Review
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Title: Meritocracy Mingled with Scripture
Author: Justin Pack
Publisher: BCC Press
Genre: Religious nonfiction
Year Published: 2024
Number of Pages: 118
Binding: Paperback, ebook
ISBN: 978-1-961471-06-1
Price: $9.19 – $10.95
Reviewed by Ryan Ward for the Association of Mormon Letters
Aotearoa New Zealand, where I live, recently had an election. The Prime Minister, a former Air New Zealand CEO, has recently come under fire for claiming a $52,000 annual payment (on top of his $471,000 salary) to cover the costs of staying in Wellington, the country’s capital city. The payment was instituted as a way of defraying the cost for politicians who do not normally reside in Wellington but have to be there frequently on official government business. The Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon, however, already owns his apartment in Wellington mortgage-free (one of seven properties), and many people indicated their disapproval that he would claim this benefit when his government is slashing public funding, including welfare services, and seriously considering eliminating a free school lunch program nationwide. Luxon’s initial response to the outcry over him accepting the payment (he was the first Prime Minister in over 30 years to do so but eventually relented) was, “I’m entitled to it”. The flipside of this question, then, is whether those who are about to lose their school lunches (many of whom are food insecure) are any less “entitled” to them.
In Meritocracy Mingled with Scripture, author Justin Pack attempts to answer this question and others like it. For Pack, the question is not whether those who have wealth are entitled to it or whether those who are poor deserve their lot in life, but whether it makes sense to even frame the question in this way. In true philosopher fashion, Pack attempts to redefine the terms of the debate. His writing is so accessible and his tone so conversational that it may be lost on some readers just how radical of a project Pack attempts here. This is a wonderfully subversive book that questions the very foundations of Western society as we know and accept it, including our understanding and interpretation of the Bible and other scripture. It argues convincingly that Western Christianity, including the LDS tradition, has fundamentally misunderstood the gospel of Jesus Christ. The catastrophic consequences of this misunderstanding are evident in the dire circumstances of the poor and exploited throughout the world.
Not that Pack minces words. His preface states that the book is “for all those that are concerned about the immoral results of neoliberal political policy around the world.”
We are in the midst of an environmental crisis that threatens not only humans but our planet and all the other non-human peoples we share it with. Modern consumer capitalism is deeply inhumane, and the cities and communities we have constructed are moral failures based on massive exploitation and alienation. And yet, many think this is the peak of human progress (vii).
The book begins with this broadside against modern political and economic systems. One might expect Pack to then go on to enumerate the litany of ways that neoliberal (he thankfully uses the term repeatedly throughout the book) policy has ruined society and our world, but he has a more transgressive agenda than merely engaging in a polemic against capitalism.
His Introduction begins with a discussion of the current polarized political environment in the US, how many members of the LDS church wish that “things weren’t so political” (1) because politics is keeping people from living the simple gospel. The problem seems to be that nowadays, Republicans and Democrats are always at one another’s throats. For many members, the issue is a lack of tolerance of different opinions, not the content or harmful consequences of different political positions or ideologies.
For Pack, on the other hand, not only is the goal of getting politics out of religion not desirable, it is simply not possible. He notes that “everything is political” (1), and here is the crux of his argument. It is simply not possible for us, as humans with varied social, political, and economic backgrounds, to not bring something of the political to bear on our understandings of the world, including importantly, our understanding of our own religious tradition. Thus, trying to extricate the “pure” gospel from the political is not possible, and Pack’s goal is to demonstrate how one particular political ideology has colored the entire Western worldview in a way that not only obscures but is antithetical to the message of the gospel.
The underlying political ideology responsible for this distortion is meritocracy. Pack defines this as:
a unifying vision of how the world ought to be and, for many, how it is. It is the idea that hard work should (and does) lead to success. It is the idea that a society should be shaped by merit (who performs best) and not by birthright or cronyism. It is the claim that there are always opportunities for those who are willing to grab them and work for them. (6)
For many of us, this view of society seems obvious. It is, in many ways, the water we swim in in this world and helps us to make some sense of the good and bad we see all around us. Returning to the opening example, surely ascending to the upper ranks of corporate and government power is proof of individual merit. Likewise, being reliant on government handouts is evidence that you’re just not working hard enough. Indeed, some are arguing for the justice of cutting school lunch because it provides the (obviously lazy) parents of school children incentive to work harder.
Yet Pack shows, in dialogue with scripture, philosophers, theologians, anthropologists, and sociologists, that meritocracy is not reality, that there is no way to guarantee equitable outcomes based on merit, that merit and the worship of work itself is a flawed concept, that the enshrinement of individualism during the Enlightenment over against Christian morality directly led to meritocratic thinking, and that meritocracy fundamentally corrupts relationships and undermines the notion of grace. All of this, he claims, makes meritocracy fundamentally incompatible with Christianity, and in particular that:
meritocracy and the gospel cannot coexist. Their fundamental differences mean that not only can we not hold both in our hearts, but also that meritocracy will inevitably crowd out and warp the gospel into something unrecognizable. As such, meritocracy must be rejected, and we must recover the ideals of grace and care” (8).
Remarkably, he does all of this in a complete and accessible manner in a brief four chapters and 118 pages.
It must be emphasized again just how significant Pack’s arguments are here. There have been many in the past who have argued for the injustice of capitalist political and economic systems that depend on the exploitation of the poor and marginalized. There have been many who have noted the explicit focus of the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures on justice and equity. There have been many arguments against consumerism, most notably in an LDS context from Hugh Nibley. There has been plenty of discussion of the Law of Consecration and the economic communism (Pack calls it Christian communism) practiced by the Nephites in the Book of Mormon and the early Christians in the Book of Acts. He touches on all of these issues.
But Pack is going one step further here. He is not arguing, as many so-called liberals do nowadays, for a leveling of the playing field, an equitable distribution of opportunity to demonstrate and be rewarded for our individual merit. He’s throwing out the playing field altogether. His argument is not that the rich haven’t earned their wealth it is that the wealth of the rich depends on the exploitation of the poor and that “Evil exists because of inequality” (36).
For those who are well-versed in some of these areas, the discussions of sociological, anthropological, theological, and philosophical arguments for and against meritocracy will be familiar. For those who aren’t, these chapters provide a cohesive whirlwind tour of these ideas. The footnotes and references will give those interested more than enough sources to go to in order to learn and explore more.
For an LDS audience, Pack’s unique contributions to scriptural and doctrinal interpretation will be most impactful. Particularly insightful in this regard is his discussion of Korihor the anti-Christ. Pack’s reading is that Korihor’s primary concern:
is that the Christian demands to care for each other function in opposition to what he takes to be a fundamental truth: “every man fare[s] in this life according to the management of the creature; therefore every man prosper[s] according to his genius, and that every man conquer[s] according to his strength” (Alma 30:17)” (59-60).
Thus, Korihor’s main gripe with Christ is that He and God are wielded as a threat by the religious authorities to compel the people to live in Christian communism in fear of judgment in the next life as opposed to being able to enjoy their possessions and property by themselves. Pack quite accurately notes that all discussions of Korihor in the Church typically place his sin in denying Christ, while they fail to realize that his main concern is his “libertarian claims” (60). In other words, Christ is just an obstacle to property and individual freedom, not Korihor’s focus.
Another of Pack’s insights is his critique of what he calls “the moral ideal of self-reliance” (84). He notes that despite being entrenched in LDS gospel culture, the concept is not mentioned in the Bible or Book of Mormon and is fundamentally tied to modern meritocratic ideals. In the ancient world, independence was a liability, and being reliant on others served as protection and security. The usage of the term self-reliance in General Conference peaks in the 1980s, the decade in which neoliberal social and economic movements became entrenched in the Western world.
This section is the closest Pack comes to an explicit critique of the Church’s position and teaching, quoting the Gospel Principles manual’s assertion that “work is an eternal principle” and Marion G. Romney’s statement, quoted later by Thomas S. Monson: “Let us be self-reliant and independent. Salvation can be obtained on no other principle” (88). Pack’s criticism is tempered, however, by a genuine confusion as to how this statement and position even makes sense in light of his previous discussion. It is a credit to his deft approach and careful handling of his material that the reader can’t help but share in his confusion.
Overall, Meritocracy Mingled with Scripture provides a sorely-needed and incredibly thoughtful and insightful treatment of a topic that cuts to the heart of contemporary Christian discipleship, in broader Christian communities and with particular relevance to the LDS community, who have a uniquely strong attachment to a meritocratic worldview. The book is full of insight and rewards careful and repeat reading. I hope it finds a wide audience and that we can begin to grapple with the insidious effects of this harmful and pervasive ideology on our own faith tradition. Pack’s careful and persuasively argued treatment provides an excellent starting point.