Civilization #42: The Protestant Reformation and the Birth of Capitalism

In this talk to his Chinese high school students, Jiang Xueqin explains how the Protestant Reformation birthed capitalism.

Martin Luther and John Calvin saw the Catholic Church as inherently and irredeemably corrupt. Martin Luther proposed "justification by faith," which argued that Christians can only be redeemed by their unwavering faith in God (regardless of how much money they donated to the Church). John Calvin proposed the concept of "double pre-destination," which argued that God at the beginning of time had decided the fate of all (and thus buying "indulgences" from the Catholic Church was pointless).

In accepting these two doctrines and rejecting Papal authority, Protestants now had to prove to themselves that they were among the faithful elect. In their anxiety, they focused on the accumulation of money.

References:

1. Max Weber's "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" (You can download this classic for free at )

2. Emile Durkheim's "On Suicide"

3. Georg Simmel's "The Philosophy of Money"