{"id":3839,"date":"2015-01-30T23:35:50","date_gmt":"2015-01-30T23:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=3839"},"modified":"2015-01-30T23:35:50","modified_gmt":"2015-01-30T23:35:50","slug":"christians-in-the-economic-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/christians-in-the-economic-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Christians in the Economic System"},"content":{"rendered":"

The economic historian, Karl Polanyi, in his book The Great Transformation<\/em>, looked at the world\u2019s economy from the days of agriculture to the market based system that we have today. His book provides great insight into the impact that the market based economy has had and could have on nations. \u201cIt is indispensable for understanding the dilemmas facing global society at the beginning of the twenty-first century.\u201d[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

Polanyi\u00a0asserts that \u201ccontrol of the economic system by the market is of overwhelming consequence to the whole organization of society: it means no less than the running of society as an adjunct to the market. Instead of economy being embedded in social relations, social relations are embedded in the economic system.\u201d This statement caused me to ponder how much the market and economy have impacted my own life and the life of the church. \u201cPolanyi argues that creating a fully self-regulating market economy requires that human beings and the natural environment be turned into pure commodities, which assures the destruction of both society and the natural environment.\u201d[2]<\/a> It is unfortunate that human life and creation could be treated as a commodity. Yet, we are living in a world today that is very much the result of a market system. In fact, we often think of members in our church in terms of being a market commodity. Success is measured on financial growth and membership numbers, instead of measuring against fulfillment of the calling that the Lord has given to each specific church. Our mindset and way of operating is market driven, so\u00a0we must be mindful\u00a0that we stay rooted in Biblical principles despite the direction of the economy in which we live.<\/p>\n

We can read dozens of articles in the news each day declaring economic gloom and doom. Scripture tells us that the poor will never cease from the land (Deuteronomy 15:11). It can be overwhelming to think about solutions to the inequalities that we see every day. The world continues to become more globally dependent on each other for goods, services, and economic stability. We are all susceptible to unrest and volatility.\u00a0\u00a0 Yet, despite all of the warnings and indications that our economy cannot continue at this pace, we do not learn. We continue to consume goods in an unhealthy manner, to damage creation, and to make buying decisions that impact others negatively. So, how do we reconcile our responsibility as Christians within the economic structure in which we live? The answer is in making day-to-day choices that reflect Christ, and by being obedient to Him in all circumstances. We must guard ourselves from financial greed and ask ourselves if our actions exploit one another. Scripture teaches us \u201cto be wise as serpents and innocent as doves\u201d (Matthew 10:16, ESV).<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Polanyi, Karl (2001-03-28). The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time . Beacon Press. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Polanyi, Karl (2001-03-28). The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time . Beacon Press. Kindle Edition.<\/p>\n

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

The economic historian, Karl Polanyi, in his book The Great Transformation, looked at the world\u2019s economy from the days of agriculture to the market based system that we have today. His book provides great insight into the impact that the market based economy has had and could have on nations. \u201cIt is indispensable for understanding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"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":[484,4],"class_list":["post-3839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dawnel-volzke","tag-polanyi","cohort-lgp5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3839","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\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3840,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3839\/revisions\/3840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}