Collected Essays in the Sociology of Religion

Rosa María Cortés Gómez
Introduction
This paper will analyze the writings of Max Weber in terms of
the relationship between the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit ofCapitalism. Reactions to Weber’s work by key scholars over theyears will be given. Several scholars who make a connection to thedevelopment of the Japanese work ethic, as well as the religious
ethos in Japan, will also be presented.
This posthumous collection of three volumes in German (Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religioussoziologie) by Max Weber is acomparative study of different religions and their influence on
culture and economy.
Weber considers Western Christianity as a whole, and in particular certain varieties of it, to be more favorable to the progress ofcapitalism than other belief systems. He examines the influence of
certain religious ideas on the development of an ethos of the economic system. He does not seek ῍a psychological determination of
economic events." ῌ῎ On the contrary, Weber insists on ῍the fundamental importance of the economic factor." ῍῎ Weber also urges thenecessity of investigating how that attitude itself was in turninfluenced in its development and character by the totality of social
conditions, especially the economic ones. And then, he emphasizes
that he does not intend to substitute for a one-sided ῍materialistic"
interpretation of civilization and history an equally one-sided ῍spir-

ῌ 131 ῌ

itual" explanation of it ῌ ῎The principal thesis of Weber’s essays is that in modern times
the Occident has developed a form of capitalism which has appeared
nowhere else: the rational capitalistic organization of (formally) freelabor. Only suggestions of it are found elsewhere.῍῎ The factors of
this unique event are analyzed as follows: the separation of businessfrom the household, rational bookkeeping, organization of labor, thestructure of law and administration, the peculiarity of the social
structure of the Occident, and technology.῎῎ As Weber himself concludes, ῍It is a question of the specific and peculiar rationalism ofWestern culture" ῏῎ which resulted from different forces: philosophical, cultural, economic, and above all religious.ῐ῎ The influence of
certain religious ideas on the development of an economic spirit, orthe ethos of an economic system, is the rational ethics of ascetic
Protestantism. This spirit, Weber asserts, has given shape to themodern capitalism of the Occident.ῑ῎

The Protestant Ethic
The ethos of the economic system comes directly from therational ethic of ascetic Protestantism. The Protestants, especiallycertain groups, have shown a special tendency to develop economic
rationalism that cannot be observed to the same extent among
Catholics. Weber explains that this may be due to the spirit ofindifference toward the good things of this world seen in Catholics.
This attitude generates a certain withdrawal, or other-worldliness,from economic activity, and makes direct action difficult in capitalist enterprises. On the other hand, Protestants represent the secularization ideal brought about by the Reformation: the positive
valuation of routine activity in the world. In their view, worldly

ῌ 132 ῌaffairs is the highest form that the individual’s moral activity could
assume. It is the inner-worldliness of Protestantism that gives
everyday worldly activity a religious significance. Catholics regard
this intensive inner-worldly activity as the materialism that resultsin the loss of all ideals.ῌ῎ However, Weber claims that it is this῍materialism" that gave rise to the Protestant Ethic of capitalism.
Later on in his study of world religions he takes on the task ofdemonstrating that it was only in some Protestant sects (Calvinists
and Puritans) that inner-world activity is connected with modern
capitalism. No other universal religion can claim such development.

The Spirit of Capitalism
Before giving a definition of what the spirit of capitalism is,Weber chooses to give a provisional description by quoting a document which he considers to be ῍free from all direct relationship toreligion" to avoid preconceptions:῍Remember, that time is money. He that can earn ten
shillings a day by his labor, and goes abroad, or sits idle,
one half of that day, though he spends but sixpence during
his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only
expense; he has really spent, or rather thrown away, fiveshillings besides ...
Remember, that money is of the prolific, generating nature. Money can beget money, and its offspring can beget
more, and so on. Five shillings turned is six, turned again it
is seven and threepence, and so on, till it becomes a hundred pounds. The more there is of it, the more it produces
every turning, so that the profits rise quicker and quicker ...

ῌ 133 ῌThe most trifling actions that affect a man’s credit are to
be regarded. The sound of your hammer at five in themorning, or eight at night, heard by a creditor, makes him
easy six months longer; but if he sees you at a billiard table,or hears your voice at a tavern, when you should be atwork, he sends for his money the next day; demands it,
before he can receive it, in a lump ...
He that spends a groat a day idly, spends idly above six
pounds a year, which is the price for the use of one hundred
pounds ...
He that idly loses five shillings’ worth of time, loses fiveshillings, and might as prudently throw five shillings into
the sea.
He that loses five shillings, not only loses that sum, but
all the advantage that might be made by turning it indealing, which by the time that a young man becomes old,
will amount to a considerable sum of money." ῍ῌ῍The peculiarity of this philosophy of avarice appears to be theideal of the honest man of recognized credit, and above all the idealof a duty of the individual to increase his capital, which is assumed
as an end in itself. It is not simply a means of making one’s way inthe world, nor mere business astuteness, it is an ethos. This ethos
belongs only to Western Europe and the United States. Capitalism
can also be claimed in China, India, Babylon and other parts of theworld, but without the ethos of modern capitalism. The core of thisethos is the Reformation doctrine with its inner-world asceticism
and its dogma of predestination specific to the Western European
Calvinism, Pietism, Methodism, and the sects growing out of theῌ 134 ῌ

Baptist movement.
The doctrine of predestination can be best found in the authoritative words of the Westminster Confession of 1647. Some of thearticles are quoted here:
῍Chapter IX (of Free Will), No. 3. Man, by his fall into astate of sin, hath wholly lost all ability of will to any
spiritual good accompanying salvation ... is not able, by his
own strength, to convert himself, or to prepare himself
thereunto.
῍Chapter III (of God’s Eternal Decree), No. 3. By thedecree of God, for the manifestation of His glory, some men
and angels are predestinated unto everlasting life, andothers foreordained to everlasting death. No.5. Those of
mankind that are predestined unto life, God before the foundation of the world was laid, according to His eternal and
immutable purpose, and the secret counsel and good pleasureof His will, hath chosen in Christ unto everlasting glory, out of
His mere free grace and love, without any foresight of faith orgood thing in the creature as conditions, or causes moving Him
thereunto, and all to the praise of His glorious grace.
῍Chapter V (of Providence), No. 6. As for those wicked
and ungodly men, whom God as a righteous judge, forformer sins doth blind and harden, from them He not only
with-holdeth His grace, whereby they might have been
enlightened ... but sometimes also withdraweth the gifts
which they had and exposeth them to such objects as theircorruption makes occasion of sin: and withal, gives themover to their own lusts, the temptations of the world, andῌ 135 ῌthe power of Satan: whereby it comes to pass that they
harden themselves, even under those means, which God
useth for the softening of others." ῌῌ῎

The consequence of this doctrine is a crisis of faith in the
believer. The quest for a sign that one is among the elect becomesvital: a calling to inner-world activity and the accumulation of
wealth acquired in a systematic and legal fashion are seen as thecertification of the state of grace, the sign of being personallyacceptable to God. This inner-worldly asceticism of Protestantism
opened the way to a career in business for the most devout andethically people. Success is considered as the fruit of a rational modeof life. Predestination provides the individual with the highest
possible degree of certainty of salvation once he has attained assurance that he belongs to the very limited aristocracy of salvation
who are the elect.ῌ῍῎ Solving the problem of predestination with the
῍professional ethic," and knowing that one is among the elected
makes the believer feel superior to those who do not have thecertainty to be one of those. The elected one looks down on thedamned to the point of saying that he would hate his own wife orfather if he knew that they were among the predestined to everlasting death.ῌ῎῎ Criticizing this terrible attitude Milton said, ῍Though I
may be sent to hell for it, such a God will never command myrespect.ῌ῏῎
But for Calvinism, with all its repudiation of personal merit,
good works are not a way of attaining salvation; they are indispensable as a proof that salvation has been attained. The duty of a
Christian is to follow the ῍calling" to glorify God, not by prayer, but
by action -- the sanctification of the world by strife and labor. For

ῌ 136 ῌ

Puritans, mundane toil becomes itself a kind of sacrament. Like a
man who strives by unresting activity to exorcise a haunting
demon, the Puritan, in an effort to save his own soul, sets in motion
every force in heaven or on the earth beneath to remake the world
but conscious only of God, the soul, salvation, and damnation.ῌ῍῎Works do not save the individual, but done methodically and withasceticism for the glory of God, with the responsibility to continually increase the riches of nature they are the sign of God’s blessingthat operating in man makes fruitful human toil. It is the guarantee
of predestination. But it is necessary that it lasts the whole life.
Otherwise, it would not be a sign of salvation but of damnation.
Weber makes an exhaustive and detailed study of this ethos ofcapitalism, and how it developed in Europe and the USA, with all its
characteristics and ramifications of Calvinism and other Protestantsects. This worldly Protestant asceticism acted powerfully against
the spontaneous enjoyment of possessions; it restricted consumption, especially of luxuries. On the other hand, it had the psychological effect of freeing the acquisition of goods from the inhibitions of
traditionalistic ethics. It broke the bonds of the impulse of acquisition in that it not only legalized it, but looked upon it as directly
willed by God. The campaign against the temptations of the flesh
was not a struggle against the rational acquisition, but against theirrational use of wealth. This asceticism was the power ῍which everseeks the good but ever creates evil." ῌ῎῎ It must have been the mostpowerful conceivable lever for the expansion of that attitude called
the Spirit of Capitalism. When the limitation of consumption is
combined with the release of acquisitive activity, the result isaccumulation of capital through ascetic compulsion to save. The
restraints imposed upon the consumption of wealth naturallyῌ 137 ῌserved to increase it by making possible the productive investmentof capital. The greater simplicity of life in the more seriously
religious circles, in combination with great wealth, led to an excessive propensity to accumulation. And, as John Wesley wrote,
῍Wherever riches have increased, the essence of religion has decreased in the same proportion." ῌ῍῎World Religions
Having explained what is the ethos of Western capitalism, theProtestant Ethic, Weber focuses his study on world religions. He
tries to find out why the inner-worldly asceticism of the Protestantsects that shaped modern Western capitalism did not develop inthem. The world religions he names are the religious Confucian
ethic, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, and Judaism.
Following his thesis that religion provides one of the mostimportant elements of the economic ethic, Weber asserts that whatmatters is not the ethical theory but how this affects life. From thisangle he tries to analyze Asiatic religious thought and to estimate
how it influences the praxis and the way of life. The essence of the
Asian Religiosity is presented in its diverse manifestations constituting the tapestry through which Weber can vaguely see the
Asiatic ethos that stimulated and led Oriental life and culture
through paths totally different from the West.
Only a brief mention of Weber’s conclusions is offered here:(i) Religions in Asia adapt themselves to the many different andseparated social strata: they become a philosophical elitist ethic, ora popular soteriology (a doctrine of salvation) for the masses. The
same religion offers different types of salvation to different sociological strata and it also demands different ethics from them de-ῌ 138 ῌpending if they are intellectuals, layman, illiterate, etc.
(ii) ῍Knowledge," literary or mystic, in Asia plays a role of beinga path to salvation in this world or the other. It is not a rational
knowledge about the things of life and of the world. Thus, the right῍knowledge" is equivalent to the right ῍behavior", and, therefore it
can be taught, learned and transmitted.
(iii) The aristocratic, asocial and apolitical character of the
Asiatic soteriology represents a withdrawal from the world and its
riches. Divine quietness is seen as opposed to hectic activity. The
aim of activity is to break the determinism (Samsara, Kharma) ofdestiny. In this context it is not possible to find actions such as thosefound in Protestantism or Calvinism through which punishment or
reward, here or after death, are given by a divine being, or throughwhich signs of certitudo salutis can be attained in this world.
(iv) Concerning the belief in a personal or impersonal God, there
are no answers because there are no questions. What matters is the
῍empirical" nature of salvation: for the Chinese intellectuals, absorbed in their thoughts, the important thing was the intellectual
soteriology useful to gain power in world matters, without caring
for supernatural soteriology. For the Hindu Brahmans, action was
important in order to escape subsequent reincarnation in lower
castes. These pragmatic consequences mattered very much socially,
politically and economically, but with no supernatural dimension orindividual method of life that could develop toward modern capitalism.
(v) Evil did not exist, neither the tension between freedom andsin, nor the God-nature dialectic. To Confucius, this world was thebest of the possible worlds. The life regulated by principles fromwithin was also lacking. Filial piety, ancestral cult, and magic wereῌ 139 ῌ

important, but there was no place for something like the Christian
prophesy spirit on the liberation of the dispossessed. And in spite ofa detailed and daily accountability, a rationalist type commercial
method of the kind of modern capitalism did not arise. There was noconcept of wealth as God’s blessing or as the sign of salvation.῍῏῍Reaction to Max Weber’s Thesis: Various Viewpoints
The thesis of a relation between the Protestant Ethic (PE) andthe Spirit of Capitalism (SC) has never gone out of fashion since
Weber wrote his fascinating articles in the years 1904- 1905. It has
prompted much criticism, and many have applauded while others
have disapproved of it. As a summary, only a few examples of thecontroversy are given here.
1. PAUL MÜNCH reconstructs what he calls the prehistory of The
Protestant Thesis and the Spirit of Capitalism. He says that from theonset of the debate, ecclesiastical and theological thinkers participated in this discourse. Then, during the Enlightenment, it became
connected with the intellectual discussion about the social functionof religion. In the nineteenth century in Germany the discourse
hardened into the stereotypes of the German industrious Protestantand the lazy, politically unreliable Catholic.῍ῐ῍After a thorough analysis of the contradictory picture given byWeber’s critics, P. Münch concludes that religion was only one ofmany possible factors explaining economic productivity. But there
was no consensus on its effect and influence.
2. GUY OAKS asserts that MacKinnon’s critique of Max Weber,῎ῌ῍though being sound, does not give the whole picture about how thePE links with modern capitalism. MacKinnon’s two points are: (i)there was no crisis in the theory of salvation produced by seven-ῌ 140 ῌ

teenth-century Calvinism because predestination had been thoroughly compromised by the doctrine that the believer can achievecertainty about his salvation;῍ῌ῍ (ii) the works sanctioned by Calvinist theology were not mundane but spiritual. The believer has noneed to ascribe a privileged moral status to the conduct of a life ofwork and inner-worldly asceticism if what matters is spiritual
works.῍῍῍To this, Guy Oaks contends, that as Weber states, the PE is not
so much concerned with the doctrine (Calvin’s Institutes, the Westminster Confession, etc.) as with its effect on the life of believers ofwhich biographical records, letters, devotional manuals of Puritan
businessmen and laity speak.῍῎῍ Even if they misunderstood thedoctrine, the question is how the effective morality in their lives
affected economic practice. Weber can be right in explaining therelation between the PE and the SC, the links among the PE,
inner-worldly asceticism, and the spirit of capitalism conceived as
constituents of the life of the religious laity even if he is wrong (asMacKinnon asserts) about Calvinism as a theological doctrine.῍῏῍
3. EFFRAIM FISCHOFF says that Weber’s original intention in the
PE must be seen against the background of his time. An heir of thehistorical school and of the Marxist tradition, Weber probed thehistory of culture to determine the decisive interconnections of
economics with the totality of culture. The whole historical work ofWeber has ultimately one primary object: the understanding ofcontemporary European culture, especially modern capitalism. It
presses forward to the underlying morale (Geist) of capitalism andits pervasive attitude to life; and beyond this, to modern occidental
rationalism as such, which he came to regard as the crucial characteristic of the modern world. Against the Marxian doctrine of theῌ 141 ῌeconomic determinism of social change, Weber propounded a pluralistic interactional theory of which the influence of religious
doctrines on economic behavior was one factor. The essay on the PE
was a tentative effort at understanding one of the basic and distinctive aspects of the modern ethos: its professional, specialized character and its sense of calling or vocation.
In Weber’s view, modern capitalism was not the automatic
product of technological development but of many objective factors, including climate. But he insisted that the religious factor
could not be ignored. Weber tried to analyze just this one component, but he rejected all attempts to identify it with the spirit ofcapitalism or to derive capitalism from it. He was determined toreturn to the problem and investigate the nonreligious componentsof the religious ethic. He asserted that capitalism would have arisen
without Protestantism -- in fact that it had done so in many culturecomplexes -- and that it would not come about where objective
conditions were not ripe for it. Several other systems of religious
ethics have developed approaches to the religious ethic of Reformed
Protestantism, but the psychological motivations involved werenecessarily different. Then he not only indicated his awareness ofthe other side but also demonstrated how by an irony of fate thevery fulfillment of religious injunctions had induced changes in theeconomic structure, which in turn engendered the massive irreligiousity of a capitalistic order.ῌ῍῍
4. ROBERT N. BELLAH has proceeded to analyze various Asian
religious groups to see whether examples of this -- worldly asceticism, the religious significance of work in a calling, have been
associated with successful economic activity. Cases in which theassociation has been claimed include Japan Jodo and Zen Buddhist,ῌ 142 ῌthe Hotoku and Shingaku movements; in Java the Santri Moslems;in India the Jains, Parsis, and various merchants castes. But inWeber’s opinion, economic growth is not enough if it is not accompanied by rational changes.ῌ῍῎ It is not enough to be economicallydeveloped if structural transformations and its ῍underlying valuesystem" crucial to modern society do not take place. Thus, Bellah
concludes that in their economic development it becomes possible
for some nations to make a few structural transformations but
without the total structure being transformed, as in the cases ofGermany and Japan. Looking at economic growth in Japan, theauthor considers that it is a rather ambiguous success story. And to
many Japanese intellectuals, who feel as Weber did, modern Japan
has failed to carry through certain structural transformations, andtherefore the evaluation of Japan’s modern history is very problematic.ῌ῎῎
5. RAFAEL LARRAÑETA sees Capitalism as the protagonist of thelast process of social, economic and political change. It is the art ofextracting wealth out of productive activity in the form of capital.
Recognizing that Capitalism cannot renounce profit, ῍the blood thatmakes it live," ῌ῏῎ he states that the outcome is a kind of social war
because capitalism creates inequalities, quite contrary to Smith’s
principles: profit is a value created by human work and destined to
be proportionally distributed.ῌῐ῎Contemporary capitalism with its system of production andwealth distribution lacks a sound moral base. The type of freemarket that requires is not backed with ethical codes for freedom.
Even more, the contemporary capitalism does neither find sufficientarguments to limit the insatiable avarice nor the manifest inequalities. The alternative to capitalism today is the Welfare State (WS), a

ῌ 143 ῌsocial system inspired in the democratic capitalism that corrects its
own excesses and its thirst for power, which brings slavery back.῏ῌ῎Recently, however, this WS is criticized due not only to the fallof the Marxist regimes, but also to the crisis in the most famouscountries representative of it, such as Sweden and others. The rightaccuses the WS of imposing heavy taxes on capital triggering its
flight to less demanding markets. The accusation extends to theguarantees given to workers who, thus, lack stimuli for work. But
the left also criticizes the WS for being inefficient, repressive andincapable of solving the causes of poverty in spite of wasting lots ofmoney in useless bureaucratic expenses. In spite of this criticism all
coincide in recognizing the irreversibility of the WS. Its abolition
would mean the end of democracy. Today there is no other alternative to capitalism.῏῍῎
6. SHICHIHEI YAMAMOTO goes back to the Japanese Buddhist
and Confucian ethic to trace the origins of the modern Japanesework ethic. He claims that the austere Zen monk Suzuki Shoosan(1579- 1655) is the builder of the foundation of Japanese capitalism.῏῎῎ Suzuki considered worldly labor a form of ascetic Zen exercise that can help one attain Buddhahood (salvation). To immerse
oneself in work is ῍the surest and most evident proof of rebirth andgenuine faith." Suzuki expanded to other classes (farmers, artisans,and merchants) what was specific to the samurai only: the access to
the Zen asceticism to attain Buddhahood by dedicating themselvesto their tasks like the samurai to theirs: worldly labor is religious
asceticism, and if one pursues a calling -- any calling -- with singleminded devotion, one can become a Buddha. This social ethic permeated all four classes in the Tokugawa regime. Work for theJapanese equals asceticism. It is not purely an economic pursuit, butῌ 144 ῌa search for spiritual satisfaction.
Yamamoto claims that Japanese modern work ethos is a Tokugawa heritage. During that time Japan developed a truly independent social system that remained largely unchanged for nearly
three hundred years. It was not an age of imitation of the West likethe Meiji period, or of America in the postwar years, or of China in
the classical period. ῍In a sense it might be called our most original
age ... the base on which modern Japanese society was built." ῌῌ῎
7. HISAO OTSUKA, defends the position that the nature of thereligious ethos in Japan toward the end of the Tokugawa Era
through the Meiji Restoration down to the early Meiji Era commands special attention among the various religious ethoses in
Asia. Japan successfully transplanted modern social institutions
from the West and, unlike the rest of Asia, witnessed the initialstages of the formation of an ῍industrial middle stratum" toward
the Tokugawa Era. Japan’s religious ethos during the 19th Century,
therefore, and its potential to liberate people from traditionalism, iscertainly a topic worthy of further study.ῌ῍῎Afterword
Nearly a hundred years have passed since Max Weber wrote theProtestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Although at that timethe evolution of capitalism was unpredictable, Weber himself foresaw the split between capitalism and its religious factor. Very few
people will link today religion with capitalism. On the contrary,both seem to oppose and criticize each other. But religion is not the
only questioner confronting capitalism. The number of people toquestion it is growing every day when they see that the unthinkable wealth created by capitalism is in the hands of a minority thatῌ 145 ῌselfishly control it. The gap between rich and poor keeps widening.
The target set by the participants in the UN Millennium Meeting
last September to eradicate poverty from our world by the year
2015 raises many questions: why not for 2005? It surely would bepossible in a time when words like ῍Meta-Capitalism," and ῍Digital
Capital" are already predicting a hyper-growth era that will makebusiness more productive and create a more prosperous world. The
emerging online business, also called ῍business webs" of the digitalage, are creating a new kind of ῍intellectual capital" which isboosting productivity and achieving greater profits via Internet.ῌ῍῎The time has come when each one of us vows with strong will
to put that wealth at the service of all, especially of those in greatest
need.

Notes
1 ) Robertson, H. M., Aspects of the Rise of Economic Individualism,
Cambridge, 1933, p. xii.
2 ) Weber, Max The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism,
London, 1930, p.26 (Eng. transl., by Talcott Parsons of Die Protestantische Ethic und der Geist des Kapitalismus in ‘Archiv fürSocialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik,’ vols. xx, 1904 and xxi,
1905; later reprinted in Gesalmete Aufsätze zur Religioussoziologie, 3 vols., Tübingen, 1921).
3 ) Ibid., p. 183.
4 ) Ibid., p. 21.
5 ) Cf. Andreski, S.(ed.), Max Weber on Capitalism, Bureaucracy andReligion., George Allen & Unwin Ltd. London, 1984, pp. 109-110.
6 ) Weber, M., op. cit., p. 26.
7 ) Only in the West does science exist at a stage of development

ῌ 146 ῌthat we recognize today as valid. Empirical knowledge, reflection on problems of the cosmos and of life, and philosophical andtheological wisdom are not confined to the West, though in thecase of the last the full development of a systematic theology
must be credited to Christianity under the influence of Hellenism. The rational and systematic forms of thought in theWest have permeated all spheres of life: art, architecture, music,
literature, educational institutions, law, economy and the everyday life of society. This phenomenon belongs only to the Occident, despite all other approaches to it. The same is true of themost significant force in modern life: capitalism. Cf. Andreski, S.,
op. cit., pp. 21-24.
8 ) Weber, M., op. cit., p. 27.
9 ) Cf. Andreski, S., op. cit., p. 135.
10) Weber, M., op. cit., pp. 48-50. Cf. Franklin, B., ῍The Way to
Wealth", 1758, in The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin &Selections from his Writings, The Modern Library, New York,1944, p. 116.
11) Weber, M., op. cit., pp. 99-101.
12) Cf. Weber, M., The Sociology of Religion, Beacon Press, Boston,
1963. pp. 202-248.
13) Weber, M., Ensayos sobre Sociología de la Religión I, Taurus
Ediciones, Madrid, 1987, p. 103.
14) Weber, M., The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, p.
101.
15) Tawney, R.C., Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, Penguin
Books, Australia, 1st ed. 1926. Reprinted by Pelican Books 1938.
Printed by Butler & Tanner, London, 1964, 6th ed., pp.117, 199.
16) Weber, M., op. cit. pp. 171-172.

ῌ 147 ῌ17) Ibid., p. 175. S. Andreski explains that the religious root of themodern economic outlook is dead; and the concept of a ῍calling"
is a relic in the world today. Ascetic religiosity has been displaced by a pessimistic, though by no means ascetic, view of theworld. After the disappearance of the early religious fervor or
the sects, the optimism of the Enlightenment which believed in
the harmony of interests appeared as the heir of Protestantasceticism in the field of economic ideas, guiding the princes,
statesmen, and writers of the later eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Economic ethics, which arose against the ascetic ideal, has now been stripped of its religious support. Op.
cit., p.158.
18) Weber. M., Ensayos sobre Sociología de la Religión II, pp.330-345.
Cf. also Weber, M., The Sociology of Religion, pp. 34, 90.
19) The lead in productivity of the Protestant states over the Catholic countries was not always seen as solely dependent on theconfessional factor differences. The greater number of working
days in Protestant countries, for example, was of course animportant religious difference, but matters such as anthropology, education, social organization, political constitution, mentality, and local, provincial, or national character were factorsthat had to be taken into account also. For his detailed analysis,
cf. Münch, Paul, ῍The thesis before Weber: An archaeology" inWeber’s Protestant Ethic. Origins, Evidence, Contexts. Edited by
Hartmut Lehmann and Guenter Roth, German Historical Institute, Washington, D.C., Cambridge University Press, 1993, pp.5171.
20) Cf. MacKinnon, M.H., ῍The Longevity of the Thesis: A Critiqueof the Critics", in Hartmut Lehmann and Guenter Roth, op. cit.,ῌ 148 ῌpp. 211-243.
21) Cf. in The Westminster Confession of Faith (1647), VI., in
O’Donovan, Oliver, On the Thirty nine Articles: A conversation
with Tudor Christianity, Exeter: Published for Latimer House,
Oxford by the Paternoster Press, 1986, p. 159-160.
22) 42 Articles (1553) and 39 Articles (1571) XI, Ibid., p. 139s.
23) The Books of Prayers were vehicles for the dissemination ofreligious ideas even if they fulfilled the purposes of their original intent of encouraging and providing for the practice of
personal piety and spirituality. Cf. Booty, John E. editor; Siegenthaler, D.,Wall, J.N., The Godly Kingdom of Tudor England: Great
Books of the English Reformation, Wilton, Conn., pub., Morehouse-Barlow Co., c1981, p.222. There are examples showing
how custom and faithfulness sometimes do not reflect the official doctrine, like in the case of the deep-rooted assumption thateach person has ῍his allotted place and his function in society,with which he should be content and from which he should not
expect to move."Cf. Williams, ed., English Historical Documents
1485-1558, New York: Oxford University Press, 1967, p. 229.
Also, Francis Procter, A New History of the Book of Common
Prayer with a Rationale of its Offices on the Basis of the Former
Work, revised and rewritten by Walter Howard Frere, London:
Macmillan, 1901, p. 20.
24) Oakes, Guy, ῍The Things That Would Not Die: Notes on Refutation," in Hartmut Lehmann and Guenter Roth, op. cit., pp. 289293.
25) Fischoff, Effraim, ῍The Protestant ethic and the spirit of capitalism: The history of a controversy", in Einsenstadt, S.N., editor,
The Protestant Ethic and Modernization. A Comparative view,ῌ 149 ῌ

Basic Books, New York, London, c1968, pp. 72-75.
26) Maruyama Masao theorized that the concentration of loyalty inthe emperor may have been effective in bringing about socialchanges contributing to economic growth in Japan, but he asserts that they were far from rational in Weber’s sense, andindeed had profoundly irrational consequences in subsequentJapanese development, not the least of which were importanteconomic inefficiencies. Cf. Maruyama, M., Kokka Gakkai Zasshi,
The Journal of the Association of Political and Social Sciences, Vol.
LXXII, No. 4, April 1958, Tokyo.
27) Bellah, R.N. ῍Reflections on the Protestant Ethic Analogy in
Asia," in Einsenstadt, S.N., op. cit., pp. 243-249.
28) Heilbroner, R.L., Naturaleza y Lógica del Capitalismo, Península.
Barcelona, 1990, p. 65.
29) Smith, A., Investigación sobre la naturaleza y causas de la riquezade las naciones. FCE. México, 1982, pp. 51-52.
30) Marcuse, H., Etica y Revolución. Taurus. Madrid, 1970, 2nd ed., p.
138.; Cf. Habermas, J., Ciencia y técnica como ‘ideología,’ Tecnos,
Madrid, 1986, p. 65.
31) Larrañeta, Rafael, ῍El Capitalismo Actual y la Etica del Beneficio" in Revista de Filosofía, 3a época, vol. VI (1993), núm. 9, pp.
173-188. Editorial Complutense, Madrid.
32) ῍All occupations are Buddhist practice; through work we areable to attain Buddhahood. There is no calling that is not
Buddhist. All is for the good of the world. The all-encompassing
Buddha-nature manifest in us all works for the world’s good:
without artisans, such as the blacksmith, there would be notools; without officials there would be no order in the world;
without farmers there would be no food; without merchants weῌ 150 ῌwould suffer inconvenience. All the other occupations as well
are for the good of the world. All reveal the blessing of the
Buddha." (Suzuki Shoosan, Shimin Nichiyoo ).
33) The social order and system values that took shape in the
Tokugawa period are prototypes of Japan’s modern pseudoconsanguineous system. In Tokugawa society, loyalty and filial
piety were really one and the same; the consanguineous principle of filial piety was extended to cover all institutions. But thiswas possible to the pseudo-consanguineous system that brought
non-consanguineous group together as if they were blood-related, creating fictive, main family-branch family relationshipand this is what influenced modern companies to be tied together in a familial relationship in the absence of blood ties orcontracts. Yamamoto, Shichihei, The Spirit of Japanese Capitalism and Selected Essays, Madison Books, London, 1992, p.56-86.
34) Ootsuka, Hisao, The Spirit of Capitalism. The Max Weber Thesisin an Economic Historical Perspective, Transl. by Masaaki Kondo,
Iwanami Shoten, Tokyo, 1982, p. 171.
35) Walker, L., ῍Books look on the bright side of the e-revolution,"
The Japan Times, July 19, 2000, p. 15.

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