RELIGION AND THE RISE OF CAPITALISM

A study of the long and deep influence of religion on economic thought and policy in the West, especially in the U.S.

Following in the footsteps of Max Weber and R.H. Tawney (from whom he takes his title), Friedman, a professor of political economy at Harvard, deepens the case that throughout modern history in the West, religious thought and economic policy have been reciprocally enmeshed. From the birth of serious economic thinking in the 18th century, questions of virtue and morality inescapably infused thought about wealth, poverty, commerce, and industry. At the same time, religious leaders preached about people’s obligations regarding earning, saving, using money wisely, and thinking about wealth in moralistic terms. The author sets his story in its full historical context, with the economic and theological principles of the leading characters not disembodied or isolated from life. Adam Smith, responsible for “an astonishing intellectual breakthrough,” is Friedman’s leading figure, but many others, some little known (Daniel Raymond, Shailer Mathews), populate his pages. Turning to the U.S., the author argues that the breakup of religious thought and practice into old-style Calvinist ideas and evangelical enthusiasm have led to many of today’s political and economic predicaments. Few readers will fail to come away convinced of Friedman’s strong central thesis, but there are omissions. Friedman, a noted economist, strangely devotes more ink to religious thought than to economic principles, and aside from late-in-the-book appearances by Friedrich Hayek and William F. Buckley Jr., this is a history of the rise of Protestant religion in relation to capitalism. We learn nothing of Jewish or Catholic thinkers or economists, especially curious given the author’s attention to the U.S. If this is really a Protestant story, what does it tell us? Friedman doesn’t say, but he does provide solid points of departure for further scholarly investigation.

Not without flaws but still an important work on the origins of capitalism.