Weber’s account of Reformed Christianity, and Calvin in particular, advising against charity due to the sovereignty of God is simply incorrect. Calvin wrote at length concerning charity, specifically writing, “Therefore we must follow this rule, that every one, considering how much is granted him, impart the same courteously with his brethren, as one that must give an account; so shall it come to pass, that he which is but poor shall have a liberal mind, and that a small reward shall be counted a fat and gorgeous sacrifice… and we must note the word διακονιας, whereby we are taught that rich men have greater abundance given them upon that condition, that they may be the ministers of the poor in the dispensation committed to them by God,” in his commentaries on Acts 11:29.
Weber isn't criticizing Protestant scholarly theology so much as how it was interpreted by laypeople and the unlearned masses. And it's hard to deny his conclusions, because several recent studies have confirmed real differences in the ego structures of people in Reformed vs. non-Reformed European countries. In the absence of tangible means of grace and absolute predestination by God, a believer is left with little to do but channel existential anxieties into a desperate quest to convince themselves they are among the elect, by producing fruits of material production that can be deemed by some external authority, such as a market, as profitable.
Weber’s account of Reformed Christianity, and Calvin in particular, advising against charity due to the sovereignty of God is simply incorrect. Calvin wrote at length concerning charity, specifically writing, “Therefore we must follow this rule, that every one, considering how much is granted him, impart the same courteously with his brethren, as one that must give an account; so shall it come to pass, that he which is but poor shall have a liberal mind, and that a small reward shall be counted a fat and gorgeous sacrifice… and we must note the word διακονιας, whereby we are taught that rich men have greater abundance given them upon that condition, that they may be the ministers of the poor in the dispensation committed to them by God,” in his commentaries on Acts 11:29.
Weber isn't criticizing Protestant scholarly theology so much as how it was interpreted by laypeople and the unlearned masses. And it's hard to deny his conclusions, because several recent studies have confirmed real differences in the ego structures of people in Reformed vs. non-Reformed European countries.
In the absence of tangible means of grace and absolute predestination by God, a believer is left with little to do but channel existential anxieties into a desperate quest to convince themselves they are among the elect, by producing fruits of material production that can be deemed by some external authority, such as a market, as profitable.