ABSTRACT
While he was Federal Reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan reportedly stated that he had always considered capitalism a part of human nature. In the wake of the collapse of the Russian economy, however, he came to realize that “it was not human nature at all, but culture,” a statement Lawrence Harrison then interpreted as a “succinct restatement of Max Weber’s thesis in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism.” 1 It was Weber, of course, who sought to explain why capitalism first emerged in the West, as opposed to other societies that had seemingly more favorable conditions to support capitalism. His answer that Calvinist Protestantism fostered a spirit of rigorous discipline and encouraged followers to acquire wealth as a sign that they were among God’s elect opened a debate concerning the impact of religious belief on social action that, despite a lull during the second half of the twentieth century, continues to this day. Today, few question the relevance of a nation’s religious tradition for its political, economic, and social development. The real question rests with which religious traditions are congruent with liberal democracy, free-market economics, and civil society, and whether or not obstacles in specific religious traditions can be overcome.
