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> "But with the rise of Protestantism, work was ennobled. Martin Luther for the first time suggested that an individual’s work—whether it was making shoes or bu
by cvoss 8y ago
> "But with the rise of Protestantism, work was ennobled. Martin Luther for the first time suggested that an individual’s work—whether it was making shoes or building churches—could be a way of serving God, and that the harder we worked (and, by default, the more money we made), the better God would be pleased.
> "That Protestant work ethic dominates in the US to a greater degree than almost anywhere else because it is a relatively young country without a long, prevalent pre-Protestant history..."
I've heard this theory of the protestant work ethic many times very recently. I grew up in what I think was a very typical American protestant culture, where, yes, work is ennobled ("all work is a high calling, not just clerical work") but I have never encountered this sentiment to the workaholic extreme that is being associated to it. Just the opposite was true: a huge emphasis was placed on the Sabbath commandment. Not in the legalistic, "it's a sin if you work on Sundays" kind of way, but definitely in the work-life balance, burnout-avoiding kind of way. Sabbath rest has always been centrally important to the brand of protestant work ethic that I came up in. Curious if others have different experiences?
- zebrafish 8y agoAgree with you. Disagree with article. Reformed thinking says that God created work, and thus work is good and it is intended to fulfill humanity. However, work, money, status, career progression, are idols. Two laws since the resurrection: love God, love your neighbor. You can love God by working, but it is not the only means and work for work's sake should not be loved or exalted.
- framebit 8y agoIMO the Protestant work ethic, while it has its roots in the ennobling of work in service to God, quickly got twisted through the Puritans and their adherence to "working out your salvation" rather than "for it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, not by works so that no one can boast." Even if that wasn't the official theology, that's certainly the behavioral tradition. And this quickly got twisted into the fundamental American myth: you get what you deserve. Are you wealthy? Then you must have worked hard. Are you poor? Then you must be lazy. Did participating in an essential oils MLM bankrupt your family? You just didn't want success enough. So the protestant work ethic in a modern sense, (IMO, of course) is ennobling work BECAUSE your "righteousness" for whatever religious or non-religious definition you want to use is based in your hardworkingness.
- whatshisface 8y ago>Did participating in an essential oils MLM bankrupt your family? You just didn't want success enough. That's not about work, that's about money. There's definitely no way to blame money-equals-virtue on Protestantism... That's just human nature.
- framebit 8y agoExactly right, it's a human nature twist on misinterpreted Protestant theology. Or rather a human instinct dressed up with the language of religion, in this case Protestantism but it could be anything. The manipulative language of MLMs which make money off the failures of their consultants, pulls from this work = salvation misinterpretation that boils down to "you get what you deserve," which is completely at odds with _real_ Protestant (and Catholic, orthodox, other Christian) theology.
- whatshisface 8y ago>you get what you deserve Ironically, this belief is honestly held by many con artists, who placate their conscience by telling themselves that whoever is stupid "deserves" to be scammed.