Sewell and Weber's View on Agency Essay example

“An obsession with possessions enslaves us to the demon of worry. Jesus invites us to change our priorities, focus on the kingdom, and share with the needy” (Kraybill, 2011, p.101). A man’s wealth will be measured by the love, kindness and empathy he has for the poor and the hungry in Gods kingdom. For this matter Jesus wants the wealthy to humble themselves and receive their blessing by offering opportunities to the poor instead of being greedy and celebrating their own wealth.

To understand the economic cause and consequence of the Protestant Reformation, you have to understand that previous to the Protestant Reformation was an extensive past of wrongdoing and corruption which caused the entire community and towns to perceive the Catholic Church as “dirty” and a profitable organization rather than an ear and mouthpiece for God. Much similar to other rebellions and riots, this reformation didn’t take place all in one night; It took time. One major idea that evolved during the Reformation was the idea of selling and purchasing “indulgences.” When you purchased an indulgence, you were purchasing a smaller amount of time your soul would spend in purgatory. You would think that indulgences were a very high in

Weber argues that religious beliefs contributed to major social change- specifically the emergence of modern capitalism in Northern Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. Modern capitalism differs from capitalism as it is based on systematic, efficient and a rational pursuit of profit and profit for its own sake rather than consumption. Weber calls this the spirit of capitalism.

It is important to understand that Weber believed capitalism was fuelled by ideas, such as Protestantism, specifically Calvinism. His belief was that Protestants were very different to Catholics, spending more time focusing on their community rather than purely focusing on their own individual families. They worked towards a common goal, to ensure they worked to their full potential. Weber claimed that Protestants experienced feelings of guilt and directed these negative emotions into their work which Weber called “The Protestant Work

As seen throughout the semester, the debates surrounding capitalism and its role in society are extensive and transcends generations. By virtue of the nature of debates, two broad positions on capitalism evolved in North American Protestantism – one position defends capitalism while the other protests capitalism. The defense of capitalism developed in the 19th century. Being one of the many authors to do so, Charles Sellers attributes the development of capitalism to the Market and Industrial Revolution (Sellers, 21). Consequently, the Second Great Awakening increased religious awareness and significance in the daily lives of Americans (Sellers, 202). Sellers argues it was only through religion that Americans could cope with the stresses of

Prior to the industrial revolution, social values centered on being thrifty, focus of saving, and staying out of debt. Afterwards, consumption was the norm (http://www4.ncsu.edu/unity/users/p/pwhmds/indrev.html). The concept of instant gratification became reinforced. As a result, the church and its teachings became less important along with their long term salvation.

So we can understand this we have to go back in history, we need to look for the eternal relationship between capitalism and religion. There are assumption that capitalist blossomed around the same time as enlightenment of the eighteenth century. In fact, the church of the middle ages was the main source for the first sign of capitalism. The church was the first to set the rule of law, a bureaucracy system and many more concepts that our modern society is following today. The church owned nearly a third of all land in Europe, so the church had to create a strong system to manage all of these holdings. These strong systems helped in achieving great result as the technological discoveries. Therefor, the growth of capitalism was a source of the improvement in our society today. But not a lot people like to be ruled by the church and because if something goes beyond the person mean it will just create chaos and interruption. Thus, all of this created segregation in classes, and definition of certain classes no longer fit. Therefor the first settlers ran away from all these rules and seek refuge in the new land. They were looking for a new meaning of life, beyond what church has instructed. Even after establishing a new society in the new land, the American still struggled and had conflict over class

The certain morality of the lawful pursuit of wealth gives businessmen both a clear conscience and the ability to employ motivated workers who themselves constantly labor for the glory of God. The businessmen’s conscience is further cleared by the thought that the unequal distribution of goods is part of God’s plan – it is God’s secret choice to bestow grace as he wishes. The workers “calling”, in contrast, is to labor regardless of the wage, striving to glorify God and secure status as the elect. The ascetic lifestyle of a poor worker is also glorified, as the worker lives as the apostles once did. The attitudes of both the businessmen and the worker in the modern economic relationship naturally flow from ascetic Protestantism.

A long history of corruption caused people to view the Catholic Church as a for-profit organization rather than God’s voice on Earth. By the Renaissance, the Catholic Church had already lost much of its power over secular rulers but still held leverage over the masses. This authority naturally paved the way for corruption. The most outrageous form of corruption practiced by the Church was the sale of indulgences. An indulgence is the remission of temporal punishment still due for a sin that has been sacramentally absolved. One of the ways the Church would generate income was by selling them. The notion started off innocently enough; it stemmed from the idea that punishment for crimes could be converted to payments of money, in essence, a fine (Simon 35). However, it soon spiraled out of control as the Church used indulgences simply to gain money, as when Pope Leo X needed money for the construction of St. Peter’s basilica (Duiker and Spielvogel 429). People began to view salvation as something that could be bought; they could go out and sin on Saturday night, then simply pay for it monetarily Sunday morning. To encourage people to buy more indulgences, the Church even claimed that indulgences could be bought on behalf of those already dead and in purgatory (Sporre 378). This blatant victimization was what spurred Martin Luther to write his Ninety-Five Theses, which

On one side resides the connotations of justice, faith, and good health; on the other side resides: capital, profit, and competition. Contemporary views of Christianity relate to only the individual and their relation with God, and the economy is viewed as the relationship of the community. Tanner suggests that the correlating factor between the two is grace and money. This belief could contrast with Christian ideals, as prosperity is looked down upon because of its greedy connotation. Tanner defends her argument by suggesting that the drawing link between grace and money can exist in the act of distribution. Just as theology is concerned with the distribution of grace amongst society, economics is equally concerned with the distribution of money. Yet, the two greatly contrast since the distribution of grace works under non-competitive assumptions. Tanner writes, “By setting Christian ideas of the production and circulation of goods into a comparative economy, that comparative framing an economic one, my intent is just to suggest that a Christian economy has everything to do with the material dimensions of life – with the economic more narrowly construed. It is clear that, set within a comparative economy, grace has everything to do with money”

This essay will examine the human race's abandonment of the Lord's will and determine how Everyman presents the idea of material wealth. Sex and Material Wealth Sex and money are two things that go hand in hand. Once one acquires the other the missing piece is not too far behind. This quote is a perfect example of Everyman's view of wealth, "... His mind is on fleshly lust and his treasure, And great pain it shall cause him to endure Before the Lord Heaven King..."

This caused educated Europeans to call for changes in the church. This new form of belief, Protestantism transformed many people’s lives during the 16th century with new changes within the church. The selling

Many argue that this gave rise to capitalism because of the emphasis on the individual. Because of one's own freedom to interpret the Scripture for themselves, many believe this freedom extended to the workplaces of the 17th and 18th centuries. Men and women were free to go into their own enterprise and sell what they saw fit, without much government or hierarchical "red tape" ("The Protestant Ethic, the Spirit of Capitalism, and Perceptions of

Also, the protestant work ethic believed that being religious meant gaining economic success. The similarity between the spirit of capitalism and the protestant work ethic is that they both encouraged people to work hard, live a happy life, and earn money in order to be able to obtain the things they desire. However, they both had differences too. The protestant work ethic requires people to work in order to live up to God, and the spirit of capitalism requires people to work in order to earn money. The importance of these ideological conditions for the emergence of market society is that it encouraged them to work hard in order to live up to God and contribute to the

In this essay I will discuss ‘What is agency?’ from what I have understood from the course readings. The readings that I have connected with most and that I feel help the discussion of this essay are, Holly Wardlows ‘Wayward Women’, which is the main text behind this essay and Kawika Tengan's ‘Native Men Remade’.