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“Engage Economy to Voice Your Values”: An Observation about the Emergent Conversation

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by

mwkruse
in ,

Economy to Voice Your Values is a great opinion piece by Father Robert Sirico in The Detroit News over the weekend.

There has been a heightened demand for participation in church worship. We also hear about the need for participatory democracy, so people play a role in forming policy.

Since economics concerns everything we do, surely it is more crucial that we participate here than even in other areas of life. But how can we encourage participatory economics?

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And yet many who see the need for participation in worship and politics have a blind spot about economics. They oppose dictatorship in church and state, but have no problem with central planning in economics. They continually call for more economic regulation, redistribution, taxation and central planning.

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The problem for critics is they fail to understand how markets are systems of cooperation. Most people think of the market economy as something controlled by large corporations. But look beneath the surface and we see the opposite: Businesses desperately seek public input and aspire to anticipate changing needs and tastes.

One of the things I find the most interesting about the Emergent Conversation is this very dynamic. I hear a constant critique of the "institutional church." Solution: we need more freedom for individuals to live as communities impacting society at the micro-level. Yet when it comes to economics, the dominant refrain is more bureaucratic governmental involvement in every aspect of economic life.

This mindset causes me to sometimes question whether some are truly Emergent or are just politically left-leaning Evangelicals who don't want to be identified with the authoritarian Religious Right.

Comments

3 responses to ““Engage Economy to Voice Your Values”: An Observation about the Emergent Conversation”

  1. Dana Ames Avatar
    Dana Ames

    Good morning, Michael.
    This is something my best friend has shed light on for me. She believes that where we put our vote does not matter nearly as much as where we put our money. The calls for change from the most “progressive” voices in my local area are coming from people who are advocating grassroots, ground-up, “emerging” activity WRT corporations, sustainability, and many other things. Alongside those there are still people who want a wholesale change in government along with laws to take corporations apart, but this other thing is growing up alongside and is getting some attention and making more sense to people. And among the Emergent-US “leaders”, the idea of putting your money where your values are is very much in evidence, if you talk with or read their written output for any length of time.
    I think it’s hard for many who are just coming to Emergent/other emerging church expressions to hear those ideas because it takes some time to get past how much E/emergents are voicing people’s frustrations with church- it’s such a relief to see “on paper” what you have been afraid to say out loud. If one can get to the other side of all that, the economic thing is very much there. Being a very new thing still, the [conversation/movement/whatever] is still jelling, and there are lots of people still at the edges. Some have seen more of where the core and “rule” will lead and have distanced themselves (eg Mark Driscoll). But lots of folks have yet to get to that place.
    The difference with Emergent particularly is that those at the core are not out banging drums trying to rustle up “converts”- it’s like they’re along for the ride on this thing too! So I think the learning curve will be longer, because folks “on the outside” will have to be responsible for getting past their disgruntled-ness and move on to what exactly such a change would mean for the praxis of their lives. We American Christians aren’t really used to doing that-
    Dana

    Reply
  2. Michael Kruse Avatar
    Michael Kruse

    Hi Dana,
    Thanks for this. I suspect you are right about difference about those at the core and some entering the conversation from what I have observed. I also realize that some of what shapes our perceptions is the context we are emerging from. Those entering the Emergent conversation from an Evangelical church setting are reacting to a political/economic ethos that is 180 degrees from what many of us entering the conversation from the ethos in mainline denominations experience. (I will do a post about this shortly.)
    I really do think that one of the most critical issues is addressing our own personal economic choices from the standpoint of being disciples of Jesus Christ. Public Policy debate is essential but I fear we too often use it as a diversion from confronting our own relationships to mammon. (This applies to Evangelical and mainline.) That is one of the correctives I see the Emergent Conversation bringing to the table.
    Still the volume of the “progressive” economics at websites, at Glorietta, and with Emergent friends is a persistently annoying buzz in my ear. *grin*

    Reply
  3. Dana Ames Avatar
    Dana Ames

    I hear you. Looking forward to that post.
    D.

    Reply

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