Reflective Writing and Poetic Musing by Condemiang + Stories About the World

I often ask myself: What role should faith play in society today? And how free is the church from the logic of capital? In his classic work The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism , Max Weber shows how the devout lives of early Protestants—especially the Puritans—helped give birth to the modern capitalist spirit. What was once a “calling” before God gradually transformed into relentless competition; asceticism and self-discipline became virtues of productivity and profit. But was that ever the true heart of faith? To the progressive believer, this book becomes a mirror of our spirit. A century ago, Weber warned us of the world we now live in. “We are living in an age of soulless specialists and heartless hedonists.” How painfully accurate that feels today. Knowledge without spirit. Pleasure without compassion. If this is the face of our capitalist culture, then what should the church look like in response? Living faithfully before God must not become living efficiently befor...