Unit 1: Merchant vs Pious Christian
Prompt: Read about the life of St. Godric. It’s interesting to note that some accounts divide his life into a merchant phase and a pious Christian phase. Then compare St Godric to a contemporary pious Christian and titan of commerce, Ken Lay, whose Methodist pastor testified to Mr. Lay’s Christian piety at the Enron trial. Which figure manifested greater integrity and why? Is it possible to be both a merchant/capitalist in the modern world and a pious Christian?
For the life of Godric, we have only some legends and the words of his hagiographer to go by. He started out life as the son of a poor farmer and opted to leave the farm and seek his fortune in the world. His career is described in some sources as merchant and in others as pirate. Where ever Godric actually operated along this continuum, the sense is that he decided that his worldly life required repentance. He evidently underwent a conversion experience and chose to leave the world to devote his remaining years to prayer and penance. He died in 1170, having spent approximately sixty years living the life of a solitary and acquiring a reputation as a holy man.
To seek salvation, Godric followed in the footsteps of the desert fathers and green martyrs that left the world behind and went into the wilds, to pray and overcome temptations. Still, in some respects, chucking it all to go stand in a freezing river for sixty years might be easier than trying to live a model Christian life while still remaining in the world, a problem which seems to have confounded businesspeople since the Reformation.
Ken Lay also began his life in humble circumstances and lived out his own rags-to riches story. Like Godric, Lay exhibited outward signs of religious piety appropriate for his era. According to his hagiographer, Godric made pilgrimages to all of the right shrines; Lay became known for his philanthropy and community/civic involvement.
One of the questions posed for this assignment was: Which man manifested greater integrity and why? The rules for Godric and Lay were different. Not only was it possible for Godric’s life to be divided into two drastically different phases, it was also something of a necessity. For one thing, the Church of Godric’s day frowned on profit-making. For another, the model of Christian piety (in case actual martyrdom wasn’t available) was adopting the religious life.
After the Reformation, the Perry text notes that this was no longer an option as “the reformers had condemned the monastery as an unnatural life”. (p 331) The emphasis of Protestant reformers was on sanctifying a life lived in the world - through civic involvement, business and family – and profit was no longer prohibited. If people were looking for an image to be the poster-boy for the Ideal Protestant Businessman in late-90’s Houston, Texas they would have probably settled on Ken Lay. Founder and former CEO of Enron, he was everything one might hope for: philanthropic, civic-minded and active in his church.
Then, in 2001, Enron began to come apart at the seams and, as it unraveled, employees and investors lost vast sums of money. During the federal investigation of the behavior of Enron executives leading up to and surrounding the company’s collapse, Lay’s own behavior came under scrutiny. It was alleged that he knew the company was in trouble and was selling off his shares while continuing to encourage investors to risk their money. Throughout his trial, Lay denied that he had done anything criminal and that others were to blame, not him. He was convicted but died before sentencing. He was eulogized in the most glowing terms as a man of faith.
Which man, then, exhibited the greater integrity? The retired pirate turned hermit? The Houston businessman who defrauded people of millions and refused to accept the responsibility? One tends to think more highly of the former pirate, if only because of an incident that is said to have occurred in his youth. Some men under Godric’s supervision were guilty of theft and, though he was not aware of their activity, he did benefit from the thefts and felt guilty about it. If a pirate can accept personal responsibility, it is not asking too much for a Houston businessman to do likewise.
The original prompt for this writing assignment asked whether or not it was possible to be both a merchant/capitalist and a pious Christian in the modern world. The Perry text describes Modern as those “historical developments in the West since the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries…”. (p G-5) If the question is considered with that timeframe in mind then the answer is that the two aims were not considered to be antithetical by the people of the merchant class during much of recent history.
It was not only possible to be both but the two identities – merchant/capitalist and pious Protestant Christian – arose during the same era. Generations of Western Christians have labored confidently under the conviction/belief/impression that the two identities were quite compatible. As the Perry text notes: “by 1750, the model Christian in northwestern Europe was no longer the selfless saint but the enterprising businessman.” (p 334) Looking back over those centuries, however, the ethics and morality exhibited by some of these pious capitalists involved eradication and displacement of native peoples, religious warfare and persecution, exploitation and a laundry list of basic human rights (not to mention environmental degradation and eradication of species) in the interests of both business and religious conviction.
If the original question is considered as “Is it still possible to be both?” then that becomes more difficult to answer. We are each accountable for our actions but it is never entirely possible to see and fully comprehend the ramifications of those actions, however minor they might be. Perhaps the most one can hope to accomplish – whatever one’s religious tradition or occupation – is to try to act in accordance with one’s principles and hope for the best.
(Text referenced for this essay Perry, Marvin. Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics & Society. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007.)
For the life of Godric, we have only some legends and the words of his hagiographer to go by. He started out life as the son of a poor farmer and opted to leave the farm and seek his fortune in the world. His career is described in some sources as merchant and in others as pirate. Where ever Godric actually operated along this continuum, the sense is that he decided that his worldly life required repentance. He evidently underwent a conversion experience and chose to leave the world to devote his remaining years to prayer and penance. He died in 1170, having spent approximately sixty years living the life of a solitary and acquiring a reputation as a holy man.
To seek salvation, Godric followed in the footsteps of the desert fathers and green martyrs that left the world behind and went into the wilds, to pray and overcome temptations. Still, in some respects, chucking it all to go stand in a freezing river for sixty years might be easier than trying to live a model Christian life while still remaining in the world, a problem which seems to have confounded businesspeople since the Reformation.
Ken Lay also began his life in humble circumstances and lived out his own rags-to riches story. Like Godric, Lay exhibited outward signs of religious piety appropriate for his era. According to his hagiographer, Godric made pilgrimages to all of the right shrines; Lay became known for his philanthropy and community/civic involvement.
One of the questions posed for this assignment was: Which man manifested greater integrity and why? The rules for Godric and Lay were different. Not only was it possible for Godric’s life to be divided into two drastically different phases, it was also something of a necessity. For one thing, the Church of Godric’s day frowned on profit-making. For another, the model of Christian piety (in case actual martyrdom wasn’t available) was adopting the religious life.
After the Reformation, the Perry text notes that this was no longer an option as “the reformers had condemned the monastery as an unnatural life”. (p 331) The emphasis of Protestant reformers was on sanctifying a life lived in the world - through civic involvement, business and family – and profit was no longer prohibited. If people were looking for an image to be the poster-boy for the Ideal Protestant Businessman in late-90’s Houston, Texas they would have probably settled on Ken Lay. Founder and former CEO of Enron, he was everything one might hope for: philanthropic, civic-minded and active in his church.
Then, in 2001, Enron began to come apart at the seams and, as it unraveled, employees and investors lost vast sums of money. During the federal investigation of the behavior of Enron executives leading up to and surrounding the company’s collapse, Lay’s own behavior came under scrutiny. It was alleged that he knew the company was in trouble and was selling off his shares while continuing to encourage investors to risk their money. Throughout his trial, Lay denied that he had done anything criminal and that others were to blame, not him. He was convicted but died before sentencing. He was eulogized in the most glowing terms as a man of faith.
Which man, then, exhibited the greater integrity? The retired pirate turned hermit? The Houston businessman who defrauded people of millions and refused to accept the responsibility? One tends to think more highly of the former pirate, if only because of an incident that is said to have occurred in his youth. Some men under Godric’s supervision were guilty of theft and, though he was not aware of their activity, he did benefit from the thefts and felt guilty about it. If a pirate can accept personal responsibility, it is not asking too much for a Houston businessman to do likewise.
The original prompt for this writing assignment asked whether or not it was possible to be both a merchant/capitalist and a pious Christian in the modern world. The Perry text describes Modern as those “historical developments in the West since the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries…”. (p G-5) If the question is considered with that timeframe in mind then the answer is that the two aims were not considered to be antithetical by the people of the merchant class during much of recent history.
It was not only possible to be both but the two identities – merchant/capitalist and pious Protestant Christian – arose during the same era. Generations of Western Christians have labored confidently under the conviction/belief/impression that the two identities were quite compatible. As the Perry text notes: “by 1750, the model Christian in northwestern Europe was no longer the selfless saint but the enterprising businessman.” (p 334) Looking back over those centuries, however, the ethics and morality exhibited by some of these pious capitalists involved eradication and displacement of native peoples, religious warfare and persecution, exploitation and a laundry list of basic human rights (not to mention environmental degradation and eradication of species) in the interests of both business and religious conviction.
If the original question is considered as “Is it still possible to be both?” then that becomes more difficult to answer. We are each accountable for our actions but it is never entirely possible to see and fully comprehend the ramifications of those actions, however minor they might be. Perhaps the most one can hope to accomplish – whatever one’s religious tradition or occupation – is to try to act in accordance with one’s principles and hope for the best.
(Text referenced for this essay Perry, Marvin. Western Civilization: Ideas, Politics & Society. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2007.)
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