Weber’s understanding of Protestantism

Introduction
Weber on World Religion
Weber on Protestantism
Calvinism
Pietism
Methodism
Baptist Sects
Weber’s Idea of Capitalism
Weber’s link between Protestantism and Capitalism

Introduction

Max Weber is best known for his religious works. He has been credited with conducting a detailed study of world religion including Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism and Protestantism. He had also dealt with Islam, but due to his untimely death he was unable to produce comprehensive research results on it. Max Weber had four major texts on religion in the context of economic sociology and his rationalization thesis1: The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (1905), The Religion of China: Confucianism and Taoism (1915), The religion of India: the sociology of Hinduism and Buddhism (1915) and of ancient Judaism (1920).

In all this work, his basic aim was to examine the causal influence of religion on the development of rationality in society. In his studies of religion, Weber went beyond the Marxist idea of economic determinism, according to which economic forces determine, shape and define all political, social, cultural, intellectual and technological aspects of a civilization. Weber explained that not only economic forces but also other forces in society are responsible for progress and transformation. In this context, he had shown that religious institutions play an important role in influencing individual actions and in the development of society. For Max Weber, religion functions as an independent variable that can be a source of social change. For this reason, he began to study the religions of the world with the sole purpose of finding out how religion influences individual actions. Therefore, he wanted to investigate the dynamics of different religions, whether they act as an agent of economic development or as barriers in the path of development.

In his study of world religion, Weber observed that the religious institutions of the world (Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Judaism and Islam) had discouraged the process of economic development through their different beliefs and doctrines. However, in his study of the Protestant religion, he distinguished himself by pointing out that Protestant religious ideals contributed to the development of capitalism in Western Europe. In doing so, he attempted to establish a causal relationship between his two 'ideal types', namely the Protestant religion and capitalism, which were dominant in Western Europe in his day.

Weber on World Religion

Unlike his predecessors, Weber was not concerned with understanding the structure of religion; Its main objective was to study how religion acts as a driver of social change. In the "Sociology of Religion", Weber remarked early in his religious studies that it was not a question of seeking the essence of religion, but of investigating the conditions and effects of a certain kind of social action.

Weber formulates his thesis that people pursue their interests and that religious leaders and structures help people achieve these goals. In this way, religion provides the tools for stability and social change. Weber's understanding of religion is based on his concept of asceticism2, which plays an important role in understanding his concept of religion and the development of capitalism. Weber did not define asceticism correctly, but divided the concept of asceticism into asceticism of the inner world and asceticism rejecting the world. In it he tried to show that the path to salvation is different for different religions and depends on the ethical behavior of the individual as prescribed by their respective religious teachings.

In his own words, salvation can be seen as the special gift of active ethical behavior conducted in the awareness that God directs that behavior, that is, the actor is an instrument of God. We call this type of salvation attitude, which is characterized by methodical approaches to attaining religious salvation, “ascetic”. In his classificIn his study of Hinduism, he stated that this religion prescribes other worldly asceticism as the only way to attain salvation. Weber argued that the Hindu doctrine of "karma" (the process of reincarnation and compensation based on one's deed) was inherently diverse in worldly nature, linking the individual's work according to his caste obligations. At the same time, this religion celebrates the idea of life after death. For example, he argues that Hinduism preached "otherworldly asceticism," emphasizing the disenchantment of material that is not given importance, as it is considered temporary and illusory.

His study of Buddhism points out that this religion preaches the idea of detachment from material pursuits. For him, Buddhism prescribes the idea of penance and renunciation of worldly pleasures as the exclusive path to salvation. For him, societies dominated by the Buddhist religion have not achieved economic progress.

Weber had also conducted an extensive study of Chinese religions. In his main work "The Religions of China", he dealt with Confucianism. In his study of Confucianism, he said that this religion celebrates the spirit of humanism and promotes human qualities, reaching the level of perfection through self-creation and self-cultivation. For Weber, Confucianism was an obstacle to the development of economic rationalization because it prohibited the development of professional specialization.

In his study of Judaism, he believed that this religion could have acted as a fundamental source for the development of industrial capitalism, but in reality they fell short of certain historical commitments. According to him, this religion evokes the ethical path of salvation and therefore cannot allow any capitalist development.

Weber was not positive about Christianity or Catholicism, to be precise. For Weber, Catholicism was traditionalist in spirit and did not contribute to the development of capitalism. For him, Catholicism was based on the ideals of hierarchy where there was a pure division between the elite and the laity. According to Paul Honigshiem, Weber was an absolute opponent of Catholicism. Weber argued that Catholicism is based on the principle of polytheism and permissive magical practices. In this way it acted as an obstacle to the development of capitalist development.

Finally, it can rightly be noted that Weber had found in Protestantism the only religion that allowed the development of economic rationality, thus showing Western Europe at the apex of development, compared to that of Asia, where religions did not act as a catalyst . in the development of capitalist society.ation of the concept of inner-worldly asceticism and world-rejecting asceticism, he stated that world-rejecting asceticism was the main essence of the religions of Asia, including Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.

By worldwide denial of asceticism he meant that religion which preaches the essence of rejecting worldly affairs as worthless, controlling temptations and following the path of penance to attain salvation. On the other hand, for Weber, Protestantism preached the essence of intra-worldly asceticism, which preached the idea of changing the world through the ideals of asceticism and striving to make the world fit for religious claims.

Based on this classification, Weber examines his study of world religion, which includes the study of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Judaism, and Protestantism. His main concern was to seek the causal link between religion and progress in the respective societies dominated by the religious teachings mentioned above. Weber wanted to take a comparative look at the causal relationship between religion and the growth of capitalist ideology. In this context, he had studied the “business ethics” of religions. The commercial ethics of religion refers to the practical impulse to action based on the psychological and pragmatic context of religion4. Let us briefly understand his studies on world religions.

Weber on Protestantism

Weber's main work "The Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism" is based on two important themes, on the one hand a causal link must be established between Protestantism and the development of capitalism, on the other hand a line of continuity must be established between the Protestant ethical maxims of the path of development, to which Western capitalism has engaged in its regulation of economic behavior through the imposition of restraint and the rejection of luxury. In this way, he wanted to establish Protestantism as "that world religion" with an emphasis on Protestant religious teachings. Unlike other religions, which prescribed non-worldly asceticism, Weber's Protestantism promoted intra-worldly asceticism as the way to salvation. For him, Protestant religious teachings emphasized hard work, dedication and efficiency in his worldly calling. Protestantism therefore emphasized active worldly pursuits as a means of attaining salvation.

In his research on Protestantism, Weber mentions four forms of "ascetic Protestantism", namely
(i) Calvinism,
(ii) Pietism,
(iii) Methodism,
(iv) sects descended from the Baptist movement, the following forms of Protestantism:

Calvinism

The teachings of John Calvin (French and Swiss, 1509-1564) and the churches of the Reformed tradition form the main group of Calvinists. The best known groups in this tradition are the Huguenots of France, the Calvinists of Geneva, the Reformed Churches of Holland, the Puritans of England and New England, and the Presbyterian Church in Scotland and North America. Born in France, Calvin studied law, classics, and Hebrew, then turned his attention and energy to the Reformation, opposing conservative theological teachings. His writings against the papacy and his advocacy of justification by faith alone were influential, and in 1536 he went to Geneva to do and write reform work. After disagreements with the Genevans he left, but in 1541 he was recalled to Geneva, where he built a government based on the subordination of the state to the church. Laws and regulations have been rewritten so that daily life is subject to the teachings and practices of the Church. While rejecting exploitation and excess, Calvin favored trade and manufacture and did not oppose the capitalism that developed around him and among his followers.

In Scotland, it was John Knox (1514-1572) who developed Calvin's ideas and helped establish Presbyterianism as the official religion. Knox met and worked with Calvin and incorporated elements of Calvinist doctrine in Scotland.

For Weber, Calvinism was one of the dominant forms of ascetic Protestantism, which acquired its main sphere of influence in Western Europe, particularly in the seventeenth century. One of the most important themes of Calvinism was its belief in the doctrine of predestination. They therefore believe that God determines in advance which people will be saved and which will be damned. Calvinists came up with this idea out of logical necessity. Human beings exist for God's sake, and it is foolish and offensive to apply earthly standards of justice to God. His decrees cannot be understood or even known to us except insofar as it pleased him to reveal them. We can only retain these fragments of eternal truth. Everything else, including the meaning of our individual destiny, is hidden in a dark mystery that would be both impossible to penetrate and presumptuous to question. Thus Calvinists assume that the damned can never challenge this supremacy of eternal power.

Calvinism believed that God always chose a small portion of the human population to grant eternal grace. At the same time, we know that the other percentage of the population are the damned, excluded from this eternal grace. At the same time, Weber could not change this decree with repentance and penance, since they had already testified. For Weber, this created a fear of salvation or damnation among followers. Calvinist ideology believed that fate or predestination cannot be changed, even with the help of priests or sacraments. Henceforth, it can be concluded that Calvinism brought a new idea by completely removing the dominance of the Church in obtaining salvation. Calvinism also simultaneously eliminated the importance of magic as a means of gaining God's grace for those who were denied God's grace. Weber noted there that this suspicion of whether or not we are the saved has led to an increase in fear among followers. In this regard, Calvinism also showed the way towards the solution of this fear. Calvinist principles emphasized that the traces or signals of the doctrine of predestination were found in the elementary forms of behavior and attitude towards life. Calvinism emphasized complete trust in God and not in any other medium. Calvinists rejected all sensual and emotional elements of culture and religion. Such elements were not means of salvation and promoted superstition. The Calvinist's interaction with God took place in spiritual isolation. There was social organization because work for impersonal social benefit was believed to be required of God.

Calvinism rejected the mystical elements of Lutheranism, where humans were a vessel to be filled by God. Conversely, Calvinists believed that God was working through them. Faith had to be shown without objective results. They sought out any activity that increased the glory of God. Such behavior could be based directly on the Bible, or indirectly on God's intended world order. Good works were not a means of salvation, but they were a sign of being chosen.

Weber notes that Calvinism expected systematic self-restraint and offered no opportunity for the forgiveness of weakness. “The God of Calvinism required of his believers not a few good works, but a lifetime of good works combined into a unified system.”8 This was a rational and systematic approach to life. Because people had to demonstrate their faith through worldly activities, Calvinism required a kind of worldly asceticism. He brought towards the sins of his neighbor an attitude not of sympathy, but rather of hatred, since he was an enemy of God and bore the marks of eternal damnation. After presenting the teachings of Calvinism, Weber turns his attention to the study of three other Protestant religions, starting with the study of Pietism.

Pietism

Pietism was a movement in the Lutheran Church, primarily in northern and central Germany, between 1670 and 1750. It was an attempt to move the church out of a fixed attitude in which dogma and intellectual religion resembled the Bible and the religion of the heart to repress . He emphasized Bible study and the belief that lay members of the church should have a say in spiritual control. While similar to Puritanism in having distinctive clothing and forgoing worldly pleasures, its main goal was to place the spirit of the Christian life above the letter of doctrine. This movement influenced Count Zinzendorf (1700-1760) of the Moravian Church, as well as Kant and Kierkegaard. It was less a formal religion than a movement within the church.

In his doctoral dissertation, Weber established that the doctrine of predestination was historically the starting point of pietism. Thus, it can be interpreted that pietism is closely related to Calvinism, since both forms of ascetic Protestantism considered predestination as one of their important teachings. Pietism had a deep distrust of the Church of the Theologians.

They wanted to reduce the importance of the Church and theologians in social affairs. At the same time, they did not want to form a separate sect, but to live in community, "a life free from all worldly enticements and dictated in all its details by the will of God." Weber also notes that some Pietists were more emotional and adopted many Lutheran doctrines and approaches, so Pietists were not as systematically ascetic in their approach to daily life.

In his main work, Weber emphasized the virtues propagated by pietism. In his own words: “But time and time again, insofar as the rational and ascetic element of pietism prevailed over the emotional, the ideas essential to our thesis retained their place. These were:
(1) that the methodical development of his state of grace toward ever greater certainty and perfection in terms of law was a sign of grace;
(2) that "the providence of God works through such in such a state of perfection," i. H giving them His signs when they wait patiently and deliberately methodically. Work in a trade was also the quintessence of ascetic activity for the blessed of God himself: his elect were as undeniable to him as to the Puritans by the success of their work.

With reference to the paragraph quoted above, it is fair to say that pietism believed that the methodical development of one's state of grace in terms of law was a sign of grace. Second, God gives signs of mercy when he patiently waits for them in good human activity. Pietism had an indecisive basis for its asceticism which made it less reliable than Calvinism. This is partly due to Lutheran influences and partly to emotionality. Weber notes here that the virtues favored by pietism "were more akin to those of the faithful civil servant, the clerk, the unskilled worker or the domestic worker and, on the other hand, to those of the employer to patriarchal predominance”. This contrasts with legalistic Calvinism and "the active enterprise of bourgeois-capitalist entrepreneurs".

Methodism

Methodism emerged in England in the 1720s under the leadership of John and Charles Wesley. The group was nicknamed "Methodists" for its emphasis on living by rules and method. They grew out of the Church of England but emphasized conversion and holiness. Their first meetings were often in fields or barns, perhaps an early form of the tent meeting revivals of later evangelists in North America. Today there are several branches and some churches call themselves Methodist. Methodism, for Weber, represented a combination of emotional but ascetic religion with a growing indifference to the doctrinal basis of Calvinism. Its strongest feature was the "methodical and systematic nature of the behavior and the method was mainly used to bring about the emotional act of conversion", and religion had a strong emotional character. Good works were only the means to know one's state of grace. A sense of grace was necessary for salvation. Part of the doctrine of Methodism was "a belief in the undervalued possession of divine grace and at the same time an immediate awareness of justification and forgiveness." This is in stark contrast to Calvinism's predestination, however, it has led to a view that works, while not a means of salvation, are "the means of knowing one's state of grace." The methodical approach to salvation, though emotional, "once aroused was directed to a rational struggle for perfection". This, in turn, led to a rational, daily and methodical application in a vocation, but which stemmed from somewhat different principles of predestination.

In conclusion, it can be fairly said that Methodist ethics, like pietism, rested on an uncertain foundation. Like Calvinism, they looked at behavior to judge true conversion.

Baptist Sects

For Weber, Baptist sects around the 16th and 17th centuries constitute an important form of ascetic Protestantism. Baptist sects include Baptists, Mennonites, and especially Quakers. According to Weber, this group differed from that of Calvinism, especially with regard to the idea of predestination. Thus it can be argued that Baptist sects (Baptists, Anabaptists, and Quakers) are an independent source of ascetic Protestantism other than Calvinism. These sects are united by the idea of a church of believers, a "fellowship of personal believers of the born again." They believed that salvation can be attained through individual revelation and that one should wait on the Spirit and avoid sinful attachments to the world. Weber states that these teachings form an independent basis for Protestant asceticism. While Baptists reject predestination, they advocate the appeasement of all passions (those impulses, irrationality and subjective interests that lead to sin) so that Christians may enter into a quiet rest of the soul where they can hear the Word of God every day. This subjectively accepted asceticism prepares Christians for entry into the world.

Through this careful and methodical approach to its relationship with God, the Bible shapes life and work in this world for women or men who are neither of nor for this world. Through his detailed study of the various forms of ascetic Protestantism, it can rightly be argued from Weberian understanding that Protestants agreed that salvation could not be guaranteed by "magical sacraments", confession or individual good works. What was needed was some form of proof that satisfied Christians as to their status. For Protestants, this problem concerned individuals and not monasteries or the Church. But without the security provided by the institutional church, it was now necessary for individuals to check their state of grace by adopting a good attitude that reveals God's grace in their soul. For Weber, all of this required "rational planning of all life according to the will of God," in his own words,

‘Christian asceticism, at first fleeing from the world into solitude, had already ruled the world which it had renounced from the monastery and through the Church. But it had, on the whole, left the naturally spontaneous character of daily life in the world untouched. Now it strode into the market-place of life, slammed the door of the monastery behind it, and undertook to penetrate just that daily routine of life with its methodicalness, to fashion it into a life in the world, but neither of nor for this world.

Weber’s Idea of Capitalism

For Weber, the ultimate task of social theory was to explore historical truths and collect historical facts about society and social development. In his study of historical and social processes, rationalization was his central term, used by Weber to designate a type of social development after which modern industrial societies assumed the historical form they had. Rationalization as an ideal type and as a historical force appears in many of Weber's writings. He considers the development of rational forms as one of the most important features of the development of Western society and capitalism. Weber argues that capitalism is a rational system in the sense that it is computational, efficient, reduces uncertainty, increases predictability, and uses increasing amounts of non-human technology. The development of capitalism was accompanied by a decline in magic and religion and increasing secularization. For capitalism to work, it is necessary to have means by which equilibrium can be established, where various possible alternative courses of action can be considered, and where decisions can be made about how to organize the production of so that balance can be achieved. reached at the end exceeds the balance at the beginning.

Compared to Marx, Weber expands and narrows the definition of capitalism. He views all forms of money creation through trade and exchange as a capitalist activity, whereas Marx tended to define capitalism as a mode of production or a fully developed system of capital accumulation. At the same time, Weber restricts the definition of capitalism and identifies it with peaceful free trade, so that acquisition by violence, e.g. Piracy is not part of capitalism. For Weber, this includes rationality in the form of the use of scales and the development of a monetary system with measurement in money. Rational and capitalistic acquisition is the systematic use of goods and services so that the balance sheet eventually exceeds the capital initially used.

The subject of Weber's inquiry is capitalism, and Weber defines it as more than just a drive for acquisition. For him, capitalism is identical with the pursuit of profit and ever-new profit by a continuous and rational capitalist enterprise. Weber did not define capitalism in general, but he had a general view of modern capitalism that he believed existed in his time. According to him, capitalism is an inexorably progressive machine based on the principles of rationalization, division of labor and fixed capital. The rationality of modern Western capitalism according to Weber depends on the calculation of technical factors such as the appropriation of all available physical means of production, i.e. the resources necessary for production can be bought and sold on the market . At the same time, there should be no restrictions on the expansion of the market system. Mechanization and other rational forms of technology would dominate the production process. Finally, there must be a free labor market, followed by the commercialization of economic life, which allows capital to become more mobile and enables owners of capital to pursue maximum profits in any commercialized area. This leads to the advancement of capital in all sectors of economic life and promotes the development of market mechanisms.

Weber's understanding of capitalism is influenced by Benjamin Franklin's Necessary Allusions to Those Who Would Be Rich (1736). For Weber, Benjamin Franklin in his books and in his autobiography represents not only an exemplary type of the "spirit of capitalism", but also, in a sense, of the "specter of the Protestant ethic", a specter that continues to wander in one secularized state, free from any direct link to the original religious source. Weber presents a long passage from the writings of Benjamin Franklin. He says Franklin's attitude exemplifies the ethos of capitalism. Franklin writes that time is money, credit is money, and money can lead to money. He encourages people to pay all their debts on time as it promotes the trust of others. It also encourages people to present themselves as hardworking and trustworthy at all times. Weber felt that it was clear from Franklin's idea that the spirit of capitalism made the expectation of hard work, restraint in lifestyle, and the pursuit of wealth a moral duty, and thus led to non-performance of work and lack of restraint. Weber says that this "philosophy of avarice" sees the accumulation of capital as an end in itself. It is an ethic and the individual is bound to have the duty to flourish. This is the spirit of modern capitalism. While capitalism existed in countries like China and India and through the Middle Ages, it lacked the spirit that Weber took to mean development and progress in the West. Weber ultimately concluded that this elevation of hard work and careful thrift to a moral duty was historically new and had never been seen before in other economies and other forms of capitalism.

Thus, for Weber, the spirit of capitalism was unique in that it had developed exclusively as Western capitalism and was absent in other parts of the world where there were wealth economies. At the same time, it signaled the appearance of ethical maxims in economic and commercial activity, implicit in the presence of religious maxims. In this context, it should be noted that Weber believed in the imposition of religious maxims on daily economic life, which was not the case with other forms of earning money.

Weber’s link between Protestantism and Capitalism

Weber's magnum opus has always focused on the theme of the connection between the developments of Protestantism and capitalism. Weber developed his thesis based on a few key assumptions, namely: economic forces influence religion religious system influences individual thoughts and actions. Religious ideas had the unique effect of rationalizing the economic sector. Protestantism as a value proved conducive to economic development. Non-Western religious ideas acted as an obstacle to the development of rationalization and economic development. Weber, in his study of world religion, had divided all religions into world-rejecting asceticism and world-inward asceticism. Here he concluded that Protestantism can be considered an inward secular religion. While dealing with Protestantism, he became committed to its ideals and discovered that uncertainty as to whether it was the few who received salvation was one of the reasons why people of this religion worked diligently, which was the only way for signs of salvation . In short, Calvinism as a religion serves as a direct link to the busy world activities and supports hard work. On the other hand, the goal of capitalism for Weber is only the maximization of profit by working diligently, systematically and rationally. Finally, we see that capitalism cannot be considered as the only means to satisfy the individual's ambition, since it also has an ethical obligation. Thus, for Weber, Protestantism, especially Calvinism, played a crucial role in the development of capitalism, as both ethos were related to each other.

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