BY BRIAN DOCE
DID YOU know that, for some sociologists, religion plays a role in economic development?
Yes. Such idea originated from a German intellectual named Max Weber in his essay entitled “The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” published in 1904.
Comparing European nations with Catholic and Protestant populations, Weber observed that Protestant nations are more industrialized and developed compared to their Catholic counterparts.
To answer this puzzle, Weber blamed the differing theologies of Catholicism and Protestantism in Europe. For him, Protestant theology, especially the Calvinist variant, is more conducive to capitalist development. Why?
Unlike Catholics, Calvinist Protestants subscribe to a theology which preaches that only a certain number of persons who are eligible to enter Heaven. To determine if someone is part of that select few, one indicator is whether a person contributes to his/her community.
In Weber’s essay, such contribution frequently revolves on individual career success and other undertakings such as entrepreneurship. Weber contrasted the Calvinist theology to Catholic theology which tends to lean towards monasticism and withdrawal from the world.
Weber’s argument remains relevant at present, especially in countries with Christian majority populations such as the Philippines where most Filipinos affiliate themselves with the Roman Catholic Church. Many Filipino progressives and critics have branded Filipino Catholicism as “Good Friday Christianity.”
Per this critique, the Philippines remain poor because Filipinos subscribe to a “Good Friday” worldview which is centered on hardships, endurance, and resilience in exchange for a futuristic heavenly reward after an individual’s life on earth. For many critics of the Catholic Church in the Philippines, such worldview perpetuates the vicious cycle of injustice and poverty in the Philippines.
However, is a Catholic worldview really antagonistic towards economic development?
The answer is NO. Remember that religions are institutions that adapt to their environment through time. In this case, arbitrarily applying the ideas of Weber to modern-day contexts generate sweeping generalizations and stereotypes.
When Weber analyzed the role of Catholicism in European industrialization in the 20th Centurty, Weber encountered the pre-Vatican II version of Catholicism which is different from modern-day Catholicism. Pre-Vatican II Catholicism is indeed characterized by its preference to monasticism and withdrawal from the world.
However, after the conclusion of Second Vatican Council held from 1962 – 1965, Roman Catholicism is no longer the inward-looking religion known prior to the 1960s. Catholicism became an activist religion which viewed the world as something good and needs to be engaged.
In terms of development, such paradigm shift is evidenced with the creation of new pious movements within the Catholic world such as charismatic organizations preaching prosperity Gospel – a spirituality that entangles Christian faith with career mobility of entrepreneurial or financial success.
However, there is another variant of Catholic spirituality which I believe is also conducive for economic development and does not subscribe to a simplistic view that faith in Jesus attracts financial blessings as practiced by prosperity Gospel groups.
Promoted by a Catholic organization called Opus Dei, this spirituality concerns itself with the duty of every Christian to sanctify his/her daily work. Founded by the Spanish priest named Josemaria Escriva, Opus Dei is a special institution within the Catholic Church mainly composed of lay members who adhere to the teaching that even laypersons are called to holiness and achieving this holiness is possible if a person will sanctify his/her daily work.
As an academic, when I first encountered Opus Dei’s spirituality especially its emphasis to importance of sanctifying one’s work, I immediately branded the spirituality as simply the “Catholic version” of Max Weber’s Protestant ethic.
However, I am not alone in this reaction since the view is also shared by sociologists such as Peter Berger and those who propose the so-called “spiritual capital” – a variant of social capital needed for development. In contrast to Weber’s Protestant ethic, Opus Dei delineates itself from the Calvinist worldview via the following approaches.
First, Opus Dei’s spirituality has a more inclusive message compared to Weber’s Protestant ethic. The Protestant ethic subscribes to the Calvinist eschatology of a select few predestined to enter heaven. In contrast, Opus Dei preaches that all baptized Christians are called to holiness through the sanctification of one’s work. In fact, the inclusivity of such message was even adopted by the Vatican leadership that the new constitutions and policies implemented after the Second Vatical Council use the language of “universal call to holiness.”
Second, Opus Dei’s message provides new avenues to humanize and Christianize the profit-centred orientation of capitalist economy.
This is executed as members of Opus Dei provide Christian formation activities to both workers and businessman teaching them not only to be good and excel in their individual crafts but also imbibe them the key tenets of the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church such as inviolability of human dignity, labor rights, solidarity, subsidiarity, and the pursuit of common good.
While not everyone is attracted or called to Opus Dei’s charism since membership to the organization is discerned as a vocation, the message of sanctifying one’s work and profession is a call that both Christians and non-Christians can practice, uphold and preach.
In this regard, I invite everyone reading my column this Holy Week to reflect on how the death and resurrection of Jesus can motivate us not only to perform well in our individual pursuits but also consider how our Christian faith can contribute to the common good.
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Brian U. Doce is a scholar-practitioner with a background in politics and international relations with ten years of experience in the academe, business-government relations, policy advocacy and research, and diplomacy. He is currently finishing his PhD in Politics and International Studies at the Indo-Pacific Research Centre of Murdoch University in Australia. You can contact him through his email: scholarbud@gmail.com.
