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Date: | Fri Mar 31 17:19:00 2006 |
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----------------- HES POSTING -----------------
My work concerns the economic development that followed
Franciscan conversion efforts among Indians in late 18th c.
California. Recently, I have been rereading Max Weber, and he
points to medieval Christian asceticism as the precursor of the
Protestant Ethic. I can certainly see that the Franciscans'
asceticism lead them to save, and that they believed that it was
God's will for them to manage an economy to the extent that this
economy would enable them to spread God's word through
conversions. They almost seem like Weber's worldy ascetics
since their actions took place outside the monastaries in
politicized environments, although in an isolated, extreme
backwater (the Northern frontier of Mexico) where profit
opportunities were less likely to tempt.
Where can I read on how the Franciscans made the transition from
ascetics who shunned property to the type of worldly ascetics who
would manage economies for the sake of disseminating
Christianity in the world? How do we get to the role of Franciscans
in Spanish colonialism, and in particular in the Spanish frontier
economy? I am familiar with John Leddy Phelan, but he deals
with an inspirational moment in the 16th century, when it looked as
if the millenium was at hand. This is quite different from the day to
day economic decision-making of the late 18th c. Franciscans.
One last thought: Odd Langholm mentions that an entire book
could be written on the economics of household (estate)
management, and the moral issues involved, but his 1992 book in
fact concerns the interaction with the business world. My subject
is Franciscans managing household estates (missions of 1000
Indians), but at times interacting with the market economy. Thus
the moral issue of allocating goods inside the household is
connected to the moral issue of exchanging some of those goods
on the market. So anything particularly on Franciscan household
economics would also be appreciated.
My thanks in advance for suggestions/comments.
Marie Duggan, Ph.D. Candidate
New School for Social Research
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