{"id":10353,"date":"2011-12-22T06:00:57","date_gmt":"2011-12-22T11:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/?p=10353"},"modified":"2011-12-22T06:00:57","modified_gmt":"2011-12-22T11:00:57","slug":"vocation-economic-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/vocation-economic-productivity\/","title":{"rendered":"Vocation & economic productivity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Greg Forster, in the context of a discussion about Europe\u2019s economic woes, makes some fascinating connections between the doctrine of vocation and economic productivity:<\/p>\n

A historically unprecedented phenomenon has been unfolding\u2014in Europe for the past five centuries, in America for the past two, and more recently everywhere across the globe except sub-Sarahan Africa. That phenomenon is explosive economic growth. After millennia of basically stagnant wealth levels from the earliest recorded history forward, God\u2019s world is at last beginning to flourish economically.<\/p>\n

Just in the past two decades, the percentage of the population in the developing world that lives in dire poverty (less than $1 a day) has been cut in half. Contemplate that for a moment.<\/p>\n

This economic flourishing was originally produced by a confluence of factors, the most important of which was Christianity. Late medieval Christianity<\/a> developed an increasing emphasis on universal human dignity and (consequently) the intrinsic goodness of economic activity<\/a>. The Reformation dramatically expanded<\/a> these trends and added critical new dimensions\u2014especially the idea that your daily work is a calling from God<\/a> and the primary way God makes human civilizations flourish<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\nAll this culminated in cultures that made productivity\u2014improving the lives of others by responding to their authentic needs\u2014central to both individual and national identity. Scriptural treatment of this topic is extensive.Everything from the image of God<\/a> to the Trinity<\/a> to the prophets and parables<\/a> is implicated in understanding productivity.\n

Christians believe human beings are made in the image of a Father who creates from nothing; this explains why human work creates wealth rather than just moving it around. Christians believe in a divine Son who joined in mystical union with temporal and material humanity. Material activities like economic work are not separate from, and inferior to, \u201cspiritual\u201d activities. And Christians believe in a Spirit who liberates us from selfishness; this explains why life works best when people orient their daily lives around serving others.<\/p>\n

The problem is, too many Europeans now take wealth for granted. Some have forgotten where it came from\u2014productive work\u2014and feel like they\u2019re entitled to it by birthright. More to the point, the people and institutions in authority have irresponsibly indulged this attitude (for various reasons, such as vote-buying) and have thereby anointed it as culturally accepted.<\/p>\n

Where this happens, economics is reduced to the purely material. If the proper economic goal for individuals is to enjoy leisure rather than to be productive, then of course voters should demand endless, unsustainable entitlement programs. If the fundamental purpose of business is to make money rather than to serve customers, then of course businesses should game the system to enrich themselves\u2014and nations can try to get rich by playing games with the money supply<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The idea that policy should encourage financial rewards for productivity, and culture should set the expectation of productive work from all who are able, simply makes no sense in this context. Once you forget the Creator, you quickly forget that wealth needs to be created.<\/p>\n

via Productive for the Glory of God, Good of Neighbors \u2013 The Gospel Coalition Blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Follow the links.\u00a0 (There is even one to something I wrote on vocation.)<\/p>\n

HT:\u00a0 Justin Taylor<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Greg Forster, in the context of a discussion about Europe\u2019s economic woes, makes some fascinating connections between the doctrine of vocation and economic productivity: A historically unprecedented phenomenon has been unfolding\u2014in Europe for the past five centuries, in America for the past two, and more recently everywhere across the globe except sub-Sarahan Africa. That phenomenon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,13,48],"tags":[444,4343,4352,4359],"class_list":["post-10353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-church","category-economics","category-vocation","tag-christian-influence","tag-economics","tag-reformation","tag-vocation"],"yoast_head":"\nVocation & economic productivity<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Greg Forster, in the context of a discussion about Europe's economic woes, makes some fascinating connections between the doctrine of vocation and\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/vocation-economic-productivity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Vocation & economic productivity\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Greg Forster, in the context of a discussion about Europe's economic woes, makes some fascinating connections between the doctrine of vocation and\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/vocation-economic-productivity\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-22T11:00:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/vocation-economic-productivity\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/vocation-economic-productivity\/\",\"name\":\"Vocation & economic productivity\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-12-22T11:00:57+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-12-22T11:00:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"Greg Forster, in the context of a discussion about Europe's economic woes, makes some fascinating connections between the doctrine of vocation and\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/vocation-economic-productivity\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/vocation-economic-productivity\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2011\/12\/vocation-economic-productivity\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Vocation & economic productivity\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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