‘The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.’
- William James
Jointly, the Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism and the Wittenberg Center for Global Ethics held a conference on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther posting his 95 theses. Reflecting on this momentous event, the Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism and those who endorse this Statement recognize the present necessity to reform free market capitalism. This reformation needs to focus on individual responsibility, respect for individuals and institutions, and personal vocations.
Summary of Statement
Our global economy needs reformation.
The way our civilization produces energy needs reform. Ignoring conservation of our natural order must end. The concentration of wealth needs reform. The Trust Gap between elites and the common people, between rulers and the ruled, between the rich and those who need access to wealth, must be closed. The continued tendency of a now-wealthy and educated world towards intolerance and wars needs correction.
The reformation of our global civilization must, in addition, address abuses of power, in both markets and governments. It must counteract the dystopian and narcissistic disruptions of digitalization – mindlessness, short-termism, other-directed “bubbles” of conformity in our choice of values and beliefs, and the concentration of Big Data in a few hands. This essential reformation also must find and secure value in human talent to complement the coming achievements of artificial intelligence.
Luther proposed new ways of thinking about individual responsibility and an individual’s relationship to power which, in time, facilitated the rise of modern science, free market capitalism, and constitutional democracy; truly new models of civilization rewarding rising expectations of progress again and again.
Luther proposed two roads to living rightly: individual faith in God and personal engagement with the teachings of scripture. He further believed, as a Christian, that all persons could serve God in their various vocations from high to low. He claimed that all believers could serve as ministers of higher purpose in this world. Luther thus focused responsibility for the world on individuals and he ennobled their occupations as necessary to the accomplishment of God’s purposes.
No matter what the structural power of systems and institutions, the proximate cause of change is individual conviction, courage, and leadership. Individual leaders use vision and mission to set in motion the acts which we later write up as history.
The Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism and the Wittenberg Center for Global Ethics appreciate our individual claims to freedom but question whether freedom without responsibility can ever lead to constructive change.
Luther insisted on radical freedom of individual belief, but only within a faithful willingness to serve God and love one’s neighbor. Luther asked the hard question of what is our freedom for?
Today we still should ask the same difficult question. An individualism that asks only, “What’s in it for me?” cannot address the dangers before us. An unhealthy atomization of humanity cannot bring us closer to happiness.
In 1517 Martin Luther challenged the propriety of selling false hopes for salvation to eager customers - setting in motion the Reformation. Today our global economy nonetheless finances and sells – also to eager customers - inequality of income and wealth and goods and services which put at serious hazard the long-term sustainability of our inhabited world.
Luther proposed new ways of thinking about individual responsibility and an individual’s relationship to power which, in time, facilitated the rise of modern science, free market capitalism, and constitutional democracy; truly new models of civilization rewarding rising expectations of progress again and again.
Since Luther’s Reformation, powerfully successful institutions have accumulated many forms of capital to enable our modern world to produce this year US$146 trillion in annual wealth, as measured by purchasing power parity.
Today, we need to think anew about how power is used and for what ends and about every individual’s responsibility to reform the dynamics of modern civilization.
Much like Luther sought to turn the Catholic Church away from autocratic practices, we recognize that there is malfeasance and inequity in the current deification of the market and, specifically, financial wealth. Starting from a strong belief in the efficacy and power of free markets and constitutional democracy, the Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism calls for a Reformation of Capitalism.
Luther proposed two roads to living rightly: individual faith in God and personal engagement with the teachings of scripture.
He further believed, as a Christian, that all persons could serve God in their various vocations from high to low.
He claimed that all believers could serve as ministers of higher purpose in this world.
Luther thus focused responsibility for the world on individuals and he ennobled their occupations as necessary to the accomplishment of God’s purposes.
In this fashion, he found merit in worldly undertakings such as the potentially more corruptible undertakings of technological innovation and industry, finance, and commerce.
Luther discerned vocation from within scripture. 500 years later, we can renew our appreciation for vocation by turning to such sources as the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals or the encyclical, the Laudato Si encyclical of Pope Francis, and the Ethical Compass just proposed by the Wittenberg Center for Global Ethics.
It is time, once again, for persons to become stewards of human integrity and agents of sustainable production and consumption.
We find it obvious that a new reformation of our systems and institutions is needed. We face three dangers flowing from the successes of modern capitalism: our subjugation of nature has negative consequences; our creation of great wealth has not provided social justice for all; and computer digitalization disrupts stimulates new forms of psycho-social alienation.
The way our civilization produces energy needs reform. Ignoring conservation of our natural order must end. The concentration of wealth needs reform. The Trust Gap between elites and the common people, between rulers and the ruled, between the rich and those who need access to wealth, must be closed. The continued tendency of a now-wealthy and educated world towards intolerance and wars needs correction.
The reformation of our global civilization must, in addition, address abuses of power, in both markets and governments. It must counteract the dystopian and narcissistic disruptions of digitalization – mindlessness, short-termism, other-directed “bubbles” of conformity in our choice of values and beliefs, and the concentration of Big Data in a few hands. This essential reformation also must find and secure value in human talent to complement the coming achievements of artificial intelligence.
The Caux Round Table for Moral Capitalism appreciates individual claims to freedom but questions whether freedom without responsibility can ever lead to constructive change.
Luther insisted on radical freedom of individual belief, but only within a faithful willingness to serve God and love one’s neighbor. Luther also cloaked his individualism in personal responsibility for one’s destiny, inside a moral dimension based on faith in the almighty and on learning from scripture.
Luther asked the hard question of what is our freedom for?
Today we still should ask the same difficult question. An individualism that asks only, “What’s in it for me?” cannot address the dangers before us.
Somehow the freedom to be “me” must be reconciled with the reality of “us” through respect for others. Shared agreement on what constitutes the common good is needed. Today we also know that freedom of belief must take into consideration historical realities and social needs.
Individuals need, first of all, to utilize their personal freedom to discern, as Luther insisted they do, their personal vocations which respond to ‘deeper, ethical callings’. It is these vocations rather than mere job descriptions that are needed to promote ultimate human achievement.
A renewed appreciation of vocations - both private and public – will meet the aspirations of many Millennials for work with purpose. And, putting personal vocation as a central good provided by our global civilization will appropriately concentration our attention on jobs and employment opportunities.
While such reflection on vocation concerns all individuals, there are some individuals, however – those who hold positions of great power - who must assume greater stewardship responsibilities as part of their personal vocation.
Personal freedom alone guarantees nothing. There will be no reformation of our institutions and our structures unless we use our moral sense, seek to live honorably, and find a vocation for our talents.
Today, technology provided by private markets has pushed our individualism more and more towards atomized isolation and harmful insularity – draining away the social strength of the engaged individual. Given this, the question becomes: How today can we meaningfully and comprehensively empower a reformed individualism that responds to a relevant moral almighty in which to place our faith and which has suitable scripture from which to learn?
[The Wittenberg Center for Global Ethics was founded, with support from Andrew Young, to search for an economic reformation. The CRT has worked, for the past 30 years, advocating for responsible, respectful capitalism.]