ABSTRACT
Chapter 6 notes that Max Weber took a different approach than that of Marx and Durkheim in explaining the role religious beliefs played in society. Steeped in Christian culture, Weber was from early childhood raised as a Lutheran, and never fully discarded Lutheranism, which can be said to have shaped his views on what constituted the basis for a moral society. Throughout his life, Weber adhered to Christian principles. In particular, his emphasis on individualism and free choice can be traced to Christianity. Indeed, Weber’s interest in the “Protestant Ethic” was not accidental, and can be seen not only as a criticism of capitalism but of what Lutheranism had become in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Ever the objective scientist, Weber’s dilemma was to show how religious beliefs, while not necessarily being either a positive or negative influence on behavior, were still important and defining components of social existence, oftentimes competing with secularization as a driving force in history. Although it is debatable as to how much Christianity influenced Weber’s personal life, what is not debatable is that Christianity informed his sociology.
