Another couple of snippets of thought from my current reading material: more historical changes of thought pattern that throw light (I think) on the brethren in the present, to do with the de-emphasis of special vocations and how daily life fits into the spiritual life.
The shift from thinking that some people had a "higher" calling to that which held that there was only one standard for a christian, and that being christian was a hundred percent or somehow insufficient, meant that normal everyday life, such as most people need to live to survive, became something that could, done rightly, be seen as sanctified. From that, it becomes a small step to seeing that everyday life as something good and sufficient in itself. The brethren are caught in the tension between these steps.
As the western world was making that shift, it also found justifications for economic development. Making money was seen as a "passion", or a natural drive, but one that was normally harmless and possible to harness for good ends. It was called (apparently) a "calm passion", one which served the interests of mankind. Anything which serves one's interests can be thought to hold more destructive passions in check, just as natural intelligence, though not moral as such, tends to act as a brake on animalistic drives. I can very clearly see that attitude at work among the brethren, too. It is often said that it is bad to be occupied with money and materialism, yet in practice it is felt to be a good thing to actually pursue, because of the practical benefits and the distraction from worse activities.
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