Protestantism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Protestantism - Essay Example And also their belief system compels them to save more in order to defer gratification, which transforms into investments and thus higher productivity in the longer run. This was suggested in Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism that a "Protestant ethic" was instrumental for economic progress, several interpretations have emerged how the greater economic affluence of Protestants relative to Catholics might have come about. The idea of Weber that Protestantism has a great impact on the economic progress of a country was depicted in Figure 2,3a and 3b. But not all areas in Prussia have exhibited the jolt of Protestantism to their economic status. Figure 2 has revealed a concentric pattern of the diffusion of Protestantism with Wittenberg at the centre. There was a marked x in Wittenberg, to emphasize the distance from the areas with dominant protestant population. The central, north and the north-eastern part of Prussia is predominantly Protestant, which accounts more than 75 % of their population. Protestant diffusion came to a halt in the western provinces (Rhineland and Westphalia) and in the eastern parts which were predominantly Polish speaking. As a general tendency, the predominantly Protestant regions in the centre of Prussia are also economically more successful (Figures 3a and 3b). Another centre of economic progressiveness is the western rural area with its mineral resources, in which not all residents were Protestants. The idea of having a positive correlation between Protestantism and the growth of per capita income in Prussia does not hold in the North-eastern and the Western Part of the region. The north-eastern part has a predominantly protestant population but it was not reflective to the percentage share of employment in manufacturing and services, they only have less than 22% share. In the western part, in which less than 22% of the population were Protestants, revealed a larger share of employment in manufacturing and services with more than 30% Becker and Woessmann have disputed Weber's idea that Protestantism itself generates greater growth. They have suggested that higher literacy among Protestants was responsible for greater growth of per capita income; it's not because of religion alone. The idea of Becker and Woessmann of literacy being the key factor to economic progress was base on Luther's Educational Postulations. Luther was the first one to translate the Latin Bible into German. His idea of convincing people to read the gospel, instead of a priest reading it to them, has lead to his advocacy of teaching them to read (in order for them to understand the bible). Luther has explicitly urged for the expansion of education (cf. Rupp 1996a, 1996b, 1998). Quite obviously, if one wants to read the Bible, one must be able to read. Very early on, in what is generally viewed his first major pamphlet that signified the breakthrough of the Reformation among the general public, To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation Concerning the Reform of the Christian Estate, Luther (1520, pp. 461-462) explicitly demanded that every town should have both a boys' and a girls' school where every child should learn to read the Holy Scriptures, in particular the Gospel. Luther's call to teach everyone in order for them to be able to read God's Word by themselves is the key feature for our alternative theory of the relative