Ibid. 3-4.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Jason Paul Clark, “Evangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship” (2018). Faculty Publications – Portland Seminary. https:\/\/digitalcommons.georgefox.edu\/gfes\/132, 124.<\/p>\n