{"id":39088,"date":"2024-10-24T17:17:43","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T00:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=39088"},"modified":"2024-10-24T17:17:43","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T00:17:43","slug":"the-economy-of-shillings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-economy-of-shillings\/","title":{"rendered":"The Economy of Shillings"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After reading this week\u2019s book, <em>The Great Transformation<\/em> by Karl Polanyi and commentary on it by Jason Clark I realize there are so many different paths this blog might venture down.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>We might look at the way Evangelicals have contributed to and have lived in the \u201ceschatological space\u201d of capitalism and Evangelicalism.<a href=\"#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a><\/li>\n<li>We might look at the way the market was \u201cdisembedded from social constraints&#8221; due to self-regulating markets.<a href=\"#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a><\/li>\n<li>We might look at how &#8220;trade had become linked with peace.&#8221;<a href=\"#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a> Yet, we still seek peace in a variety of volatile regions around the world.<\/li>\n<li>We might look at the stark utopia of the self-adjusting market.<a href=\"#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a><\/li>\n<li>We might look at fascism, Marxism, Speenhamland, gold standard, etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>All of those are distinct paths that we may walk down comparing Polanyi to other modern authors and ideas. Yet, as I read the book, I was struck by the fact that I have lived in two very distinct economic systems and not everyone has had the privilege of being able to do this. So, I want to take my thoughts down the path back to East Africa where I lived for five years in a small Islamic village.<\/p>\n<p>I gave my employee 1,000\/- Kenyan shillings (roughly $10) and instructed him to go to the market on my behalf to purchase an item for 500\/-. He asked me for a 500\/- bill so that he did not need to get change. Having small bills was always a priority for me but also so hard to maintain. I instructed him to just bring back the change the next day when he came to work. His answer has changed my perspective on money ever since. \u201cIf I go home with 500\/- in my pocket someone will have a need (like going to the hospital, paying a debt, etc.) and they will ask me for assistance. Since I have the money, I will be obligated to give it to them even though it is your money. Please, give me a smaller bill. I don\u2019t want to be in debt to you for 500\/-.\u201d I told him to use the money to the best of his judgment. I never saw the change.<\/p>\n<p>Polanyi recognized the different factors in a tribal society versus the individualized world he was writing from. He writes,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Take the case of a tribal society. The individual&#8217;s economic interest is rarely paramount, for the community keeps all its members from starving unless it is itself self-borne down by catastrophe, in which case interests are again threatened collectively, not individually. The maintenance of social ties, on the other hand, is crucial.<a href=\"#_ftn5\" name=\"_ftnref5\">[5]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The village economy was so different than the one I currently live in. It was probably closer aligned to the European way of life pre-Industrial Revolution. Most of the village works in their fields for the day and then eats that evening. The only export they have is mangoes, sugarcane, and coconuts. The import market is limited as well. Yet, they are victims to the global market manipulations. There were multiple times we were unable to access simple items such as flour, butter, milk, sugar, etc. all because of the lack of government regulations and corruption. If we traveled 50 miles south to the Tanzanian border, we would be able to purchase these items with ease.<\/p>\n<p>Religion plays a significant role in the village as well. If individuals maintain their ties to the mosque and maintain their Islamic beliefs, then the community will rally together to make sure that the family is supported. Yet, if a family member steps outside the boundary markers of Islam, then they are outside the boundary of support. Polanyi addressed how local parishes worked in similar ways under Speenhamland Laws but then, \u201cCapitalism arrived unannounced.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn6\" name=\"_ftnref6\">[6]<\/a> In similar ways, Capitalism and a materialistic mindset has fallen onto this coastal village where everyone had gone from having no electricity or land-phones to access to the world market via cell phones within a two-year period. Suddenly, our village friends were exporting content via social media.<\/p>\n<p>After living in two different economic systems, I have learned the positives and the negatives of both. Yet, as Christians, aren\u2019t we called to live within a third economic system? A system where it is better to give than to receive. Or a system that gives generously with our right hand without letting our left hand know what we are giving? Jesus instructed his followers to live in this third economy with our eyes and hearts focused upwards. \u201cBlessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.\u201d<a href=\"#_ftn7\" name=\"_ftnref7\">[7]<\/a><\/p>\n<p>_______________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Jason Paul Clark, \u201cEvangelicalism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship\u201d (Faculty Publications, Portland, OR, Portland Seminary, 2018), 142, https:\/\/digitalcommons.georgefox.edu\/cgi\/viewcontent.cgi?article=1131&amp;context=gfes.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> Clark, 127.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> Karl Polanyi, <em>The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time<\/em>, 2nd edition (Boston, Mass: Beacon Press, 2001), 15.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> Polanyi, 3.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref5\" name=\"_ftn5\">[5]<\/a> Polanyi, 48.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref6\" name=\"_ftn6\">[6]<\/a> Polanyi, 93.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ftnref7\" name=\"_ftn7\">[7]<\/a> <em>New Living Translation (NLT) Africa Study Bible<\/em>, 3rd ed. (India: Oasis International Limited, 2016) Luke 6:20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After reading this week\u2019s book, The Great Transformation by Karl Polanyi and commentary on it by Jason Clark I realize there are so many different paths this blog might venture down. We might look at the way Evangelicals have contributed to and have lived in the \u201ceschatological space\u201d of capitalism and Evangelicalism.[1] We might look [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":205,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":[467,2967,4],"class_list":["post-39088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-clark","tag-dlgp03","tag-polanyi","cohort-dlgp03"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39088","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\/205"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39088"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39089,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39088\/revisions\/39089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}