In my four-blog Protestant Ethics series, I explained Max Weber’s thesis. Soon after he published his three articles between 1904-6, scholars started publishing their critiques. Dr. Robert W. Green (1921-2007), professor emeritus of European History at Pennsylvania State University, edited …
The Protestant Ethic (Spirit of Capitalism)
In my third blog on the Protestant Ethic, I discussed English Puritanism founded upon John Calvin’s vocational theology. Weber focuses on the writings of Richard Baxter (1615-1691), an English church leader and Puritan theologian, who advocated combining industrious work and asceticism. The result …
The Protestant Ethic (Puritanism)
In my second blog on the Protestant Ethic, I discussed the changes in the theology of vocational calling brought about by the Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther leveled the hierarchical Catholic theology of sacred over secular using Scripture (1 Peter 2:9). John Calvin embedded this theology in …
The Protestant Ethic (Reformation)
In my introductory blog on the Protestant Ethic, I discussed several economic terms, Christian Medieval work theology founded upon dualism (sacred over secular), and the pre-Reformation Church’s prescribed steps towards gaining salvation. This theology was challenged by Martin Luther (1483-1546) …
The Protestant Ethic (Introduction)
I worked in Europe for over nine years. There are many cultural differences between Americans and Europeans, but one very noticeable difference is work ethic. Europeans are highly educated and excellent workers but are typically not workaholics. They value their time away from work and while …
The Perfect Career
My second job after graduating from engineering school was working as a Reservoir Engineering Manager for a small upstream energy company. After five years, our parent corporation decided to sell the company after several years of low oil prices. I had finished my MBA and wanted to use my recently …
Graduation
A little over 40 years ago, I was in my senior year of engineering school and starting to interview for a job. Campus recruiters came to my university and scheduled 1-hour interviews with job-seeking students. I would get up early and walk to the career center to sign-up for interviews as the system …
Religious Community
How did you become a Christian? I posed this question to my adult Sunday class and asked if any class members, when non-Christian, independently decided to visit a church and later joined as a believer? No hands were raised. People spoke about being raised a Christian, being asked by a friend or …
One-Way
Most mornings at 6 a.m., I exit my house to run. I run two miles through my neighborhood streets to reach the Colorado River that winds through central Austin and then I run along the Ann and Roy Butler Trail, a wide dirt trail for pedestrians and bikers that goes for many miles on the north and …
Spring Cleaning
I decided to clean and sort through my closets, shelves, and drawers. We are in stay-home mode due to the pandemic and it is spring, so I might as well spruce up the inside of the house. I wiped down surfaces and re-organized my possessions. Some items were donated to a local nonprofit. As I perform …