Max Weber and World-Denying Love: A Look at the Historical Sociology of Religion
Author(s)
Bellah, Robert N.
Abstract
To understand the place of world-denying love, Liebesakosmismus, in Max Weber’s thought, it is important to first consider the overall conception of social development organizing his sociological work. In the Zwischenbetrachtung Weber develops his typology of world-rejection, and the critical case is inner-worldly asceticism, as expressed in Puritanism. Weber’s discussion of politics and ethics is complex, but Weber has little doubt, as far as an ethic of brotherly love is concerned, that it is as unapplicable to the modern state as to the modern economy.
