PREDESTINATION AND CERTITUDE: A RE-EXAMINATION OF THE ARGUMENTATION OF “WEBER THESIS”

This essay re-examines Max Weber’s argument in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, focusing on his employ of the Calvinist doctrine of predestination. While Weber identifies predestination as a key psychological drive behind Puritans’ worldly asceticism, his argument introduces non-predestinarian elements, leading to latent contradictions. Through engagement with scholarly critiques and Weber’s methodology of ideal types, this essay explores how Weber reconciles contradictions between predestination and the need for salvation certitude. It also argues that Weber’s argument sacrifices historical nuance for conceptual clarity, necessitating further study of religious practice and the dynamics of religious belief.