Religion and the Rise of Capitalism

Religion and the Rise of Capitalismis a study of religious thought on social issues during the three centuries from the later middle ages to the early eighteenth century alogn with an account of medieval theories of social ethics. It goes on to examine the imact on traditional doctrines of the new forces released by the economcis and political changes of the age of the Reformation. The social backgrounds and teaching of Luther Calvin, and the English divine from Latimer to Laud, receive attention in turn. A chapter on the Puritan Movement discusses among other topics, the theory that Capitalism and Puritanism as one of its parents. Turning to the practical realities of history, Professor Tawney explains the conditions which gave point to prohibitions of usury and to the insistence on a just price; describes the social consequences of the Tudor land question; and touches on the impetus to economic speculation given by the price-revolution, the expansion of foreign commerce, and the growth of the money-market.