The Protestant Work Ethic, pt. 2
As we discussed last week, the Protestant doctrine of “the priesthood of all believers” challenged the medieval church’s distinction between sacred and secular. Martin Luther, and later John Calvin, championed the idea of vocation as a sacred calling. Luther wrote, “Your work is a sacred matter. God delights in it, and through it He wants to bestow His blessing on you.” Calvin wrote, “It is an error that those who flee worldly affairs and engage in contemplation are leading an angelic life…We know that men were created to busy themselves with labor and that no sacrifice is more pleasing to God than when each one attends to his calling and studies to live well for the common good.” In the minds of the Reformers, work was a calling and a means by which we glorify God and serve our neighbors.
These ideas produced sweeping social changes in the medieval world. One of the greatest changes was in education. Before the Reformation it was only deemed necessary for the clergy and ruling class to read, but Luther made it his goal to educate everyone, including the plowboy, in order to read and understand the Word of God. The reformed churches, however, went even further and began to implement a classical approach to education. This approach completely transformed the social order of the day. It began to erode the walls of social class, spurred economic growth, and planted the seeds of individual and political freedom.
These social, economic, and political changes were also affected by the Protestant idea of vocation. Today, vocation has come to mean a job or career, but the Reformers had a much broader understanding of the word. To the Reformers vocation meant God’s calling (vocatio) on one’s life. As Harry Blamires wrote, “Vocation is the voice of providence, and providence is always purposeful.” One’s vocation, which included work, rest, play, marriage, and raising children, meant living out God’s purpose for one’s life. Because one’s vocation was a calling from God, it was not to be used for selfish purposes or for purely monetary gain, but always for God and the service and betterment of others. This produced honest, quality-driven, hard-working laborers. Everyone practiced a trade according to their God-given abilities and according to the needs of the community. A wide range of trades insured that all the needs of the community would be met. The blacksmith made farm equipment, the farmer produced food, the doctor helped heal the sick, the preacher taught the Bible, the cobbler made shoes, the tailor made cloths, etc. Everyone did their part for the glory of God and the betterment of the community. Puritan William Perkins summed up this idea of vocation when he wrote, “The main end of our lives…is to serve God in the serving of men in the works of our callings…Some man will say perchance: What, must we not labor in our callings to maintain our families? I answer: this must be done: but this is not the scope and end of our lives. The true end of our lives is to do service to God in serving of man.”
What would it look like if service to God and others were removed from the idea of vocation? Vocation defined as merely a job done for personal glory and/or monetary gain would lead to a self-centered, pleasure-seeking, greedy, materialistic, purposeless society. Unfortunately, that kind of society is not hard to imagine.
These ideas produced sweeping social changes in the medieval world. One of the greatest changes was in education. Before the Reformation it was only deemed necessary for the clergy and ruling class to read, but Luther made it his goal to educate everyone, including the plowboy, in order to read and understand the Word of God. The reformed churches, however, went even further and began to implement a classical approach to education. This approach completely transformed the social order of the day. It began to erode the walls of social class, spurred economic growth, and planted the seeds of individual and political freedom.
These social, economic, and political changes were also affected by the Protestant idea of vocation. Today, vocation has come to mean a job or career, but the Reformers had a much broader understanding of the word. To the Reformers vocation meant God’s calling (vocatio) on one’s life. As Harry Blamires wrote, “Vocation is the voice of providence, and providence is always purposeful.” One’s vocation, which included work, rest, play, marriage, and raising children, meant living out God’s purpose for one’s life. Because one’s vocation was a calling from God, it was not to be used for selfish purposes or for purely monetary gain, but always for God and the service and betterment of others. This produced honest, quality-driven, hard-working laborers. Everyone practiced a trade according to their God-given abilities and according to the needs of the community. A wide range of trades insured that all the needs of the community would be met. The blacksmith made farm equipment, the farmer produced food, the doctor helped heal the sick, the preacher taught the Bible, the cobbler made shoes, the tailor made cloths, etc. Everyone did their part for the glory of God and the betterment of the community. Puritan William Perkins summed up this idea of vocation when he wrote, “The main end of our lives…is to serve God in the serving of men in the works of our callings…Some man will say perchance: What, must we not labor in our callings to maintain our families? I answer: this must be done: but this is not the scope and end of our lives. The true end of our lives is to do service to God in serving of man.”
What would it look like if service to God and others were removed from the idea of vocation? Vocation defined as merely a job done for personal glory and/or monetary gain would lead to a self-centered, pleasure-seeking, greedy, materialistic, purposeless society. Unfortunately, that kind of society is not hard to imagine.
posted on Friday, June 22, 2007 |
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