America has become vastly richer than Europe
Narratives and mental models - social ethics and parish development
This morning, The Dispatch has an article by Yascha Mounk saying that “America has become vastly richer than Europe.” What fascinated me wasn't so much his economic assessment, I'm not an economist, but his view on the impact of favorite political narratives on the issue. It has become obvious to me that our conversations about all sorts of issues are shaped by the narratives coming from the left or right in American politics. That has a significant impact on our ability to do social ethics. We see the same phenomenon in parish development work when parish clergy and bishops get fascinated by some useful mental model, and it becomes their primary way of understanding their experience. I’ll begin by quoting from The Dispatch.
America is way richer than Europe now
Americans on all sides of the political spectrum have become so consumed with the negativity bias of social media that they don’t want to see any good news about their own country.
The American left is an obvious example, as it is more singularly focused on the inadequacies of the welfare state and the legacy of “structural racism.” Acknowledging that, wealth inequality and the disparity between different ethnic groups notwithstanding, the average African-American is now richer than the average European would seem like sacrilege to many progressives.
But even on the American right, many have now become convinced that the global system built by America has turned to its disadvantage. They see the country, as President Donald Trump did in his first inaugural address, as the land of American carnage, with “mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities [and] rusted-out factories scattered like tombstones across the landscape of our nation.”
Article by Mounk in The Dispatch
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.Colossians 2:6-7
Social ethics
As you know I believe that our starting point is worship. I like Kenneth Kirk’s view in The Vision of God, “the doctrine…has throughout been interpreted by Christian thought at its best as implying in practice that the highest prerogative of the Christian, in this life and the next, is worship; and that nowhere except in this activity will he find the key to his ethical problems.” ( a posting from three days ago). The formation of our conscience is grounded in worship - might that be true even of the non-believer? - and continues in our understanding of Christian virtue and character and is furthered in our exposure to a variety of viewpoints. Benedict's call to listen with the ear of our heart comes to mind.
Developing the capacity to maintain some distance from our own favorite political narratives seems necessary if we are to see clearly, and if we are to live in some degree of harmony with other people.
The sun will no more be your light by day; *
by night you will not need the brightness of the moon.
The Lord will be your everlasting light, *
and your God will be your glory.
The Third Song of Isaiah Surge, illuminare
Parish development
As noted in the introduction, “We see the same phenomenon in parish development work when parish clergy and bishops get fascinated by some useful mental model, and it becomes their primary way of understanding their experience.” The problem isn’t that the model is mistaken. It simply can’t tell us a more complete story. It’s the analogy "If your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." It’s a form of cognitive bias. We tend to rely on familiar tools, which as useful as they are, may not offer the best understanding or solution for the issue in front of us. For example, over the years, three of my favorite models have been family systems theory as applied to the church (Ed Friedman’s work), Adaptive leadership (Marty Linsky and Ronald Heifetz), and Force Field Analysis (Kurt Lewin). Each is very useful. And if one of them is what I draw upon again and again it will cloud my vision.
Teach me discernment and knowledge, *
for I have believed in your commandments. (Ps 119:66)
Our cognitive bias can be useful when it helps us make decisions more quickly. And it can be destructive when it blinds us to other significant forces active in the situation. So how might we manage that? The first step is to notice that we have made extensive use of just one or two mental models useful in parish development. The second step is to expand the number of tools available to us. You might take the issue of leadership and set out to become familiar with at least three or four ways of looking at leadership, e.g., adaptive leadership, situational leadership, self-differentiated leadership, pastoral oversight. A third step might be to develop the habit of running core models up against one another. For example, in some training programs, we have taken the four core models used in Fill All Things. - the Renewal - Apostolate Cycle, the Benedictine Promise, the Christian Life Model, and the Shape of the Parish - divided people into four groups, one focusing on each model, and giving them all the same case to explore. While each model usually offered some deeper understanding of the situation quite frequently it became apparent to the group that one of the models was more useful than the others in regard to this particular case. They needed to have a firm grasp of all four models. [There are links to videos on the models in the Shaping the Parish Resources webpage]
In the tender compassion of our God *
the dawn from on high shall break upon us,
To shine on those who dwell in darkness
and the shadow of death, *
and to guide our feet into the way of peace.
The Song of Zechariah Benedictus Dominus Deus
This abides,
Brother Robert, OA
Related
Jumping into our place: Mental models and images
Faith, hope, and love abide: Now we see in a mirror, dimly
This is a useful article. We forget how things have improved, relatively speaking, over time. As sone philosopher noted, having enough is more important for most people than reducing income inequality (although reduced income inequality seems correlated to lots of other positive health and happiness outcomes).
I will quibble with "vast." He admits that perhaps a simple GDP number isn't the only way to interpret wealth. And some of his comparisons are questionable (e.g. square footage? Europe is 3x more dense. Space is naturally cheap in the USA. How might one calculate 29 day vacations + 13 public holidays? How do we calculate that?).
The complaint about health care (better here, but less paperwork) may reflect the tendency of us in the USA to confuse health care outcomes with consumer satisfaction. The inclination to make hospital rooms like hotels is only marginally related to health. I can only note that I've received health care in four countries, and they all did the same thing: treated my condition.
We are richer individually, but he notes that Europe has a denser culture in many ways (they pay for public opera!). The shorthand is "public luxury, private frugality." Spend more on public goods, with more private economic limits.
The left, broadly speaking, might spend more time creating denser communities rather than expecting the state always to intervene. That, of course, takes a lot less yelling and more connecting.
Thanks for this post, Robert. Early in my ministry as a Rector, I did a good bit of continuing education work with the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center (Family Systems Theory). It was incredibly useful, especially in the area of conflict management in the parish, as well as managing the self (anxiety, reaction vs response, etc). Family Systems Theory will always be a great tool for my tool belt not only in parish ministry, but in my own family/household.
But after a couple of years immersed in that "world" of Family Systems Theory, I came to realize that as helpful as it was, I needed to gain more tools for my tool belt. It alone was unable to provide me all that I needed as a solo Rector of a growing parish. That is when I found the Parish Development tools (in this case, a Parish Development Clinic offered/presented by the Order of the Ascension).
The more I "diversify my portfolio" as a leader of a parish, the more equipped I am to do the work God has called me to do. Of course, I am always still learning/deepening my understanding of the various models/tools.