{"id":33527,"date":"2023-10-19T19:51:01","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T02:51:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=33527"},"modified":"2023-10-19T19:55:43","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T02:55:43","slug":"theology-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/theology-matters\/","title":{"rendered":"Theology Matters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reading a book like Max Weber\u2019s, The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,<\/em> makes for a difficult blog post, at least for me. Books like these remind me of just how much I don\u2019t know, and I still don\u2019t think my mind is completely wrapped around everything Weber proposes. I think I would need another couple of weeks, but I think I got the gist of his main theories. Now that I\u2019ve given my disclaimer, I have to say I was fascinated by his arguments and looked forward to diving back into his book to see where he was going next. I know, I\u2019m weird, but he got me thinking! I wound up listening to several lectures and online summaries unpacking his work while I drove from place to place this week.<\/p>\n

As Dr. Jason Clark points out in his paper, Evangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship,<\/em> not everyone buys into all of Weber\u2019s theories, for good reason, but I believe he highlights a few things that generate important conversations around Protestantism and its influence on western culture, and more broadly, questions around culture, religion, and Christian theology in general.[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

What has shaped American and European society and worldviews? How can the very ideas that create and shape systems and cultures become completely foreign and lost down the road? What contributes to Christians being insecure about their destination after death?<\/p>\n

The fact that Weber essentially is claiming that certain types of theology<\/em> shaped western culture, particularly capitalism<\/em>, had me hooked and is a path worth exploring.<\/p>\n

I have to admit, I had the type of na\u00efve view of capitalism that Weber dismisses early on in his book. When I thought about \u201ccapitalism\u201d at least in America, I imagined yachts, diamond necklaces, private planes, caviar, and private islands funded by corporate greed. However, Weber says, \u201cUnlimited greed for gain is not in the least identical with capitalism, and is still less its spirit.\u201d Instead, Weber describes his understanding of it and its \u201cethos\u201d by stating, \u201cWe will define a capitalistic economic action as one which rests on the expectation of profit by the utilization of opportunities for exchange, that is on (formally) peaceful changes of profit.\u201d [2]<\/a><\/p>\n

The biggest surprise for me in this book was seeing Martin Luther and John Calvin’s connection to\u00a0capitalism,<\/em> even with it being redefined. (I could not help myself, no disrespect to either one of these men)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Max Weber covers several Protestant theological strands and developments, but Martin Luther and John Calvin seem to be major factors at the root of his theory. \u00a0As Weber lays out John Calvin\u2019s doctrine of predestination he quotes from the Westminster Confession of 1647, \u201cBy the decree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men and angels are predestinated unto ever-lasting life, and others foreordained to everlasting death.\u201d[3]<\/a> This most certainly is a hard theology to swallow and, as Weber points out, I could see how the question of \u201cAm I the elect?\u201d could consume a person\u2019s mind or agitate their psychological and emotional wellbeing. Searching for something, like divine Providence, to give one assurance of eternal salvation in light of this doctrine roaming around makes sense.<\/p>\n

Regardless of what I think about this doctrine and how Weber uses it to support his theories, his observation that religion and theology shaped western psychology, economics, and social standards to the degree that it did is astute. As Dr. Clark and others point out, this doctrine may not have played as big a role in influencing the Protestant work ethic as Weber may have assumed.[4]<\/a> However, there does seem to be a long history of human insecurity regarding the afterlife and how humans might secure a spot in the right place. Max Weber\u2019s observation of this with Calvinism reinforces this idea and stirs the conversation since this is still a relevant issue in the 21st<\/sup> century being that we all still die.<\/p>\n

Alister McGrath, an Oxford theologian and professor, describes the type of penances Christians would participate in to atone for their sins by fasting, praying, or giving in the Middle Ages. [5]<\/a> Why did they do it? To secure a spot in heaven. Thomas F. Madden, an expert on the Crusades and Medieval history argues that many of the men who participated in these holy wars were wealthy knights who wound up bankrupt or dead as a result of fighting in these religious endeavors.[6]<\/a> Why did they do it? Many believed they could fight their way into paradise. This was a means for men with a violent past to do penance for their mistakes and relieve their guilt.<\/p>\n

Theology matters.<\/p>\n

Since our Advance in Oxford, I\u2019ve been intrigued by Martyn Percy\u2019s life and perspective. Something of his seems to sneak into my blogs since getting back from Europe. I recently ran across a sermon he gave at the Bloxham Festival where he quotes Margery Kempe, a British Christian mystic, who feels as if God spoke to her, \u201cMore pleasing to me than all your prayers, works, and penances is that you would truly <\/em>believe that I love you.\u201d[7]<\/a> \u00a0I can\u2019t help but humbly say after speaking with several people who are convinced they have visited the other side and after sifting through a lot of consciousness and perceptual studies research, we may want to listen to Margery Kempe.[8]<\/a> What can we do to earn God\u2019s love?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Clark, Jason. Evangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship. London School of Theology, 2018.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a>Max Weber, \u201cThe Protestant Ethic and the \u2018Spirit\u2019 of Capitalism and Other Writings,\u201d Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics (New York: Penguin Books, 2002), 4.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid., 67.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Clark, Evangelicalism and Capitalism, 94.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> McGrath, Alister E. Christian Theology: An Introduction<\/em>. 4th ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell Pub, 2007.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Thomas F Madden, Ph D – The Crusades Then and Now<\/em>.\u00a0YouTube<\/em>. YouTube, 2014. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=pFt1ZRVqNOE.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Bloxham Festival 2020 – Martyn Percy – The Eclipse of God\u2019s Love in the Life of the Church<\/em>.\u00a0YouTube<\/em>. YouTube, 2020. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=xGH1kkpsyvY&t=1589s.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Holden, Janice Miner, Bruce Greyson, and Debbie James, eds. The Handbook of Near-Death Experiences: Thirty Years of Investigation<\/em>. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger Publishers, 2009.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading a book like Max Weber\u2019s, The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, makes for a difficult blog post, at least for me. Books like these remind me of just how much I don\u2019t know, and I still don\u2019t think my mind is completely wrapped around everything Weber proposes. I think I would […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":171,"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":[2310],"tags":[2866,1775,386],"class_list":["post-33527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-weber-clark-capitalism-dlgp02-protestant","tag-dr-jason-clark","tag-max-weber","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33527","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\/171"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33527"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33537,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33527\/revisions\/33537"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}