{"id":33667,"date":"2023-10-26T23:09:18","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T06:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=33667"},"modified":"2023-11-08T04:44:40","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T12:44:40","slug":"invitations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/invitations\/","title":{"rendered":"Invitations and Living Free in a Complex Society"},"content":{"rendered":"

The books assigned in recent weeks are difficult. I am not understanding every concept, nor reading them in their entirety. However, I am being challenged and hopefully changed by authors I never would have discovered on my own. I am noticing connections and pondering many questions with little time to answer them. My questions currently stand as invitations to think, to pray, and to act. Indulge me in a little recap of what is spinning through my mind from previous readings which inform the invitation Karl Polanyi author of The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time, <\/em>is challenging me to consider.<\/p>\n

Invitation: Contemplative in Action<\/p>\n

Let us consider how…Hebrews 10:24<\/p>\n

David Bebbington, Author of Evangelicalism in Modern Britain, <\/em>informed me of the history of Evangelicalism, helped me understand the Christian worldview into which I was born and the impacts of the capitalistic system in which I live. Dr. Jason Clark, in his dissertation Evangelicalism and Capitalism, <\/em>argued how anxiety and assurance within the evangelical movement served as a pathway for a relationship between Capitalism and Evangelicalism to develop.[1]<\/a> As I seek to live out my faith while navigating the opportunities and challenges of our rapidly changing world and the economic systems that govern it, what action steps is God calling me to make?<\/p>\n

Invitation: Consider the Dignity of all Persons<\/p>\n

You will never look into the eyes of someone God does not love.<\/em><\/p>\n

Frances Fukuyama, author of Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment<\/em> succinctly stated,\u201d\u2026 the inner sense of dignity seeks recognition.\u201d[2]<\/a> Every human being bears the image of God and deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. How will I respond to individuals longing for recognition, validation, and voice? Who am I not seeing?<\/p>\n

Invitation: Create a Personal Ascetic<\/p>\n

Do not conform to the pattern of this world.<\/em> Romans 12:2<\/p>\n

Max Weber author of The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism<\/em> left me pondering his question, \u201cHow can we live under modern capitalism, which gives priority to the laws of the market over longstanding traditions, ethical values, and personal relationships?\u201d[3]<\/a> I am challenged to review my personal ascetic. What spirit, attitude, and principles will govern my actions as I seek to respond to the needs around me? What judgments cloud my vision?<\/p>\n

Invitation: Self-Emptying and Allowing Others to Flourish<\/p>\n

What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? <\/em>Luke 9:25<\/p>\n

Simon Walker, author of Leading with Nothing to Lose, <\/em>reminded me of the self-emptying leadership style modeled by Jesus. Self-emptying makes space for incarnational leadership in any sphere of influence. He wrote, \u201c[Self-emptying]\u2026it is power that allows others to flourish, not power to aggrandize us.\u201d[4]<\/a> What do I fear losing? What am I willing to forfeit in order for someone else to flourish?<\/p>\n

Invitation: Let Go of Self-Interest and Share<\/p>\n

\u2026they shared everything they had.<\/em>\u00a0Acts 4:32<\/p>\n

Karl Polanyi\u2019s writing addressed the social, political, and economic changes that occurred with the advent of the Industrial Revolution. According to Fred Block in the introduction, \u201c\u2026the fundamental point learned from Polanyi is that market liberalism makes demands on ordinary people that are simply not sustainable.\u201d[5]<\/a> Karl Polanyi argues, \u201cThe true criticism of a market society is\u2026 that its economy was based on self-interest. Such an organization of economic life is entirely unnatural.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n

The core belief organizing the new economic order of market liberalism is that human society was to be subordinate to the self-regulating markets, which led to protecting society from the market, new social concerns, and ultimately war.[7]<\/a>Polanyi\u2019s concept of embeddedness asserts the opposite core value, \u201c\u2026the economy is not an autonomous entity, but subordinate to politics, religion, and social relations.\u201d[8]<\/a> In a 5MinU video clip, Jerry Michalski summarized Polanyi, describing the way of life prior to the Industrial Revolution and the challenges that ensued. Householding, reciprocity, and redistribution were the cultural norms as societies lived primarily off the land. Those types of support no longer existed as land, labor, and money were commoditized and people moved to cities, worked in factories, and earned wages. It was a massive and sudden shift in perspective and way of life bringing about rapid change, taxing heavy burdens on society, and creating new language around poverty and unemployment.[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

Jason Clark noted, \u201cCentral to Polanyi\u2019s thesis is the assertion that society and social relationships are vital to humans\u2026\u201d[10]<\/a> This is where I find the connections with all the other readings previously mentioned and inspiration from the early church described above.<\/p>\n

Invitation: Freedom<\/p>\n

For to be free is not merely to cast off one\u2019s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.<\/em><\/p>\n

Nelson Mandela<\/p>\n

In his closing chapter, Freedom in a Complex Society, <\/em>Polanyi addressed the issue of freedom. Something culturally we guard religiously and fight to keep. Bebbington, Weber, Fukuyama, Walker, and Polanyi all in their own way touched on the moral and religious aspects of how to live in organized society. Jesus, having died for the atonement of our sin modeled a self-emptying style of leadership in which the dignity and equality of all human beings was honored. Jesus willingly set aside personal freedom losing his life for the sake of others. In order to gain freedom, we have to be willing to give up some freedom for the well-being and flourishing of others. My final question: What freedoms am I willing to give up for the sake of others?<\/p>\n

There is No Utopia. We need to accept the world in which we live while actively seeking to bring God\u2019s Kingdom here. Only faithful responses to the needs of humanity who have been left behind in our self-serving social, political, and economic systems will do. Polanyi\u2019s closing words remind us of our task to create abundant freedom for all without giving up hope, \u201cUncomplaining acceptance of the reality of society gives man courage and strength to remove all removable injustice and unfreedom.\u201d[11]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

    \n
  1. <\/a>Jason Paul Clark, \u201cEvangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship\u201d (DMIN diss., George Fox University, Newberg,2018), 49. https:\/\/digitalcommons.georgefox.edu\/gfes\/132<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
      \n
    1. <\/a>Francis Fukuyama, Identity: The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment<\/em> (New York: Picador, 2018), 10.<\/li>\n
    2. Max Weber and Stephen Kalberg,The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism: The Revised 1920 Ed.<\/em>\u00a0(New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 1.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n

        \n
      1. <\/a>Simon Walker, Leading with Nothing to Lose: Training in the Exercise of Power.<\/em>(Carlisle, UK: Piquant Editions Ltd, 2007), 147.<\/li>\n
      2. Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time <\/em>(Boston: Beacon Press, 1944, 1957, 2001), xxxiv.<\/li>\n
      3. Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation, 257.
        \n<\/em><\/li>\n
      4. <\/a> Ibid., xxii.<\/li>\n
      5. <\/a> Ibid., xxiv.<\/li>\n
      6. Jerry Michalski, 5MinU: The Great Transformation, accessed October 25 2023. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rSuz01zvOjE<\/a><\/li>\n
      7. <\/a> Jason Clark, Evangelicalism and Capitalism, <\/em>127.<\/li>\n
      8. <\/a> Karl Polanyi, The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time <\/em>(Boston: Beacon Press, 1944, 1957, 2001), 268.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        \u00a0<\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        The books assigned in recent weeks are difficult. I am not understanding every concept, nor reading them in their entirety. However, I am being challenged and hopefully changed by authors I never would have discovered on my own. I am noticing connections and pondering many questions with little time to answer them. My questions currently […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":184,"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":[2907],"class_list":["post-33667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-doctor-of-leadership-3","tag-dlgp02-polanyi-clark","cohort-dlgp02"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33667","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\/184"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33667"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":33707,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33667\/revisions\/33707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}