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The Protestant Ethic and the \u201cSpirit\u201d of Capitalism<\/em> by Max Weber makes the argument that John Calvin\u2019s doctrine of predestination paved the way for the formulation of the protestant work ethic and in doing so birthed the ethos of capitalism.\u00a0 Weber, a German sociologist, fancied himself as a historian of economies.\u00a0 His book offered a study of the relationship between Protestant aesthetics and the emergence of the capitalism economy. Dr Clark\u2019s dissertation, \u00a0Evangelism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship<\/em> provides a strong critique to some of Weber\u2019s claims, including \u201cWeber\u2019s Protestant ascetic is that he offers scant methodological explanation for it\u201c[1]<\/a>, and Weber\u2019s narrow application of aesthetic \u201cother than his Protestant Ethic.\u201d[2]<\/a> The critique that peaked my interest is whether Weber\u2019s understanding and use of Calvin\u2019s doctrine of predestination is sound.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 It seems as though Weber did some creative proof texting of Calvin\u2019s institutes and in the end seems to misinterpret Calvin\u2019s theology.<\/p>\n There are two key elements of Calvin\u2019s doctrine of Predestination we must hold together, The Sovereignty of God and no free will.\u00a0 Weber grounded his argument of \u201csalvation anxiety\u201d on Predestination.\u00a0 Interestingly Luther\u2019s concern of salvation was focused on the selling of indulgences, while Calvin was focused on idolatry.\u00a0 Both Luther and Calvin\u2019s foci played a part in understanding sin and salvation.\u00a0 When one closely reads Calvin\u2019s Institutes, one begins to see that for Calvin, the fall of creation in the Garden of Eden revealed our compulsion of idolatry.\u00a0 He saw humans bound to the desire to make themselves like God; this was the heart of his unpacking of no free will. For Calvin, humans will is \u201cin total bondage to sin, sinning willfully yet under necessity (not coercion), making him utterly dependent upon God\u2019s irresistible grace to liberate him\u201d.[4]<\/a> Calvin believed that in God\u2019s sovereignty, God held everything together even though so much was a mystery to humans.\u00a0 He believed that when humans begin to think and act out of an entitled heart, to demand we deserve to know what God is thinking or planning or saving, in our petulant hearts, we have attempted to tear down God and put ourselves in God\u2019s place. \u201cThe human mind, when it hears this doctrine, cannot restrain its petulance, but boils and rages as if aroused by the sound of a trumpet.\u201d[5]<\/a> For Calvin, it is God\u2019s prerogative to save or not to save, how dare we presume to tell God how to handle salvation? To believe God is Sovereign is to trust God implicitly which in turn is made manifest in how one lives.\u00a0 Weber does not seem to embrace Calvin\u2019s important theological grounding of Predestination.\u00a0 Weber also does not seem understand Calvin\u2019s intentional placement of this doctrine after his discussion of Redemption in his Institutes; Derek Thomas indicates that in doing so Calvin seems to say, \u201cthat predestination is a doctrine best understood by believers after they come to know the redemptive work of Jesus Christ applied by the Holy Spirit.\u201d[6]<\/a><\/p>\n Though Weber may have misinterpreted Calvin, Clark points out that Weber\u2019s work pushes the conversation of religion and its influence on economic markets especially concerning the curating of the ethos of capitalism.[7]<\/a> I concur with Clark that, \u201cIronically, \u2018Weber may be right about a connection between the Protestant Ethic and the spirit of Capitalism in spite of or even because of his possible misreading of theological doctrines.\u2019\u201d[8]<\/a> The ever burgeoning Protestant work ethic from the time of the Reformation has had a staggering impact on social welfare. The Reformation’s turn towards personal responsibility swung the pendulum toward complacency in the church to care for the marginalized. This reality has fed the ethos of capitalism.<\/p>\n The \u201cso what\u201d for me as a leader in the church is to understand the psychology wrapped up in the identity of humans and their money.\u00a0 I must find the courage to challenge the inherent problems of hyper-individuality when removed from the Sovereignty of God.\u00a0 I must challenge the places that the Protestant work ethic and personal responsibility have mutated the humans willingness to see the Imago Dei in others.\u00a0 I must challenge the hearts whose \u201clove of money\u201d has modulated to an assurance of salvation. And if indeed, Weber\u2019s notion that it is the anxiety of salvation that is the driving culprit for capitalism, I must utilize Friedman\u2019s call for self-differentiation to manage that anxiety (you knew I had to go there).<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Clark, Jason Paul. n.d. \u201cEvangelism and Capitalism: A Reparative Account and Diagnosis of Pathogeneses in the Relationship,\u201d 287. Page 95<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Ibid. Page 97<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Ibid Page 93<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> https:\/\/www.thegospelcoalition.org\/article\/did-john-calvin-believe-in-free-will\/<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> John Calvin. Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, 2 vols. (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960) 3.23.1<\/p>\n [6]<\/a> Derek Thomas, \u201cBowing before the Majesty of God,\u201d Preaching Like Calvin: Sermons from the 500th Anniversary Celebration, ed. David W. Hall (Phillipsburg, N.J: P & R Publishing, 2010), 252.<\/p>\n