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Is it a contradiction in terms for a Christian to be rich? If so, it’s a common contradiction and has been exhaustively studied ever since the Protestant Reformation. Some of the most informative research on the subject was compiled by the German sociologist, Max Weber, who studied the causal relationship of events in history. In 1904 Weber published The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. This book is his attempt to explain the causes of the seemingly diverse phenomena of capitalism and Protestantism.

Protestantism, of course, refers to those who broke away or were expelled from the Roman Catholic Church following the Protestant Reformation. For a definition of capitalism we must first explain what it is not. In his introduction to The Protestant Ethic Max Weber points out that greed and the desire for personal gain, as well as trading and other economic enterprises designed to make a profit, exist everywhere and have been true of people in all walks of life and in all cultures of the earth. This human impulse to acquire wealth does not necessarily have anything to do with capitalism.

Weber defines capitalism as an economic action that expects to make a profit based on peaceful and mutually beneficial exchanges. He suggests that religious piety and capitalistic acquisition are compatible, and that both traits are characteristic of many of the most important Churches and sects in the history of Protestantism. He notes that in French Huguenot Churches monks and business men were particularly numerous. And the Spaniards knew that the Calvinism of the Dutch promoted trade which coincided with the capitalistic development of the Netherlands.

There is an even more striking connection between religious lifestyles and the intensive development of business acumen among Christians such as Quakers and Mennonites, whose otherworldliness is as proverbial as their wealth. For example, in East Prussia Frederick William I tolerated the Mennonites as indispensable to industry, in spite of their absolute refusal to perform military service. The combination of intense piety and business acumen was also characteristic of the Pietists.

The English were also highly developed in piety, in commerce, and in freedom. Weber suggests that their commercial success and free political institutions were in some way connected to their piety. The same might be said of early Americans. The witty dictums of Benjamin Franklin, for instance, are not just wise business suggestions but the essence of the Protestant ethic. Although Franklin was at best a deist, his values were strongly influenced by a strict Calvinistic father. It is therefore no surprise that in his autobiography quotations from the Bible appear, such as: “Seest thou a man diligent in his business? He shall stand before kings” (Prov. 22:29).

In another interesting parallel between pietism and capitalism in North America, Weber observes that capitalism remained far less developed in southern states, even though they were founded by capitalists for business motives. Yet the New England colonies were founded for religious reasons by preachers and seminary graduates with the help of craftsmen, yet this region of North America experienced dramatic capitalistic expansion.

To understand how piety and capitalism became compatible it is necessary to recognize the importance of the early Protestant concept of a “calling.” The Greek word ponos means “toil” but Luther translates it as “calling,” which is evidently an interpretation rather than a strict translation. Whether or not this is accurate theology, the practical result was that Protestants felt labor must be seen as an end in itself, or as a calling.

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