Orthodox Christianity and Economic Development
A Critical Overview
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3784093 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Vasilios N Makrides (0000-0003-3783-2655, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 185 |
| Pages | 23-43 |
| Publication date | 2019-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Archives de sciences sociales des religions (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0335-5985 • E-ISSN: 1777-5825 |
| Publisher | OpenEdition (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.4000/assr.39018 |
| OpenAlex | W2945921543 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
| References cited | 40 |
Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism has opened a debate that continues up to this day concerning the impact of religious beliefs on economic dispositions, attitudes and actions. His main thesis was subsequently tested in a variety of national, cultural and religious contexts including the Orthodox Christian. Weber himself, being familiar to some extent with the Russian Orthodox case, had occasionally expressed the view that this type of Christianity was too otherworldly-oriented to produce any significant economic ethic and to influence accordingly society and culture. This issue has been discussed subsequently in both Orthodox and non-Orthodox countries with diverging opinions and evaluations. In general, there was a widespread view that Orthodox Christianity is partly responsible for the overall underdevelopment of Eastern and South Eastern Europe, including in the economic realm. This debate resurfaced after several Orthodox countries from the former Eastern Bloc began a process of democratization, liberalization and transition to the free market economy. In this context, there were several critical voices pointing to a rather negative correlation between Orthodox Christianity and economic development. In turn, these critiques were met by various responses, mostly from the Orthodox world, referring to Orthodox cultural and religious specificities. The purpose of this paper is to offer a critical overview of this entire issue drawing on various periods of Orthodox history and examples from selected Orthodox cultures that illustrate the complexity and multidimensionality of the question and the need for more nuanced interpretations that defy unidirectional and stereotypical views
Capitalism · Christianity · Democracy · Democratization · Economic liberalization · Environmental ethics · Liberalization · Political science · Politics · Protestantism · Realm · Sociology · Underdevelopment · Variety (cybernetics · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · History · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development · Religious studies
Politics and Social Visions
Finnish Minority Perspectives on the Relations between Work, Religion, and Spirituality
The new Ukrainian Autocephalous Church and its image in the ecumenical space
Nicolas Berdyaev – The philosophical and political relevance of a spiritual autobiography
The Influence of Orthodox Christianity on Economic Behaviour
When States Fail
Religious change in Orthodox-majority Eastern Europe
Institutions and Countercultures
The Riabushinsky Circle
The Russian-Orthodox Tradition and Modernity
Imagining the Balkans
The Bulgarian Orthodox Church and the “Ethic of Capitalism”
Multiple Modernities
Orthodox Christianity, Modernity and Postmodernity
Old belief and work
The impact of the crisis on the Orthodox Church of Greece
The Politics of church land administration
Church Finances in the Colonial Age
The Conquering Balkan Orthodox Merchant
The Orthodox Ethic
Paradigms, power, and identity
The Old Believers and the Rise of Private Industrial Enterprise in Early Nineteenth-Century Moscow
Nesting Orientalisms
Businessmen, Priests and Parishes
Russian Religious Rejections of Money and Homo Economicus
The Ethic of Self-Reliance and the Spirit of Capitalism in Russia
The Corporate Ethic, the Ethic of Samostoyatelnost and the Spirit of Capitalism
The Economic Ethics of Russian-Orthodox Christianity
Orthodoxy and Economy
"Cosmopolitanism" as a feature of the greek commercial diaspora
Communities on the Verge
| Citations per year | 1.33 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Highly cited | No |