One more Thanksgiving note, as I do my best to avoid Black Friday.
According to John Stossel of Fox News, along with some revisionist historians and members of the Tea Party, the Pilgrims were lucky to survive a misguided experiment with socialism. Never mind that the word “socialism” (much less the concept) didn’t even exist during the 17th century. According to this version of history, only when the Pilgrims embraced capitalism did they find prosperity.
For more details on these arguments, Kate Zernike offers a good overview.
It’s easy to re-read history on our terms, imposing our ideologies and assumptions to suit our purposes. It is much better to struggle with understanding lives as lived in another time, another place. The past is always more complicated than we suspect, and our attempts to make sense of it are best informed by humility.
With that in mind, I wonder how the critics of Pilgrim “socialism” make sense of Acts 2:42-47:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their numbers daily those who were being saved.
Signs of Grace 