A kind of life imposed on man
Subtitle: vocation and social order from Tyndale to Locke
By: Paul Marshall.
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Published: 1996
Place of publication: Toronto [Ont.]; Buffalo [N.Y.]
Language: eng
Number of pages: 163
Subjects: Vocation -- History of doctrines -- 16th century.; Vocation -- History of doctrines -- 17th century.
Description: "Vocation, or calling - the idea that everyday work is the locus of Christian obedience - is, at first glance, peculiarly a theological notion. But doctrines of vocation formed the core of much of the economic and social theory of Protestantism at a time when such theory was culturally and politically influential. Hence it has also attracted attention from, and caused controversy among, sociologists, economic historians, and political theorists. Max Weber made vocation one of the foci of his celebrated studies of the 'Protestant ethic' and the 'spirit of capitalism.' In this book, Paul Marshall offers the first systematic study of the development of the idea of vocation in England from 1500 to 1700."--BOOK JACKET. "Vocational theory illuminates four themes that are examined in this work: the relationship between Renaissance and Reformation social thought; the nature of the competing political forces in mid-seventeenth century England, particularly as they related to Puritan social views; the interpretation of seventeenth-century political theory, notably the thinking of John Locke; and contemporary theological discussions of the relationship of vocation to the existing social order, which parallel debates between the Levellers and their opponents during the civil war."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [137]-158) and index.