Why are Protestant's such good businessmen and all Catholics and non-Occidentals doomed to sub-rate employment for the duration of their mortal experience? That is the question which Max Weber attempts to answer in this treatise on the business benefits of Protestant and Reformist asceticism, and his answer is that the doctrines of making your calling unto salvation made sure and the true disciples of Christ being made instruments of His will and blessed accordingly fashioned the Protestant believers into a collective body who strived to not only excel in their spiritual discipleship but also to prove their position of divine favor by working to fashion their surroundings in a pattern of progress. Calvinism (the main offshoot of Protestantism after Lutheranism) emphasized the doctrine of predestination and the role of true disciples to show forth an example unto other believers and non-believers. Those who were truly saved and called to salvation were believed to be blessed with temporal substance as a demonstration of their having successfully curried the favor of their Maker. This drive of proving oneself a saved believer through the manifestation of monied fruits pervaded a good portion of Protestantism and made its devotees peculiarly positioned to justify and secure the tenets of liberal capitalism with its equal emphasis on callings to work and individual reward based on merit rather than tradition.
2 comments:
Can I just say how much I abhor!! this doctrine of righteousness equals riches!! It's growing extremely pervasive in the Mormon religion and I believe will be the downfall of countless saints. The of happiness and comfort in poverty is what I call a blessing!
you only say that because we're currently mired in poverty. let's see what tune you're singing in a decade
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