Myśl ekonomiczna kalwinizmu
Streszczenie
The aim of the paper is to present the economic thoughts of John Calvin and his
followers, referring to current issues, such as money lending, usury, or work. The
latter, according to the famous thesis of Max Weber, received spiritual value by
acting as a bridge between God's will and daily life. The hypothesis of this article
differs somewhat from this conviction, assuming that the main economic elements
of Calvinist thought have been the consequence of the release of temporal realities
from the influence of the direct action of God, according to the protestant theology
of the radical separation of nature and grace. Initiated by Protestantism, the dichotomy
of nature and grace seems to have important consequences for economic
thought. The salvific dimension of human fate remained in the hands of God, he
depends entirely on its favour in connection with the dogma of predestination. In
the earthly life, a human being was treated as a part of nature, his survival depended
on skill and determination. in the struggle with nature, devoid of the grace of
God, ruled by the law of necessity. Survival and a better life depended primarily
on human labour and effort. The flourishing of economic life has resulted not only
from the ethical role of work, but also from the fact that it was no longer inhibited
by religious restrictions. Thus, modern man was born, more and more aware of his
subjectivity, subordinating nature to himself building the human world in place of
the natural world. Building a modern society and economy is part of the Protestant
ethos of mastering nature.
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