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Weber's protestant ethic, origins, evidence, contexts
710
Book Reviews
though the major articles in this volume are all good Eng.Lit. stuff--especially Betsy Bowden's provocative analysis of Chaucer translations as audiovisual performances-they seek few connections with any wider frame such as the history of European ideas. Let me insist, however, that this publication succeeds in other ways, beyond its major articles. First, it gives translators a much needed voice within the scholarly discourse on translation. In this volume, M.J. Alexander's delightfully dry comments on his Poundian translations of Old English poetry take time out to criticize academic views of translators as simple foils ('Clark Hall is to Beowulf as Madge Alsop is to Dame Edna') and to justify the translator's conscious use of error in order to overcome this role. Michael Syrotinski, presenting the problems of translating Jean Paulhan, similarly pauses to question academic orthodoxy: 'The emergence of Translation Studies as a valid autonomous field of teaching and research has, if anything, further contributed to the segregation, even ghettoization, of translation'. Such comments deserve exposure and debate. Second, Translation and Literature includes actual translations. Alistair Elliot's versions of 'Latin Eating Poems' are worth savouring, and Douglas Robinson's translation of Schlegel ('On the German Homer') makes an important text readily accessible. Third, and most importantly, the journal's sizeable review section, which covers works on translation as well as English translations of foreign works, hints that translation studies might become a lively interdisciplinary concern. Theo Hermans scores direct hits when criticizing Andre Lefevere's reductionist models; Roger Ellis usefully summarizes recent research in Medieval translation, and we at last have traces of translation studies happening beyond the English language, as in Susan Bassnett's review of the Italian theorists Gianfranco Folena and Carmela Nocera Avila. Most of the reviews are good reading, occasionally stirring up enough dust to make this journal of potential importance for the development of translation studies. Anthony Pym
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona
Weber's Protestant Ethic, Origins, Evidence, Contexts, Edited by Hartmut Lehmann and Guenther Roth (Cambridge University Press, 1993), 397 pp., £35.00/$49.95 H.B. This volume of essays originated in a conference of scholars held at the German Historical Institute in Washington DC from 3 to 5 May 1990. Its subject is Max Weber's celebrated thesis, which first appeared in 1904/5, suggesting a possible causal link between Puritanism and capitalism. This is not the first compilation of articles on this subject. R.W. Green's 'Protestantism, Capitalism and Social Science' (Heath, 2nd edition 1973), attempted something similar, but the present volume is certainly the most comprehensive and wide-ranging, and it will be welcomed by everyone with an interest in the theological, historical or political issues raised by Weber's seminally important essay. It is eloquent testimony to the fact that (as Lehmann points out) Weber succeeded to an extraordinary degree in stimulating research on the rise of capitalism. In his introduction, Guenther Roth argues that at the close of the nineteenth century, as one aspect of the imperial rivalry of the time, German scholarship was striving to maintain its influence over the USA in the cultural sphere. Two world wars intervened, and it is significant that it was not until 1987 that an institution like the German Histor-
History of European Ideas
Book Reviews
711
ical Institute in Washington DC could be established. In examining why the Protestant Ethic thesis has nevertheless remained popular in the Anglo-Saxon world, Roth stresses its role in reinforcing the American orthodox understanding of and inherent connection between Protestantism and liberal democracy. Weber was one of the last liberal Anglophiles in Germany at a time of rising nationalism. A further reason could be that Weber's study emphasized the importance of 'ideal' as against 'material' factors in historical development and thus served as a weapon in the ideological Cold War. Roth's own essay explores Weber's family history, mainly on his mother's side. Paradoxically, he finds that these ancestors displayed little of the Puritan asceticism so admired by Weber. His great-grandfather, C.C. Souchay, for example, was an 'adventure capitalist' who made his fortune through risky enterprises during the Napoleonic Wars, married on grounds of physical attraction, and became a genial patron of the arts. The volume is divided into two parts. The first, Background and Context, is dominated by German scholars, whilst the second, Reception and Response, is mainly the work of American contributors. Limitations of space make it impossible to discuss every one of the eighteen contributors, but mention may be made of a selection. F.W. Graf emphasizes the significance of the theological and political controversies of Weber's own day, and asserts that Weber's view of the distinction between the more dynamic Calvinism and the more quiescent Lutheranism was an aspect of his despair at the authoritarian Wilhelmine regime and at the political passivity of the German bourgeoisie. Paul MUnch takes up the theme of religious prejudice, reminding us that as early as the end of the seventeenth century there was a widely held view among Protestants that monks were lazy, and that by the mid nineteenth century Protestants had assumed the positive characteristics of the German nation, while the word 'Catholic' had become synonymous with all that was un-German. Thomas Nipperdey also places Weber in the context of his time by showing that there was a general conviction among his contemporaries of a strong link between religion and society. Weber's use of the research by his doctoral student Martin Offenbacher on religion and social stratification should not therefore surprise us. Nipperdey does, however, argue that the conceptual boldness of Weber's thesis sets him apart from his contemporaries. Another way in which Weber stood out from many of his contemporaries was that his brand of nationalism, though strong, had no racial element, but was founded on the concept of culture, as Harry Liebersohn reminds us. Among other stimulating contributions in this part of the book, Harvey Goldman focuses on Weber's central idea of the 'empowerment of the self', as exemplified by the innerworldly asceticism of the Puritan, while Hartmut Lehmann considers the influence of Sombart and Brentano on Weber, as well as the profound difference between these two scholars and Weber. A substantial proportion of the second part of the book centres on the views of Malcolm MacKinnon, who expands on two earlier articles in the British Journal of Sociology, which include a sweeping critique of Weber's critics on the grounds that they have failed to call into question Weber's theological presuppositions, which MacKinnon sees as flawed. MacKinnon argues that belief in predestination, and the salvation anxiety it induced, was rapidly replaced in the seventeenth century by covenant theology, a voluntaristic creed by which laymen could 'will their way into heaven'. In the following essay this assertion is powerfully rebutted by David Zaret, who, by means of copious quotations from contemporary divines, provides strong evidence that 'salvation anxiety' was indeed present in the covenant theology of the Puritans. Kaspar von Greyerz adduces more evidence from contemporary writings, such as diaries, which,
Volume 21, No. 5, September, 1955
712
Book Reviews
however, lend some support to MacKinnon's conclusions, since they tend to show lay people as less concerned with predestinarian theology than with 'special providence', manifested by the presence of God in their daily lives. Finally, Guy Oakes focuses on Weber's article, 'The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism', arguing that the thesis proposed here, according to which the spur to ethical behaviour depends on fear of exclusion from a religious community, remains intact, even if Weber's Protestant Ethic thesis is demolished. Other essays in the volume include that by James Henretta, which offers fascinating insights into early capitalism in colonial America, and one by Hans Rollmann, which gives a vivid account of the visit by Max and Marianne Weber and Ernst Troeltsch to the World Congress at St. Louis in 1904, an experience which gave Weber much fuel for his work on the Protestant Ethic, and in particular on 'The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism'. The editors and the German Historical Institute are to be congratulated on their enterprise in publishing this collection of essays, which demonstrate the continuing potency of Weber's thesis to provoke debate across a range of disciplines. Gordon C. Wells
Coventry University
Democracy, Ross Harrison (London and New York: Routledge, 1993), 246 pp. In this timely and skilful examination of the concept of democracy, the author provides a commendably clear guide to some of the most important normative and philosophical debates which have arisen in connection with this principle. The book combines the careful exposition of the ideas of past thinkers with precise and unpretentious analytical argument. It begins with a brief introduction to some of the most important developments in democratic theorising in Western political thought, in a survey which includes the Greeks, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Bentham, the Mills, Hegel and Marx. A number of themes are highlighted and carefully examined--the problem of the minorities thrown up by democratic procedures for example, as well as the troubled relationship between democracy and moral knowledge. The indissoluble connection between democracy and other moral principles--justice, equality, and liberty--is demonstrated in these pages. The book's second half focuses on different normative principles which might provide the elusive foundations for democracy. The text is refreshing due to the absence of some of the more obtuse terminology of contemporary political theorising. This allows the author to speak to a relatively mixed audience, yet he simultaneously maintains analytical rigour and offers his own observations. Despite the appearance of a number of 'old chestnuts' of political theoretical debate (is democracy ultimately a procedure or an outcome? do rights-based or utilitarian arguments offer a more convincing underpinning for democracy?), Harrison offers some fresh and innovative formulations. In particular, he develops and explores paradoxes which remain deeply embedded within contemporary, as well as older, justifications for democracy: basing democracy on a particular moral value, for example, means placing a definite limit on democracy and its outcomes. Equally, he teases out numerous incompatibilities between democracy and moral values which are often assumed to support it--autonomy and equality, for example. Most importantly, he bypasses the stale
History of European Ideas
Book Reviews
though the major articles in this volume are all good Eng.Lit. stuff--especially Betsy Bowden's provocative analysis of Chaucer translations as audiovisual performances-they seek few connections with any wider frame such as the history of European ideas. Let me insist, however, that this publication succeeds in other ways, beyond its major articles. First, it gives translators a much needed voice within the scholarly discourse on translation. In this volume, M.J. Alexander's delightfully dry comments on his Poundian translations of Old English poetry take time out to criticize academic views of translators as simple foils ('Clark Hall is to Beowulf as Madge Alsop is to Dame Edna') and to justify the translator's conscious use of error in order to overcome this role. Michael Syrotinski, presenting the problems of translating Jean Paulhan, similarly pauses to question academic orthodoxy: 'The emergence of Translation Studies as a valid autonomous field of teaching and research has, if anything, further contributed to the segregation, even ghettoization, of translation'. Such comments deserve exposure and debate. Second, Translation and Literature includes actual translations. Alistair Elliot's versions of 'Latin Eating Poems' are worth savouring, and Douglas Robinson's translation of Schlegel ('On the German Homer') makes an important text readily accessible. Third, and most importantly, the journal's sizeable review section, which covers works on translation as well as English translations of foreign works, hints that translation studies might become a lively interdisciplinary concern. Theo Hermans scores direct hits when criticizing Andre Lefevere's reductionist models; Roger Ellis usefully summarizes recent research in Medieval translation, and we at last have traces of translation studies happening beyond the English language, as in Susan Bassnett's review of the Italian theorists Gianfranco Folena and Carmela Nocera Avila. Most of the reviews are good reading, occasionally stirring up enough dust to make this journal of potential importance for the development of translation studies. Anthony Pym
Universitat Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona
Weber's Protestant Ethic, Origins, Evidence, Contexts, Edited by Hartmut Lehmann and Guenther Roth (Cambridge University Press, 1993), 397 pp., £35.00/$49.95 H.B. This volume of essays originated in a conference of scholars held at the German Historical Institute in Washington DC from 3 to 5 May 1990. Its subject is Max Weber's celebrated thesis, which first appeared in 1904/5, suggesting a possible causal link between Puritanism and capitalism. This is not the first compilation of articles on this subject. R.W. Green's 'Protestantism, Capitalism and Social Science' (Heath, 2nd edition 1973), attempted something similar, but the present volume is certainly the most comprehensive and wide-ranging, and it will be welcomed by everyone with an interest in the theological, historical or political issues raised by Weber's seminally important essay. It is eloquent testimony to the fact that (as Lehmann points out) Weber succeeded to an extraordinary degree in stimulating research on the rise of capitalism. In his introduction, Guenther Roth argues that at the close of the nineteenth century, as one aspect of the imperial rivalry of the time, German scholarship was striving to maintain its influence over the USA in the cultural sphere. Two world wars intervened, and it is significant that it was not until 1987 that an institution like the German Histor-
History of European Ideas
Book Reviews
711
ical Institute in Washington DC could be established. In examining why the Protestant Ethic thesis has nevertheless remained popular in the Anglo-Saxon world, Roth stresses its role in reinforcing the American orthodox understanding of and inherent connection between Protestantism and liberal democracy. Weber was one of the last liberal Anglophiles in Germany at a time of rising nationalism. A further reason could be that Weber's study emphasized the importance of 'ideal' as against 'material' factors in historical development and thus served as a weapon in the ideological Cold War. Roth's own essay explores Weber's family history, mainly on his mother's side. Paradoxically, he finds that these ancestors displayed little of the Puritan asceticism so admired by Weber. His great-grandfather, C.C. Souchay, for example, was an 'adventure capitalist' who made his fortune through risky enterprises during the Napoleonic Wars, married on grounds of physical attraction, and became a genial patron of the arts. The volume is divided into two parts. The first, Background and Context, is dominated by German scholars, whilst the second, Reception and Response, is mainly the work of American contributors. Limitations of space make it impossible to discuss every one of the eighteen contributors, but mention may be made of a selection. F.W. Graf emphasizes the significance of the theological and political controversies of Weber's own day, and asserts that Weber's view of the distinction between the more dynamic Calvinism and the more quiescent Lutheranism was an aspect of his despair at the authoritarian Wilhelmine regime and at the political passivity of the German bourgeoisie. Paul MUnch takes up the theme of religious prejudice, reminding us that as early as the end of the seventeenth century there was a widely held view among Protestants that monks were lazy, and that by the mid nineteenth century Protestants had assumed the positive characteristics of the German nation, while the word 'Catholic' had become synonymous with all that was un-German. Thomas Nipperdey also places Weber in the context of his time by showing that there was a general conviction among his contemporaries of a strong link between religion and society. Weber's use of the research by his doctoral student Martin Offenbacher on religion and social stratification should not therefore surprise us. Nipperdey does, however, argue that the conceptual boldness of Weber's thesis sets him apart from his contemporaries. Another way in which Weber stood out from many of his contemporaries was that his brand of nationalism, though strong, had no racial element, but was founded on the concept of culture, as Harry Liebersohn reminds us. Among other stimulating contributions in this part of the book, Harvey Goldman focuses on Weber's central idea of the 'empowerment of the self', as exemplified by the innerworldly asceticism of the Puritan, while Hartmut Lehmann considers the influence of Sombart and Brentano on Weber, as well as the profound difference between these two scholars and Weber. A substantial proportion of the second part of the book centres on the views of Malcolm MacKinnon, who expands on two earlier articles in the British Journal of Sociology, which include a sweeping critique of Weber's critics on the grounds that they have failed to call into question Weber's theological presuppositions, which MacKinnon sees as flawed. MacKinnon argues that belief in predestination, and the salvation anxiety it induced, was rapidly replaced in the seventeenth century by covenant theology, a voluntaristic creed by which laymen could 'will their way into heaven'. In the following essay this assertion is powerfully rebutted by David Zaret, who, by means of copious quotations from contemporary divines, provides strong evidence that 'salvation anxiety' was indeed present in the covenant theology of the Puritans. Kaspar von Greyerz adduces more evidence from contemporary writings, such as diaries, which,
Volume 21, No. 5, September, 1955
712
Book Reviews
however, lend some support to MacKinnon's conclusions, since they tend to show lay people as less concerned with predestinarian theology than with 'special providence', manifested by the presence of God in their daily lives. Finally, Guy Oakes focuses on Weber's article, 'The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism', arguing that the thesis proposed here, according to which the spur to ethical behaviour depends on fear of exclusion from a religious community, remains intact, even if Weber's Protestant Ethic thesis is demolished. Other essays in the volume include that by James Henretta, which offers fascinating insights into early capitalism in colonial America, and one by Hans Rollmann, which gives a vivid account of the visit by Max and Marianne Weber and Ernst Troeltsch to the World Congress at St. Louis in 1904, an experience which gave Weber much fuel for his work on the Protestant Ethic, and in particular on 'The Protestant Sects and the Spirit of Capitalism'. The editors and the German Historical Institute are to be congratulated on their enterprise in publishing this collection of essays, which demonstrate the continuing potency of Weber's thesis to provoke debate across a range of disciplines. Gordon C. Wells
Coventry University
Democracy, Ross Harrison (London and New York: Routledge, 1993), 246 pp. In this timely and skilful examination of the concept of democracy, the author provides a commendably clear guide to some of the most important normative and philosophical debates which have arisen in connection with this principle. The book combines the careful exposition of the ideas of past thinkers with precise and unpretentious analytical argument. It begins with a brief introduction to some of the most important developments in democratic theorising in Western political thought, in a survey which includes the Greeks, Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, Bentham, the Mills, Hegel and Marx. A number of themes are highlighted and carefully examined--the problem of the minorities thrown up by democratic procedures for example, as well as the troubled relationship between democracy and moral knowledge. The indissoluble connection between democracy and other moral principles--justice, equality, and liberty--is demonstrated in these pages. The book's second half focuses on different normative principles which might provide the elusive foundations for democracy. The text is refreshing due to the absence of some of the more obtuse terminology of contemporary political theorising. This allows the author to speak to a relatively mixed audience, yet he simultaneously maintains analytical rigour and offers his own observations. Despite the appearance of a number of 'old chestnuts' of political theoretical debate (is democracy ultimately a procedure or an outcome? do rights-based or utilitarian arguments offer a more convincing underpinning for democracy?), Harrison offers some fresh and innovative formulations. In particular, he develops and explores paradoxes which remain deeply embedded within contemporary, as well as older, justifications for democracy: basing democracy on a particular moral value, for example, means placing a definite limit on democracy and its outcomes. Equally, he teases out numerous incompatibilities between democracy and moral values which are often assumed to support it--autonomy and equality, for example. Most importantly, he bypasses the stale
History of European Ideas