Well, the inevitable has happened.
I’m sure by now, you’ve all heard of what happened with the stock market.
For those of you stuck in a hole for the past week or so, here are two links; the first detailing events the led up to the chaos that recently unfolded, and the second, explaining what exactly happened. Actually, it might not be a bad idea to have a look at these articles, even if you have been watching the news.
Anyway, while browsing the news, a particular article caught my eye. Entitled “Lessons From the Puritans”, the article, by Cal Thomas, opens with the line: “ ‘Greed is good.’ (1987 film ‘Wall Street’).” Immediately following: “ ‘Whoever loves money, never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income. This too is meaningless.’ (Ecclesiastes 5:10).”
Thus, Thomas critiques the current market crisis; not placing the blame on a particular government administration or lack of proper regulations, but rather upon the very ethics that sit at the heart of modern Western culture. He explains that it is the very way which our nation operates, with its obsession for material, or “worldly” goods that has ultimately caused the disaster that is the American economy. Thomas then quotes the puritan Thomas Watson:
“‘Blessedness . . . does not lie in the acquisition of worldly things. Happiness cannot by any art of chemistry be extracted here.’”
Indeed, in this “perilous time”, I cannot help but agree with Thomas’s point. However, I question whether such a noble perspective was truly the belief of the Puritans, or perhaps rather what we would prefer to believe the Puritan’s believed in. After all, while the Puritan’s viewed success and material fortune as a product of God’s will alone, they used these external signs as a means of determining who was among God’s elect. Therefore, in practice, the possession of material goods and worldly success still played a major role in Puritan societal status.
This seemingly contradictory element of Puritan society makes me wonder whether perhaps the desire for wealth and success is an inherent feature of all human society. However, whether it is or not, I believe the Puritans may still have much advice to offer. I believe that, while they may have harbored some flaws and contradictions in their society, their core beliefs and ideals may help us shed some light on the flaws of our own society, flaws that have led to the current crisis that we face.
1 comment:
Sweet blog man. I like the way you looked at our economic crisis as the product of a fundemental flaw in all humans instead of simply blaming a group of people for what has happened. I agree that the Puritans did use "worldly" material to create a social hierarchy in their society (the elect), but what were these materials? Were Puritans judged by how much land they owned? Or was it the way they acted and portrayed themselves that was the criteria for if they were among God's elect?
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