July 20, 1996, I was being interviewed for a Youth Pastor position. The one question I remember from the lead pastor was, \u201cAre there any topics you tend to emphasize more than others on a consistent basis?\u201d I felt the atmosphere in the room change after that question. No one had ever asked me that question before or since. I answered \u201cNo.\u201d I accepted the position and stayed 15 years at that wonderful church. After being at the church for about two months I realized why there was an uneasiness with the pastor\u2019s question from the committee. Nearly every sermon, and I mean nearly every sermon it was obvious he was a strong Calvinist. What came out in his messages were:<\/p>\n
1.\tGod hates sinners but loves the saints
\n2.\tPredestination is the most important doctrine in the bible
\n3.\tMan is a retched sinner.
\n4.\tPsychology is a feel good tool we need to be cautious about
\n5.\tWorshiping God should be our priority and not evangelism
\n6.\tIt\u2019s sacred or secular, us vs. them. The \u201cthem\u201d also meant Catholics, Charismatics, or even the seeker sensitive churches. <\/p>\n
Hearing the above 6 in some type of way nearly every sermon can emotionally wear a congregation down. Thankfully he was such a loving, gracious, and caring person. His question during my interview process meant others had already spoken to him about preaching Calvinism on a consistent basis. By the time I left I was wounded by anything that looked like Calvinism and didn\u2019t want to be around anyone or any material associated with Calvinism. <\/p>\n
Eleven years later I have been exposed to three books I would have never read, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain by D.W. Bebbington, Identity by Francis Fukuyama, and The Protestant Ethic and the \u201cSpirit\u201d of Capitalism by Max Weber. I have thoroughly enjoyed all three because they have educated me greatly in how capitalism has played a significant role in the growth of evangelicalism in several ways1 and learning about the concept of identity and its role in contemporary politics and society. It was huge for me to see that the human desire for recognition and a sense of identity is a fundamental aspect of human nature.2 But as I read Weber\u2019s book, I realized that my wounds from being exposed to Calvinism so deeply were healed. Healed so much, I enjoyed seeing the word \u201cCalvinist\u201d and being reminded about so many sermons, eldership meetings, and business meetings that brought out Calvinism from my dear pastoral friend. I was free to read, learn, grow, and critique Weber\u2019s book.<\/p>\n
Weber begins by examining the idea of the \u201cProtestant ethic\u201d which he defines as a set of values and beliefs associated with certain Protestant religious groups, particularly Calvinism. The Protestant ethic includes values such as hard work, thrift, discipline, and a sense of duty in one\u2019s calling or vocation.3 Weber argues that the Protestant Reformation, particularly Calvinism, contributed to a significant transformation in religious beliefs.4 Calvinists strongly believed in predestination, which meant that only a predetermined few would be saved. This led individuals to an intense sense of personal responsibility and an ascetic lifestyle, characterized by hard work and frugality. <\/p>\n
Based upon this, it is no wonder Weber contends that the Protestant ethic, with its emphasis on hard work and saving, became a driving force behind the development of modern capitalism. The \u201cspirit of capitalism\u201d is marked by a rational, systematic approach to economic activity, the pursuit of profit, and the reinvestment of profits for future economic growth. <\/p>\n
But throughout his book, Weber made both empirical and theoretical arguments. An empirical argument is based upon observation or experiment, it describes facts that can be proven. For example, Weber\u2019s claim that protestants are more involved than Catholics in capitalistic activities is an empirical argument, based upon his observations in Germany and other studies, which means I might question the validity of such a claim.5 Theoretical arguments are more speculative, their purpose is to give meaning to empirical observations. For example, Weber notices a correlation between ascetic Protestantism and the \u201cspirit of capitalism.\u201d6 What could explain such a connection? It is not possible to simply run an experiment or do a statistical study, which might show correlations, but it will not tell a casual story. Weber looks at his information through the lens of his theory, and ideally his theory would account for all of the relevant facts available. <\/p>\n
Of course, I appreciated learning about Calvinism and even appreciated the history of its influence. <\/p>\n
1.\tD.W. Bebbington, Evangelicalism in Modern Britain: A History from the 1730\u20193 to the 1980\u2019s, 21.
\n2.\tFrancis Fukuyama, Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment, 15.
\n3.\tMax Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the \u2018Spirit\u2019 of Capitalism and Other Writings, 8.
\n4.\tIbid, 142.
\n5.\tIbid, 314.
\n6.\tIbid, 6,225.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
July 20, 1996, I was being interviewed for a Youth Pastor position. The one question I remember from the lead pastor was, \u201cAre there any topics you tend to emphasize more than others on a consistent basis?\u201d I felt the atmosphere in the room change after that question. No one had ever asked me that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"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":[2871],"class_list":["post-33541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02-weber","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33541","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\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33542,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33541\/revisions\/33542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}