The Economic Ethics of the World Religions (German:Die Wirtschaftsethik der Weltreligionen) is an unfinished book series byMax Weber. Weber's work in the field ofsociology of religion began with the bookThe Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.[1] The book series containsThe Religion of China,The Religion of India, andAncient Judaism.[2] However, his work was left incomplete as a result of his sudden death in 1920, which prevented him from followingAncient Judaism with studies of early Christianity and Islam.[3] The three main themes within the books were: religious ideas' effect on economic activities, the relationship betweensocial stratification and religious ideas, and the distinguishable characteristics of Western civilisation.[4] His goal was to find reasons for the different developmental paths of the cultures of theWestern world and theEastern world, without making value judgments, unlike the contemporaneoussocial Darwinists. Weber simply wanted to explain the distinctive elements ofWestern civilisation.[5] Weber also proposed asocio-evolutionary model of religious change where societies moved from magic toethical monotheism, with the intermediatory steps ofpolytheism,pantheism, andmonotheism. According to him, this was the result of growing economic stability, which allowed forprofessionalisation and the evolution of an increasingly sophisticated priesthood.[6] As societies grew more complex and encompassed different groups, a hierarchy of gods developed. Meanwhile, as their power became more centralised, the concept of a universal God became more popular and desirable.[7]
Kim, Sung Ho (2022)."Max Weber". In Zalta, Edward N.; Nodelman, Uri (eds.).The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Winter 2022 ed.). Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University.OCLC37550526.
