The Place of Catholicism in Max Weber's Sociology of Religion

Bibliographic Data

ID4985552
AuthorsWerner Stark (Fordham University, corresponding author)
Year1968
Volume29
Issue4
Pages202
Publication date1968-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Analysis (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0210 • E-ISSN: 2325-7873
PublisherOxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/3710049
OpenAlexW2384117116
LanguageEN
Citations received9

Max Weber's concept of Catholicism was far from realistic. Without giving it the close study he devoted to, e.g., Buddhism and Taoism, he asserted that Catholic theology was a form of polytheism and the Catholic cult a form of magic, and that both constituted a survival of, if not indeed a return to, primitive modes of thought and action. Behind this attitude lay not only current contemporary prejudice, but also the whole basic typology of religious life which Weber developed. In open departure from his own demand for a value-free science, Weber asserted that other worldly mysticism (as represented by Buddhism) and innerworldly asceticism (as represented by Calvinism) were the superior variants of the religious quest; he paid scant attention to innerworldly mysticism, the religion of the Gospels. The messianic consciousness of Jesus appeared to Weber as merely a case of self-induced belief in the possession of magical potencies

Asceticism · Buddhism · Calvinism · Mysticism · Possession (linguistics · Sociology · Taoism · Theology · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions · Religious studies · Weber, Simmel, Sociological Theory

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