Protestant reformation and new philosophy of life

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UDC 274:165.745

PROTESTANT REFORMATION AND NEW PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE

B. Manchul

In 2017, the world celebrates the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, which radically changed the history of Western Europe. After all, reforms took place not only in the spiritual, but also in the cultural, economic and political life of society. Protestant countries have become world leaders in social and economic development and remain so far (Germany, Switzerland, England). In Ukraine, the Reformation came later. In the 16th - 17th centuries it could not establish itself on the Ukrainian land, but its ideas influenced the history and life of society. Mykhailo Hrushevskyy, a well-known Ukrainian historian, public figure and politician, highly appreciated the significance of the European Reformation for Ukraine. Ukrainian ship sailed full of sails under the wind of the Reformation and lowered the sails when the wind was up. In his opinion, the very attitude of the people to this "movement" has determined the fate of Ukraine, as well as of every other people.

During the Protestant Reformation, some but not all German cities adopted new municipal legal institutions. These institutions expanded state capacity and established public schooling. The cities that adopted these institutions grew faster over the next 200 years. These cities attracted and produced more upper tail human capital individuals and embarked on more dynamic development trajectories. Cities that adopted Protestantism but did not formalise public goods institutions in law had no similar advantage.

Throughout the Middle Ages the church was always subject to criticism. Any institutions that directly impact people's lives are vetted for their indiscretions and problems. Famous literary works like the Decameron, Divine Comedy and the Canterbury Tales delved into the foibles and frustrations of living up to the religious tenets of Christianity. With the inception of the printing press and the increased literacy of the Renaissance period, more people became aware of the ills of the church. Through the centuries the laity and clergy had worked actively for reform. European outlook still penetrates into everyday lives of the inhabitants of other parts of the world. Changing the behavior of people as a result of rethinking of Christian faith has dramatically affected the level of trust among people, cooperation among the population, the formation of a healthy lifestyle, and the spiritual and moral upbringing on the basis of Christian values, i.e. love for God and neighbor. The Reformation fundamentally changed the church, state, business, culture, politics, law, science in countries where it was established as a dominant worldview.

Economics. Max Weber, in his seminal work, proposed what might be the most famous theory about the impact of cultural factors, namely beliefs about religion and afterlife, on economic growth. Throughout his book, Weber emphasizes that his account is incomplete. He is not arguing that Protestantism caused the capitalistic spirit, but rather that it was one contributing factor. He also acknowledges that capitalism itself had an impact on the development of the religious ideas. The full story is much more complex than Weber's partial account, and Weber himself constantly reminds his readers about his own limitations. The book itself has an introduction and five chapters. The first three chapters make up what Weber calls "The Problem." The first chapter addresses "Religious Affiliation and Social Stratification," the second "The Spirit of Capitalism," and the third "Luther's Conception of the Calling and the Task of the Investigation." The fourth and fifth chapters make up "The Practical Ethics of the Ascetic Branches of Protestantism." The fourth chapter is about "The Religious Foundations of Worldly Asceticism," and the fifth chapter is about "Asceticism and the Spirit of Capitalism" [5].

Despite its popularity, this theory has rarely been tested in a systematic fashion. The evidence presented in this paper points consistently towards the absence of any differences in the long-run performance of Protestant and Catholic regions. In the light of the various theories that suggest that Protestants should be more inclined to economic activity, this result is surprising. Three broad categories of facts can explain the absence of results. The first relates to ideological aspects. Many theories of Protestant advantage, most notably Max Weber's, are in fact based on an analysis of the doctrines of Calvinists or of minor Protestant sects, such as the Puritans, and not on the teachings of Lutheranism, the largest denomination in Germany. While I have found no substantial differences between Calvinist and either Catholic or Lutheran territories of the Holy Roman Empire, I cannot exclude that other, minor sects had an ideology that was conducive to economic growth. Testing this latter hypothesis, however, would be difficult, as it is much more difficult to find exogenous sources of variation of sect membership, 26 and because it is hard to disentangle the impact of religious beliefs from the status of belonging to a minority. Max Weber in his well-known work “Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism” states: "In the 16th century most of the richest areas of the empire, the most economically developed due to favorable natural conditions and the availability of trade routes, adopted Protestantism, the effects of this fact are felt to this day and contribute to success of Protestants in their struggle for existence and economic prosperity" [5, p. 20]. In addition, the invention of the Gutenberg's printing press was an impetus for raising the level of education of the people and the availability of the Gospel in print. The cardinal changes took place in the economic sphere. Before the Reformation agriculture was the basis of the economy; clergy and the nobility exploited the peasants, the incitement of production activity to huge taxes in favor of the nobility. In addition, there was no value relation and no motivation to work honestly. Instead, the Reformation was based on a new look at everyday activities as a vocation from God. This contributed to the emergence of Protestant labor ethics, which became the foundation for the welfare of many Western countries, industrial production, entrepreneurial activity, and most importantly, the fact that any work is considered to be an honorary one. The popular version of Weber's thesis - capitalism is a direct consequence of the Protestant Reformation is not entirely correct. After all, Weber himself says: "... I have no intention of supporting such a senseless idea that the spirit of capitalism ... could only come about through the Reformation. Certain forms of capitalism were known well before it" [1, p. 25].

In the Middle Ages capitalism for Weber was "adventurous", that is, money was spent on a spoiled lifestyle. A new "spirit" of capitalism appears in the sixteenth century. This new version had a solid moral basis, although it approved the accumulation of wealth. This form was not subject to hedonism. In the Protestant society, the accumulation of capital ceases to be a threat to salvation, and all this completely changes the style of human thinking, its worldview. Material goods are perceived not as a sin, but from those that can be enjoyed, and God will not punish it. After all, He (God) does not deny pleasure, but on the contrary wants a man and on Earth to be happy. British researcher Christopher Hilly successfully noted: "Successful medieval people died with a sense of guilt, left their money to the Church that used them unproductively. Instead, Protestant businessmen no longer shy their lifestyle, and after death they left their money to help them go that way" [3, p. 13]. At the same time, Weber concludes that Protestantism has very successfully worked out the psychological conditions necessary for the development of modern capitalism.

Ethics. The Protestant ethic, also called the work ethic, is a code of morals based on the principles of thrift, discipline, hard work, and individualism. The adjective Protestant is explained by the fact that these qualities were seen to have been especially encouraged by the Protestant religion, especially those denominations based on the tenets of Calvinism. The major formulators of the concept of the Protestant ethic were the German political philosopher and sociologist Max

Weber and the English historian Richard H. Tawney. Both men saw a close relationship between the Protestant ethic and the rise of capitalism.

Weber traced the origins of the Protestant ethic to the Reformation, though he acknowledged some respect for secular everyday labor as early as the Middle Ages. The Roman Catholic Church assured salvation to individuals who accepted the church's sacraments and submitted to the clerical authority. However, the Reformation had effectively removed such assurances. From a psychological viewpoint, the average person had difficulty adjusting to this new worldview, and only the most devout believers or "religious geniuses" within Protestantism, such as Martin Luther, were able to make this adjustment, according to Weber.

In the absence of such assurances from religious authority, Weber argued that Protestants began to look for other "signs" that they were saved. Calvin and his followers taught a doctrine of double predestination, in which from the beginning God chose some people for salvation and others for damnation. The inability to influence one's own salvation presented a very difficult problem for Calvin's followers. It became an absolute duty to believe that one was chosen for salvation, and to dispel any doubt about that: lack of self-confidence was evidence of insufficient faith and a sign of damnation. So, self-confidence took the place of priestly assurance of God's grace.

What Weber argued, in simple terms:

• According to the new Protestant religions, an individual was religiously compelled to follow a secular vocation with as much zeal as possible. A person living according to this world view was more likely to accumulate money.

• The new religions (in particular, Calvinism and other more austere Protestant sects) effectively forbade wastefully using hard earned money and identified the purchase of luxuries as a sin. Donations to an individual's church or congregation were limited due to the rejection by certain Protestant sects of icons. Finally, donation of money to the poor or to charity was generally frowned on as it was seen as furthering beggary. This social condition was perceived as laziness, burdening their fellow man, and an affront to God; by not working, one failed to glorify God. reformation outlook christianity

Role of woman. Important is the influence of the Reformation on rethinking the place and role of women in society, in the family. "While the theologians, humanists have repeatedly emphasized the need for a woman to obey her husband and the importance of her silent spirit, Luther's wife Katarina allowed herself to argue with him even on theological issues. It was here that a new, as for me, correct understanding of marriage arose. An equal partnership that arose during the Reformation" [4]. While changing women's role in society was not the original intent of the Protestant Reformers like Luther and Calvin, the changes they advocated and made had great significance for women. Now that marriage, not the celibate life, became the ideal pattern, it was permissible for the clergy to marry because the reformers stated that celibacy was not supported by the scriptures. In the early years of Protestantism women were welcomed, but excluded as the movement triumphed and became institutionalized. Individual women rarely converted to Protestantism during the sixteenth century. They usually joined only in company with their male kinfolk. Natalie Davis has noted that while a large number of widows and self-employed women converted to Calvinism, few of the highly educated did. Like the men, Calvinist women belonged neither to the bottom nor the top of society. Women preached from the pulpit, but most Protestant areas were alarmed at this change. Katherine Zell, the wife of Strasbourg Protestant preacher, Matthias Zell, was one of these preachers. Other women claimed direct illumination from God when city councilmen admonished them for their preaching. Since women still could not receive formal theological training, many educated women wrote polemical as well as devotional works like hymns and poems. Education was now open to middle class women in Protestant areas, and Protestants encouraged education for young girls too. Research shows that the overall literacy rate of Protestant women was higher than of Catholic women aside from their nunneries [2].

Conclusion. The reformers did not aim to create some kind of new doctrine. They sought only to restore the past Christianity in its prime purity, which led to profound changes in society: Christians began to take an active part in social life. Their personal consecration positively influenced the morale of their countries. Protestant states began to advance in the economic development of Catholic and Orthodox churches. Protestant states began to advance in the economic development of the Catholic and Orthodox. The German thinker Hegel called the Reformation the meaning of the history of modern times. Therefore, one can safely assert that the existing civilizations could not have been, if the reform movement in Europe did not begin or was defeated.

Reference

1. Collinson, Patrick. The Reformation: A History. New York: Modern Library, 2004. - 272 p.

2. Hendrix, Scott H., Luther: Visionary Reformer. Yale University Press, reprint edition, 2017. - 368 p.

3. MacCulloch, Diarmaid, The Reformation: A History, 2005. - 864 p.

4. Miriam Usher Chrisman, Women and the Reformation in Strasbourg, 1490-1530, Archiv fur Reformationsgeschichte lxiv, 2002, pp. 143-168.

5. Weber M. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, T.Parsons (trans.), A.Giddens (intro), London: Routledge, 1992. - 320 p.

Annotation

The article examines the role of the Reformation in establishment of new European worldview. The author considers these changes in three sections: the formation of a new socio-political order; the formation of economic relations, which relied on rational market interactions and clearly defined ethics of the workforce; transformation of the role of women in family and social life.

The reformers did not aim to create some kind of new doctrine. They only sought to revive the past of Christianity in the prime purity, which led to profound changes in society: Christians began to take an active part in social life. Therefore, one can assert that the existing civilizations could not have been, if the reform movement in Europe did not begin or was defeated.

Keywords: Reformation, Protestantism, economic relations, ethics, woman, M.Weber, M.Luther, society, philosophy.

У статті досліджується роль Реформації у становленні нового європейського світогляду. Автор розглядає ці зміни у трьох зрізах: становленні нового соціально- політичного порядку, формуванні економічних відносин, де використовувались раціональні ринкові взаємодії і чітко визначилась етика робітника, трансформації ролі жінки у сімейному і суспільному житті.

Ключові слова: Реформація, Протестантизм, економічні відносини, етика, жінка, М.Вебер, М.Лютер, суспільство, філософія.

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