{"id":4142,"date":"2015-02-24T17:38:22","date_gmt":"2015-02-24T17:38:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=4142"},"modified":"2015-02-24T17:39:50","modified_gmt":"2015-02-24T17:39:50","slug":"the-dialogue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-dialogue\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dialogue"},"content":{"rendered":"

I see a play in Seattle that creates quite a conversation between the four of us who attend. Later, someone asks me, \u201cA good play?\u201d While I didn\u2019t particularly enjoy it musically, I say \u201cyes,\u201d with the idea that the play causes great dialogue over the thematic issues. The greatness of a book, a play, or an event resides in how it becomes a catalyst for future research, exchanges and\/or integration of understanding. Max Weber\u2019s The Protestant Ethic and the \u201cSpirit\u201d of Capitalism<\/em> provides just that as a seminal book that continues today as a must-read in both undergrad and graduate sociology programs.<\/p>\n

Becoming one of the first in an era of Marxism to link Protestantism and economic factors, he concludes that these intersecting social sciences create an environment for capitalism never seen before. Primed by the Protestant work ethic, sense of calling, and asceticism, capitalism now has a mechanism by which to cultivate greater wealth for the sake of wealth.\u00a0\u00a0 The work ethic of Calvinism requires a serious focus on the value of work where \u201ca community and home environment\u2026 fostered the peculiar mentality most suited to business acumen and professional advancement.\u201d[1]<\/a> That work ethic impacts the sense of calling individuals have regarding their everyday mundane work as something that glorifies God. Finally, the asceticism of a self-discipline lifestyle sterilizes all other endeavors, focusing on the belief that \u201cthe rational expansion of wealth was tolerated or encouraged, as willed by God. What was discouraged was the irrational use of wealth. Together these teachings acted to assist the accumulation of capital by encouraging the ascetic compulsion to save.[2]<\/a>\u00a0Accumulated money becomes a source of improvement for the world and those who acquire it (albeit, not for those who want a handout).<\/p>\n

Weber\u2019s proposal fascinates me as he\u00a0connects facets of society. Yet, what intrigues me most is not so much the concepts of capitalism, Protestantism influence, the critiques of his work, but rather two observations about his life. First, he writes this work after a significant depressive illness that prevents him from writing in his academic field for a while. It causes me to wonder how often we need a break from the steady diet of focusing on something. Granted, I don\u2019t recommend a mental breakdown. However, could it not be that the brain actually requires more rest than we often allow it to have? My suggestion does not mean that I\u2019m going to stop doing my dissertation. Rather, I\u2019m grateful for the seven years between now and when I first applied for the George Fox program in 2008. \u00a0What a different place and perspective I have now that I took that time in between. Likewise, Weber contributes a broader and fuller understanding of society\u2019s use of and investment in capitalism, perhaps as a result of taking some time away from his previous studies.<\/p>\n

My second observation of Weber\u2019s work focuses on his motivation behind\u00a0The Protestant Ethic.<\/em>\u00a0He asks about social and economic change in his concern for the ubiquitous everyday serf becoming a day laborer. Apparently, the effort by the working class of Germany is to seek more financial and social freedom. He wants to understand the change versus being a \u201cdilettante\u201d who only starts an interesting conversation. Diving into the topic with as many social sciences as possible, in some ways, he\u2019s fulfilling his own protestant calling (as \u201creligiously unmusical\u201d[3]<\/a> ) by seeking to understand how people find freedom. Questions abound in his quest: What is the attraction for that day laborer desiring freedom? What circumstances allow for that kind of motivation? How did the change come to pass? By connecting the Protestant factors with economic means, Weber begins to see the way a day laborer operates in society, ultimately impacting all of western society.<\/p>\n

That leads me to ask the question, what are we, as followers of Christ, doing to understand the mind of society? Are we able to make connections between political, economic, religious, and social influences that speak to the way culture operates? How can we see, prophetically perhaps, that the Protestant work ethic and asceticism lead to an \u201cIron Cage\u201d (a term Weber uses for the Puritans) who ascetically create a means for capitalism to flourish, yet at the same time create a new type of bondage? The initial goal of the day laborer for financial and social freedom eventually becomes another prison in which he seeks to escape. Weber starts with the question of freedom, one of the essential questions. \u00a0Humanity desires freedom through the search for meaning. How are we free? Across the social sciences, what actually creates real freedom? As Christians, are we asking the bigger questions? \u00a0What comes to mind is another Eastern European, who speaks of freedom through the Holocaust: \u201cFreedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth.\u201d[4]<\/a> Viktor Frankl goes on to say that responsibility must be co-joined with freedom, building upon the act of love which recognizes purpose beyond what we pursue or accomplish. As followers of Christ, we can point to the loving act of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who reminds us that the greatest of all is love (1 Corinthians 13). As Weber has done, can we continue the dialogue, heated and\/or controversial that it may be, that asks of our responsibility?
\nBut he\u2019s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women.
\nIt\u2019s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be compassionate and loyal in your love,
\nand don\u2019t take yourself too seriously \u2013 take God seriously.\u201d Micah 6:8 (The Message)<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and The<\/em>, trans. Peter Baehr and Gordon C. Wells Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics (New York: Penguin Books, 2002), xi.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Paul Gingrich Dr., \u201cSociology 250\u201d (lecture, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada, October 2, 2002), accessed February 23, 2015, http:\/\/uregina.ca\/~gingrich\/o1102.htm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Weber, xii.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Viktor E. Frankl, Man\u2019s Search for Meaning<\/em> (Salt Lake City, UT: Beacon Press, 2006), 77.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I see a play in Seattle that creates quite a conversation between the four of us who attend. Later, someone asks me, \u201cA good play?\u201d While I didn\u2019t particularly enjoy it musically, I say \u201cyes,\u201d with the idea that the play causes great dialogue over the thematic issues. The greatness of a book, a play, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":35,"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":[386],"class_list":["post-4142","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-max-weber","cohort-lgp5"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4142","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\/35"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4142"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4142\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4143,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4142\/revisions\/4143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4142"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4142"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4142"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}