John Farago is not wrong to pick me up on my criticism of Gary Scherling's
"naive nonsense of a peculiarly American type". However, the point was
not intended to be as xenophobic as it sounds. Sure, there are many across
the world who confuse wealth with spiritual mastery.
As I went on to explain, there is a very particular American experience
forged by Protestant settlers in a vast continent, which has led to the
development of a very particular Christian belief about the relationship
between faithfulness and wealth. It *is* peculiarly American - not
because Americans are weird but because many share those foundational
historical roots.
Here in Europe we have had our own spiritual explanations for wealth, but
these have had more to do with spiritual justifications for the class
system than with the more meritocratic American version. It's the old
thing about 'Protestantism and the Rise of Capitalism' - Weber, wasn't it?
Our explanations have probably led to more mass brutality than the
American... well, possibly.
Gary's assertion that people with Personal Mastery tend to get wealthy and
famous really would raise confused eyebrows here in Britain, where the
general assumption is that you get wealthy by being greedy, or by being
born wealthy. The issue is played out regularly in the media every time
the directors of our former public utilities award themselves grotesque
pay rises.
--Revd Dick Wolff Mission Enabler to the Wessex Province of the United Reformed Church Tel : +44 1865 511798 Fax : +44 1865 310769 e-mail : dickwolff@patrol.i-way.co.uk
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