The gift of limits: the (Laudian) economics of Rogationtide

We have occasion ... given us in our walks on those days, to consider the ancient bound and limits belonging to our own township, and to other our neighbours bordering about us, to the intent that we should be content with our own, and not contentiously strive for other's, to the breach of charity, by any incroaching one upon another, or claiming one of the other: further than that in ancient right and custom our forefathers have peaceably laid out unto us for our commodity and comfort ... to strive for our very rights and duties with the breach of love and charity, which is the only livery of a Christian man, or with the hurt of godly peace and quiet, by the which we be knit together in one general fellowship of Christ's family, in one common household of God, that is utterly forbidden.

'An Exhortation to such Parishes where they use their Perambulation in Rogation Week', from the Book of Homilies.

Yesterday's Rogationtide post considered how the observance of the Rogation Days could address the desire for a renewal of attachment and belonging, so evident in current political debates and upheavals.  Today's post turns to the economics of Rogationtide.  The above excerpt from the Exhortation provided in the Book of Homilies for the Rogation procession. Reflect on the words alongside Red Tory Phillip Blonde's summary of the consequences of the prevailing economic order:

Economic stability has been denied to increasing numbers of people, deepening class inequality while also penalising and polarising according to age, education and geography.

In contrast to an account of economic life which emphasises individualism, 'creative destruction', and the freedom to amass wealth and property, Rogationtide embodies an understanding of the commonweal, of mutual obligations and responsibilities, and (crucially) of limits:

Let us therefore take such heed in maintaining our bounds and possessions, that we commit not wrong by encroaching upon other ... It is lamentable to see in some places, how greedy men use to plough and grate upon their neighbour's land that lieth next to them: how covetous men now-a-days plough up so night the common balks and walks, which good men before time made the greater and broader, partly for the commodious walk of his neighbour, partly for the better shack in harvest-time, to the more comfort of his poor neighbour's cattle.  It is a shame to behold the insatiableness of some covetous persons in their doings.

At a time when there is a popular seeking for a different vision of the economic order, amidst widespread discontent with the assumptions that shape our economic life and activity, Rogationtide sets before us the vision of another ordering of economic life, a vision defined, above all, by its understanding that limits are a gift orienting economic activity towards an authentic flourishing.  In the words of Wendell Berry:

This leads us, probably, to as good a definition of the beloved community as we can hope for: common experience and common effort on a common ground to which one willingly belongs.

But can it really be the case that Rogationtide offers a meaningful alternative to a vast economic order, deeply engrained in our culture?  Or that it can be an alternative to the populist hostility on Left and Right to big business and market forces?  A hint that it can indeed do so was offered recently by Blue Labour's Maurice Glasman:

As a political position Blue Labour, of which I am a co-founder, draws upon a rich heritage of socialist and religious thought and practice. We try to reconcile the revolutionary and Leveller John Lilburne with his contemporary Archbishop Laud in our defence of liberty and resistance to enclosures.

Yes, an influential contemporary political thinker invoking Laud.  Alongside this, we should also note Ron Dart defining a central aspect of Red Toryism to be "the Laudian magisterial Anglican way".  The economics of Rogationtide are Laudian economics and they offer an important resource for Anglicanism in seeking to respond to the contemporary desire for a vision of the reordering of economic life.  They call us to receive afresh the gift of limits in order that property and capital serve rather than disorder place, community, and the commonweal.

(The painting is Grant Wood, 'Stone City, Iowa', 1930.)