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Rating: 
Summary: start of the capitalism
Review: the book concerns about the two main point of the last 5 centuries: religion and capitalism. they are together and separate.read it
Rating: 
Summary: The law of God saith, he that will not work, let him not eat
Review: This book is a magisterial critical evaluation of Max Weber's thesis 'The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism'.
Tawney argues rightly that there is an interaction between religion and the social/economical environment because 'it seems a little artificial to talk as though capitalist enterprise could not appear till religious changes had produced a capitalist spirit. It would equally be true, and equally one-sided, to say that the religious changes were purely the result of economic movements.' (p.312)
As an example, the Christian Church itself had changed mightily in the Renaissance. It persecuted the Spiritual Franciscans who followed St Francis' rule of evangelical poverty. It was the richest company in the Western world (see W. Manchester: 'A world lit only by fire').
Tawney remarks rightly that what Calvin did for the bourgeoisie of the sixteenth century, Marx did for the proletariat of the nineteenth. Calvin's success was firmly prepared by Puritan moralists, who stressed thrift, work as an end in itself, efficiency and rational calculation. They paved the way for a shrewd commercial and powerful midldle class, which adopted the Calvinist religion and its ethic as a natural ally.
This very rich book shows the real impact of Calvinism on the whole society. One example: wages. Calvinism considered 'that high wages are not a blessing, but a misfortune, since they merely conduce to weekly debauches.' (p. 267)
This is a brilliantly written, colourful, metaphorical and yet scientific work. It should be an example for many historians, of how 'essential historical evolutions' can be presented to the public in a comprehensive and attractive language.
This is an essential read for the understanding of out modern society.
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