A Study of Max Weber’s View of Vocation and Its Relevance to the Present-Day Taiwanese Protestantism

• Main Authors: Chung-yu,Chen, 陳中玉
• Other Authors: 洪鎌德
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2005
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/79566986351715392498

碩士 === 輔仁大學 === 宗教學系 === 93 === Graduate Student: Chung-Yu, Chen Department: Department of Religious Studies Professor: Lien-te, Hung Topic: A Study of Max Weber’s View of Vocation and Its Relevance to the Present-Day Taiwanese Protestantism Keyword: Max Weber, calling, vocation, protestants, Protestantism. Abstract From the 16th century onward, a group of Protestants established Lutheranism and Reformed Calvinism which dominated the belief system of the Europeans for several centuries. Protestants’ belief systems and life styles carried on and spread out. They have developed from Renaissance, Enlightenment to Industrial Revolution. The Protestants worked very hard, and took their careers as “calling” or “vocation” which were given and ordered by God and fulfilled by them. Thus, “calling” or “vocation” has been the belief of the Protestants, and it has been faithfully carried out through their whole lives. In the wake of Industrial Revolution, the Protestants improved their products and enlarged their investment. They made a lot of fortune and earned a big sum of money, but they didn’t lead a luxurious and prodigal life. Max Weber remarked that their behavior was “rational” but their inner thoughts were “irrational”. The Protestants attribute their achievements to the Glory of God which was labelled by Weber as “the ethic of the Protestants”. According to Weber the rise of capitalism was to a great extent related to Protestantism. In view of the present-day economic prosperity in Taiwan which adopts the life style of capitalism, we would like to raise a question how the Taiwanese Protestants face fetishism and capitalism? What is the “calling” or “vocation” of the contemporaneous Taiwanese Protestants? Will the Protestant ethic still prevail? In this essay, I try to compared Weber’s view of vocation to that of the Taiwanese Protestants and explore its implications in six aspects: First, the theoretical and practical aspect of ethic; Second, the inner-world asceticism; Third, the “calling” in Christianism in general and Protestantism in particular; Fourth, the tension and the ultimate phase of Christianity. Fifth, the view point of life-style, work, and money and its relevance to the spirit of capitalism. Sixth, the contradictions and the challenges of the spirit of capitalism. In other words, apart the aforesaid discussion the treatise deals also with the idea and practice of Weber’s conception of “calling” or “vocation”. The author investigates the two groups namely “Jubilee Foundation for Economic Ethics” and “the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International” of Christianism in Taiwan. In conclusion the author compares briefly the two above mentioned views of Weber and Taiwan Protestant groups and attempts to throw a new light on the job, life-style and belief of the contemporaneous Christians of this island republic.