Lent 2013 – day 30

What to DO in Lent 2013?

Is this a season to go deeper and to reflect on updating one’s theology?

If we are to update our theologies in 2013, we might look to the Principal of a theology college for guidance.

Mark G. Toulouse is the Principal of Emmanuel College in Toronto, Canada. In the Winter 2013 edition of EC News he wrote:

“Max Weber, in his 1904 book The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, theorized that Protestant Germany had a better economy than Catholic Germany because of the “inner loneliness” of Protestants. Catholics had rituals to help them internalize forgiveness for sins. Protestants did not. Therefore, Protestants lacked confidence that they were truly worthy of salvation. They worked harder to earn worthiness. Along the way, their work ethic created economic growth. Today, across the world, Protestants still struggle with the notion that links financial success with divine favour.”

Toulouse goes on to describe how this affects humanity, and what it means to be human, in the 21st century. The whole column can be read on page 3 at:http://www.emmanuel.utoronto.ca/alumni/ecnews.htm

I am wondering what causes that “inner loneliness” that Max Weber referred to in these times?

Is the desire for “financial success“, whatever that means, still driving that “inner loneliness“?

Have we forgotten the God who is with us in life, in death, and in life beyond death?

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