Max Weber's remarks on Islam: The Protestant Ethic among Muslim puritans

This article takes a look at Max Weber's remarks on Islam compared with Calvinism with reference to the doctrine of predestination, the quest for salvation, inner-worldly asceticism and the concept of rationalization. The comparison shows that Weber regarded Islam as the polar opposite of the Protestant ethic, particularly in its Calvinist variant. The article then shifts its focus to Indonesian Islam in order to demonstrate that ‘Islam’ and ‘Muslim’ are not univocal but multivocal. Indeed, Indonesian Islam contrasts sharply with Weber's portrait of Islam in the Middle East. Finally, the article examines the extent to which the rise of Muslim puritans within the early Islamic reformist movement in the Muhammadiyah of Indonesia resembles ascetic Protestantism, particularly Calvinism.     

Between art tourism and ‘Protestant pilgrimage’: individual journeys to artworks in two churches of Reformed denomination near Bern,Switzerland

ABSTRACT

Can an individual trip to an artwork in a Protestant church, that evokes experiences of transcendence, be understood as a ‘Protestant pilgrimage’? The question is discussed with a historical example from the eighteenth century and a contemporary example from the twenty-first century, both of which refer to the transcendental dimension of (religious) art and raise the question about the interrelationship between art tourism and pilgrimage. Although the motivation for such journeys is often aesthetic and not spiritual, visitors may be deeply touched by the artworks and experience feelings that transcend the mundane present. If these examples are considered as ‘pilgrimages’ (and not only in a merely metaphorical sense), attention must be paid to their ecumenical, potentially heterodox character. For in the Reformed tradition, the importance of the pilgrimage is the journey itself, and not the final destination.     

Give Me that Ol' Time Hormonal Religion

Rodney Stark (2002) has sought to explain the greater religiosity of women, something that he asserts to be a cultural and historical universal, by suggesting that male physiology makes males more impulsive and so less likely to submit to religious prohibitions. Although he presents evidence suggesting that greater female religiosity is true today cross-culturally, he presents no real evidence establishing that this generalization was true prior to the 19th century. In fact, Stark's article completely overlooks a highly visible and well-established body of scholarly literature suggesting that the "feminization of piety," in both the Protestant and Catholic traditions, is a relatively recent historical phenomenon.     

Subjection and Companionship: The French Reformed Marriage

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between Reformation ideals of gender and sexuality with the reality of Reformed life in France in the late sixteenth century. Centring on the theory and practice of marriage, the paper examines Jean Calvin's discourse on marriage, noting his significant departure from pre-Reformation concepts of sexuality and his affirmation of companionship in the conjugal bond. Yet, the author also highlights the significant complications with, or even detractions from, this model inherent in Calvin's theology of the Fall, and his understanding of ‘subjection'. These strands of Reformed theory are then compared with two cases drawn from the registers of the consistories, or church courts, of two Protestant towns in southern France, in 1578 and 1595. The findings suggest that ideas of subjection and companionship, though helpful perhaps in the theory of marriage, rarely began to encompass the colourful and messy realities of daily life among the Huguenots.     

The Twofold Life of the Word: Karl Barth's Critical Reception of the Extra Calvinisticum

Though the extra Calvinisticum has played an historically important role for Christology, the doctrine has been criticized not only by Lutherans and modern Christologies ‘from below’ but by some Reformed thinkers as well. This article examines the place of the extra in dogmatic thinking about the incarnation: specifically, Karl Barth's critical response to his own tradition. After examining the differences between Lutheran and Reformed construals of the relationship of the Logos asarkos to the Logos ensarkos I take up Barth's views on the extra, which over the course of his career moved from enthusiastic affirmation to a sharp critique. Finally, I suggest that Barth's mature Christology retains the best of both Protestant positions by correcting a critical inconsistency in Reformed thought. He does not reject the doctrine of the Logos asarkos, but he does suggest a way in which this is related to the life of the Logos ensarkos that marginalizes the former. Barth is right not to discard the extra, but also that it has been misused in how it is deployed in dogmatic theology.     

The protestant work ethic: A review of the psychological literature

Despite criticism of Weber's thesis concerning the Protestant Work Ethic (PWE) and the rise of Capitalism, few have challenged the specification of the behaviour patterns, goals and values of those adhering to this ethic. Whereas psychologists have not been very interested in the nature of the historical, political and sociological arguments concerning the PWE, they have devoted a great deal of research to its measurement and correlates. In this paper the concept of the PWE; the literature on the instruments devised to measure the PWE; studies on the relationship between the PWE and work and unemployment; as well as research on the PWE and individual differences is reviewed. Despite great heterogeneity in aims, methodology and instruments used in different studies, a coherent picture of PWE beliefs emerges. Finally an elaboration of a new perspective on PWE research is suggested.     

Weber's Protestant Ethic Revisited: An African Case

McClelland (1961) has argued that the values implicit in Weber's (1930) so-called Protestant ethic lead individuals to a concern with achievement. In order to investigate whether introduction of a Protestant ideology into a non-Western society was associated with an orientation toward achievement, East African Quaker Abaluyia were compared with non-Quaker Abaluyia on a battery of tests. The findings indicated that Quakers emphasized education, held realistic beliefs about the behaviors bound up with success in their sociocultural system, exhibited health patterns similar to those of educated individuals in developing countries, and had been exposed in childhood to socialization practices that downplayed physical punishment. These results, although consistent with the Weber-McClelland formulation, were relatively sparse in relation to the total number of comparisons undertaken.     

‘Our Moslem sisters‘: Women of Greater Syria in the eyes of American protestant missionary women

From the mid‐twentieth century, American Protestant missionary women played a role in attempting to reach their ‘Moslem sisters’ in Greater Syria through the various missionary institutions established in the region. This article examines part of the encounter between these two groups of women — particularly the murky and often ironic nature of the exchange, and how primarily single, Protestant American women focused much of their efforts on training young Arab Muslim women to be good wives and mothers. American Protestant missionary women, in assuming they were ‘uplifting’ the status of Middle Eastern women, were in most respects involved in an attempt to modernize the domestic dimension of the latter's identity and imprint upon it a particular cultural stamp.     

Editorial

Abstract

The relationship between John Calvin, Pierre Viret, and Guillaume Farel has been characterized as a ‘triumvirate,’ a ‘patriarchate,’ and as a ‘close friendship.’ Despite the overwhelming attention paid by modern scholars to Calvin alone, the three of them were viewed by contemporary friends and enemies alike as a team. To friends, they were the ‘triumvirs’ who provided much needed leadership to the nascent Reformed Church in the Francophone world. To Protestant enemies, they were the ‘three patriarchs’ who sought to dominate the other pastors in the region. Their personal friendship was close, at least until Farel's marriage to a teenage girl. Scholarship until now, however, has largely ignored the friendship between Viret and Farel, partly because much of their correspondence remains unedited. Looking ahead, a potentially fruitful approach to examining their relationship would be to evaluate their network of associates and correspondents in order to gain a better understanding of exactly where and how their ideas affected sixteenth-century society.     

Retrieving a Mature Reformed Doctrine of Original Sin: A Conversation with Some Recent Proposals

A ‘broadly Augustinian’ doctrine of original sin continues to receive support in contemporary Catholic and Protestant theological discourse as the best account of human experience and biblical teaching. Notwithstanding this, substantial challenges arise in connection with this doctrine which Catholics and Protestants have classically sought to address in their own ways. With a contemporary Protestant audience in mind, I attempt to rehabilitate the theological viability of the oft‐criticized mature Reformed doctrine of original sin which entails the immediate imputation of Adamic guilt. In dialogue with some recent dogmatic contributions, I draw upon eloquent advocates of the Reformed doctrine, such as Petrus van Mastricht and Francis Turretin, to argue that the notion of immediate imputation continues to provide a coherent and biblically defensible explanation for the just imposition of inherited corruption. Faring somewhat better than other proposals, it deserves reconsideration in contemporary reconstructions of the doctrine, especially in those which might self‐consciously seek to identify with the Protestant confessional tradition.     

The First Asian Ecumenical Confession of Faith: The So‐Called Twelve Articles of Faith of Many Asian Protestant Churches

The Twelve Articles of Faith, written by Western Presbyterian and Reformed missionaries in India around 1900, have arguably been the most important ecumenical confession of faith of many Asian Protestant churches (Indian, Korean and Chinese Protestant churches and beyond). The articles by and large adopt the spirit and content of the Westminster Confession and Catechisms, and have some apparently Calvinistic elements. But they also have some new Arminian, universalistic and ecumenical elements that include the unique historical and theological implications of the epochal Western missions in Asia of the 19th and the early 20th centuries: both Christ's atonement for all people and a non‐predestinarian order of salvation. These elements, however, seem to entail a weak, individualistic ecclesiology along with a Biblicist or fundamentalist interpretation of the Bible. Nonetheless, having influenced millions of Asian Christians, the articles have been and continue to be an important ecumenical confession of faith, and in this way can contribute to uniting Asian‐and world‐Christian churches.     

New Mutations of the Protestant Ethic among Latin American Pentecostals

This article argues that there is a partial consonance between the ‘inner-worldly asceticism’ of the fast-growing Protestant movement in Latin America and the economic imperatives of the global capitalism into which Latin America has been progessively incorporated since the 1960s.This consonance stops short of being an unequivocal ‘elective affinity’ since there are also points of tension between the new Protestant ethic and the spirit of contemporary capitalism. It is argued that such consonance as exists arises out of a complex symbiosis rather than a simple one-way causal relationship. The article outlines the range of views among Latin American Pentecostal Protestants about the implications of their faith for economic behaviour, and relates these views to current economic conditions. It suggests that certain Protestant habits and values minimally assist economic survival and can even lead to modest success. Particular attention is paid to recent developments in the Pentecostal movement in Latin America which diverge from the classic Protestant ethic of the West, notably the emergence of an indigenous prosperity gospel and a selective acceptance of consumerism.     

Toward a ‘Catholic’ Reading of Kierkegaard

Historically, some Catholic readers have been suspicious of Kierkegaard's writings; viewing him as an irrational Protestant irreconcilably at odds with Catholic thought. Nevertheless, the unexpected yet favorable mention of Kierkegaard in John Paul II's Fides et Ratio is an indication that Kierkegaard's writings are not so easily dismissed. One may be justified in asking: what account can be given to explain such a shift in how the Catholic reception of Kierkegaard changes from a polemical rejection to a papal endorsement during the 20th century? In this review essay, I will explore some recent Kierkegaard research that provides – or at least, provides some of the groundwork for – a positive ‘Catholic’ reading of Kierkegaard. Space does not permit an exhaustive exposition of each book, so I will highlight the salient features of each to underscore a new trend that is emerging in Kierkegaard studies.     

Just Wars,Holy Wars,and Jihads,edited by Sohail Hashmi,Oxford University Press: New York, 2012, xvi + 434 pp. ISBN 978 019 975503 5, US$35.00 (paperback)

In recent years, academic interest in the nexus between Pentecostalism, economics, and capitalism has grown significantly. Notably, the vast majority of publications that have addressed this interface are to some degree conceptually framed by Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. In this article I consider what The Protestant Ethic might contribute to our understanding of the relationship between Pentecostalism and capitalism. First, I assess a particularly noteworthy attempt to draw Pentecostalism into Weber's genealogical account which draws a series of parallels between Pentecostalism and ascetic Protestantism. Second, I discuss the merits of an approach that is not primarily genealogical but remains indebted to the concepts that Weber introduces, elaborating a new affinity between Pentecostalism and capitalism in its present iteration. With this article, I seek to comprehensively extend the scope and sharpen the conceptual underpinnings of future analysis and empirical work in this area.     

The Protestant work ethic-conservatism paradox: beliefs and values in work and life

Consistent with the view that work and other life domains are linked via a persons's overall value orientation, previous research has found that the Protestant work ethic (PWE) is positively associated with conservatism. A conceptual paradox in this relationship emerges from Weber's (1930) treatment of the PWE and the spirit of capitalism. An attempt is made to resolve the paradox by exploring the moderating effect of economic sector membership on the PWE-conservatism relationship. In the questionnaire responses of 155 graduate and undergraduate students, economic sector did not significantly moderate the PWE-conservatism relationship. Particular relationships among PWE, conservatism, religiousness, preferences for work outcomes, and terminal values also were examined. Results indicate a need to assess the field's seemingly sole reliance on the PWE construct to study work beliefs and values.     

Development of an australian work ethic scale

A scale designed to tap adherence to the Protestant work ethic ideology in Australia has been developed. The development of the Australian Work Ethic scale (AWE) was based on items selected on the basis of factor analysis and item-total correlations. Validation of the scale found that it has convergent and concurrent validity. Specifically, it correlated highly with both the Mirels and Garrett (1971) Protestant work ethic scale and Blood's (1969) pro-Protestant ethic scale. It was also found that people who strongly endorsed the work ethic ideology as measured on the AWE scale, tended to stress internal causal explanations for unemployment, and were less willing to provide assistance to the unemployed, findings which are in line with the work ethic ideology. The findings were discussed in terms of the continued efficacy of the work ethic ideology in Australia. Possible uses of this new measure in future research are suggested.     

Alfred Loisy's Developmental Approach to Scripture: Reading the ‘Firmin’ Articles in the Context of Nineteenth‐ and Twentieth‐Century Historical Biblical Criticism

Alfred Loisy's ‘Firmin’ articles applied John Henry Newman's concept of development of doctrine within church history to the Bible. In doing this, Loisy was attempting to convince his Catholic audience to appropriate the historical critical method within Catholic biblical interpretation. Loisy attempted to explain the notion of development within the Bible, which had become commonplace among the Protestant historical critical scholarship of the time, in light of Newman's concept of the development of doctrine within history.     

Hailing Zenobia: Anti‐Judaism,trinitarianism, and John Henry Newman

John Henry Newman's early nineteenth‐century monograph The Arians of the Fourth Century iterates and intensifies the anti‐Jewish rhetoric already conveyed by the Nicene trinitarian theology inaugurated by Athanasius of Alexandria in the fourth century. Invoking philosopher Judith Butler's analysis of the performative power of ‘hate speech’ not only to injure, but also to interpellate subjects who may be heard to ‘talk back’, the present article seeks to surface the subversive potentialities contained not only within Newman's text (read in its immediate historical context), but also within trinitarian discourse more generally. Zenobia, third‐century ruler of Palmyra, reviled by Newman as both a ‘Judaizer’ and an ancestor of ‘Arianism’ (i.e. anti‐trinitarian theology), serves in this article (as in Newman's text) as the privileged figure for an interpellated subject, at once ‘Jewish’ and ‘feminine’ (thus seductively ‘oriental'), that may be heard to give voice to the ‘insurrectionary’ counter‐speech harbored within the very discourse of Christian orthodoxy that seeks to suppress it.     

The Cultural Revolution and the Emergence of Pentecostal-style Protestantism in China

This article seeks to locate the manifested Pentecostal characteristics of Chinese Protestantism in the context of an individualistic and feminised religious arena during China's Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). Life-story interview data collected in south-eastern China reveal that the unavailability of religious authorities during the Cultural Revolution brought about a decentralised and experiential Protestant religious form, demonstrating a cultural pattern similar to that of Pentecostalism. This religious form was particularly successful in attracting women and communicating across cultural frontiers, thus contributing to Protestant breakthroughs in rural areas. Nevertheless, without institutionalising a Pentecostal doctrine and practice, this Pentecostal-like religiosity would be subject to further change with the return of religious authorities after the 1980s. I propose an analytical tool that I call ‘practice-led Pentecostalism’ for grasping this fluid religious dynamic.