The religious factor in social change : Max Weber and the Moravian Paradox - article ; n°1 ; vol.23, pg 91-97

Gillian Lindtgollin

Description

Archives des sciences sociales des religions - Année 1967 - Volume 23 - Numéro 1 - Pages 91-97
7 pages
Source : Persée ; Ministère de la jeunesse, de l’éducation nationale et de la recherche, Direction de l’enseignement supérieur, Sous-direction des bibliothèques et de la documentation.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Archives-des-sciences-sociales-des-religions
• Publié le: 01 janvier 1967
• Nombre de lectures: 25
• Langue: English

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Gillian Lindt-Gollin
The religious factor in social change : Max Weber and the
Moravian Paradox
In: Archives des sciences sociales des religions. N. 23, 1967. pp. 91-97.
Citer ce document / Cite this document :
Lindt-Gollin Gillian. The religious factor in social change : Max Weber and the Moravian Paradox. In: Archives des sciences
sociales des religions. N. 23, 1967. pp. 91-97.
doi : 10.3406/assr.1967.2616
http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/assr_0003-9659_1967_num_23_1_2616THE RELIGIOUS FACTOR
IN SOCIAL CHANGE
MAX WEBER AND THE MORAVIAN
PARADOX(
religion their nities nomic and led sources sity of Pietists all the of him policy of AX doctrine insistence which of lot action dealing economic to establishing tended including the Weber as conclude and tended Brethren had means as only to on their in action exemplified stressed preclude those to childlike that his with of retention obstruct 2) highly eliciting studies the reviewed of particularly the emotional simplicity experiences personal in of the development Moravian many the emergence Capitalist religious will and role the in of of matters the Brethren in nonrational Moravians of emotional of traditional religious beliefs German spirit Capitalist rational of of religious and emphasis elements relationship ideas communal Moravians His values ethics attitude ethic as analysis feeling determinants of upon examination in appointments the Lutheranism in with toward Herrnhut the Moravian based their commu German Christ neces eco use on of
This is revised version of paper presented to the Sixth World Congress of Sociology
Evian France September 1966 The author acknowledges with gratitude the services rendered
by the Archivists in Bethlehem and Herrnhut and would like to thank the Archives Committee
of the Moravian Church in Bethlehem Pennsylvania U.S.A. for their permission to examine
and draw upon manuscripts and rare books in their collection
The terms Moravian Brethren Moravian Church Unity of the Brethren
Unitas Fratrum and Herrnhuter have often been used interchangeably to refer to one and
the same religious group The term Unitas Pr trùm commonly translated into English as
the Unity of the Brethren remains to this day the formal designation of this ancient Protestant
Episcopal Church The term Herrnhuter has been used most often on the continent of Europe
to identify not only the inhabitants of Herrnhut but all of the members of this religious group
The term Moravian refers to the geographical origins of many of the early members of the
Unitas Fratrum It has been generally used in English-speaking countries in order to avoid con
fusion with various other groups of self-styled Brethren with none of whom the Moravians
have any connection whatsoever
Max WEBER The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism London George Alien
and Unwin 1930) pp 131 135 248
91 DE SOCIOLOGIE DES RELIGIONS ARCHIVES
The history of the Moravian Brethren presents an interesting paradox
Whereas the records of Herrnhut the major Moravian settlement in Europe
appear to confirm hypothesis those of Bethlehem the major American
settlement founded in the same period do not But if the religious ideas of the
two communities were the why then did the economic development of
Bethlehem come to differ so radically from that of its sister community How
did it come about that the same religious ideas had different consequences in
different social settings The central problem of this paper therefore is to seek
to account for differences in the rate and character of social change of the commu
nities of Herrnhut and Bethlehem both founded in the first half of the eighteenth
century by the Moravian Brethren religious sect whose origins can be traced
to the fifteenth century Protestant revolt of Jan Hus
We will begin by contrasting the dominant social institutions of Herrnhut
and Bethlehem in 1750 shortly after the founding of the communities with
the institutions typical of these same settlements one hundred years later The
data for this study were drawn from unpublished manuscripts in the Archives
Collection of the Moravian Church in Bethlehem as well as from printed primary
and secondary sources Our discussion of these matters must necessarily be
rather cursory fuller documentation is available elsewhere 3)
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY COMMUNAL PIETISM TRIUMPHANT
In the middle of the eighteenth century the religious values and imperatives
of the Moravians dominated all the institutional structures of the two communities
Although the conscience of Moravian living in eighteenth century Bethlehem
and Herrnhut was bound to no specific creed certain core assumptions underlying
his beliefs may be singled out His religion was pietistic stressing praxis
pietatis and ethical conduct over and above doctrinal uniqueness it was
Christocentric regarding Christ as the sole vehicle through which man could
hope to comprehend the nature of the divine and worshipping him as the Saviour
whose sufferings on the Cross had atoned for sins it was emotional
Belief was matter of feeling the divine not of understanding it The heart not
the mind was thought to be the seat of religious experience Salvation declared
Zinzendorf prominent leader of the church depends less on the truth in ideas
than on the truth in sensation It was social defining religion as group
experience in which the faithful were bound together in community of love
but at the same time separated from the rest of mankind who did not share their
beliefs and who therefore were not to be numbered amongst chosen people
The central emphasis placed upon the cultivation of personal piety led to
the development of vast body of ethical precepts which spelled out in detail
the conduct deemed appropriate to any given situation This penetration of
religious ethics into every action is one of the most characteristic
features of Moravian settlements during these pioneering years But Moravian
ethics reflected the lack of consistency or coherence implicit in the abovementioned
doctrinal assumptions In fact these ethics can be seen as justifying two very
different courses of action militant and methodical pursuit of state of
Gillian LINDT GOLLIN Moravians in Two Worlds Study of Changing Communities
New York Columbia University Press 1967)
Eventual Testament December 21 1738 Quoted in Johannes PLITT
Denkwuerdigkeiten aus der Geschichte der Brueder Unitaet Vol Unpaginated Ms copy in
Archives of the Moravian Church Bethlehem Pennsylvania U.S.A.)
92 WEBER AND THE MORAVIAN PARADO MAX
grace and on the other hand an emotional and sensuous preoccupation wit11
the glories of status salutatis in which work was viewed as an unseemly
distraction
The social institutions of the Moravians were dominated by the choir systetn
according to which members were rigidly stratified by age sex and mariti11
status Although the choirs had originally emerged in response to demand for
greater spiritual fellowship and had initially provided increased opportunitifs
only for prayer hymn singing and religious testimony their very success in
meeting this demand soon led to an expansion of their activities By the seventeen
fifties they were providing their members with communal living quarters food
clothing and employment they had moreover taken over full responsibility
for the care and education of the members children The choirs thus fulfilled mo
of the functions traditionally associated with the nuclear family The explicir
subordination of family loyalties to those of the choirs bears testimony to tbe
degree to which concern with the religious goals of the community dominated aiid
overruled all other considerations during these early years of Moravian settlement
In this exclusive preoccupation with the spiritual welfare of the community lu
considerations with respect to potential economic disadvantages of separate cholr
industries or of social risks of abolishing the family as primary agent of social1
zation were ignored
The penetration of religious values into the economy of Herrnhut an
Bethlehem significantly influenced the course of economic development Tile
Moravians regarded Christ as the sole owner of possessions the community
and the choirs were considered to be mere administrators of wealth Tile
community moreover had the right to determine what occupation man shouid
pursue and to shift the individual from job to job in order to maximize bis
contribution to the realization of the missionary goals of Moravians
Technically the Moravian community never appropriated the worldly goo
of its members and in theory at least the norms of private property were held
inviolable But in Bethlehem in particular there developed in the eighteenth
century an economic system which in effect incorporated communism 01
property production labor and consumption By insisting upon comniunai
sharing of land trades and commerce as well as of the labor and trie
consumption of the fruits of that labor in the form of food drink and shelter
the community effectively prevented Moravian immigrants from being able
use whatever personal possessions they had In so doing it destroyed the very
foundations for meaningful system of private property The occupation 11
structures of the two communities were dominated by skilled crafts