so to speak, be considered the mostsuitable means of counteracting feelings of religious anxiety,finds its explanation in the fundamental peculiarities of religiousfeeling in the Reformed Church, which come most clearly tolight in its differences from Lutheranism in the doctrine of justi-fication by faith.

On the other hand, in order toattain that self-confidence intense worldly activity is recom-mended as the most suitable means.47

The exhortation of the apostle to make fast one’s own callis here interpreted as a duty to attain certainty of one’s ownelection and justification in the daily struggle of life.

So far as predestination was not reinterpreted, toneddown, or fundamentally abandoned, 44 two principal, mutuallyconnected, types of pastoral advice appea

How was this doctrine borne36in an age to which the after-life was not only more important,but in many ways also more certain, than all the interests of lifein this world?

Brotherly love, since it may only be prac-tised for the glory of God33 and not in the service of the flesh, 34is expressed in the first place in the fulfilment of the daily tasksgiven by the lex naturæ and in the process this fulfilment assumes apeculiarly objective and impersonal character, that of service inthe interest of the rational organization of our social environ-ment.

This makes labour in theservice of impersonal social usefulness appear to promote theglory of God and hence to be willed by Him.

. In spite of the necessity of mem-bership in the true Church 27 for salvation, the Calvinist’s inter-course with his God was carried on in deep spiritual isolation

There was not only no magical means of attaining the grace ofGod for those to whom God had decided to deny it, but nomeans whatever.

The genuine Puritan even rejected all signs of religious cere-mony at the grave and buried his nearest and dearest withoutsong or ritual in order that no superstition, no trust in the effectsof magical and sacramental forces on salvation, should creep in

his, the complete elimination of salvation through the Churchand the sacraments (which was in Lutheranism by nomeans developed to its final conclusions), was what formed theabsolutely decisive difference from Catholicism.

important thing in life, his eternal salvation, he was forced tofollow his path alone to meet a destiny which had been decreedfor him from eternity.

Furthermore, what con-crete aspects of our capitalistic culture can be traced to them

On the other hand, however, we have no intention whateverof maintaining such a foolish and doctrinaire thesis32 as that thespirit of capitalism (in the provisional sense of the termexplained above

Calvin

ne may attain salvation in any walk oflife; on the short pilgrimage of life there is no use in layingweight on the form of occupation.

But at least onething was unquestionably new: the valuation of the fulfilment ofduty in worldly affairs as the highest form which the moralactivity of the individual could assume

Rationalism is an historical concept which coversa whole world of different things. It will be our task to find outwhose intellectual child the particular concrete form of rationalthought was, from which the idea of a calling and the devotionto labour in the calling has grown, which is, as we have seen,so irrational from the standpoint of purely eudæmonisticself-interest, but which has been and still is one of the mostcharacteristic elements of our capitalistic culture

o speak here of a reflection ofmaterial conditions in the ideal superstructure would be patentnonsense

rich

Their life-work was, so long as they clung to thetradition of the Church, at best something morally indifferent. Itwas tolerated, but was still, even if only on account of the con-tinual danger of collision with the Church’s doctrine on usury,somewhat dangerous to salvation

In such circumstances men’s commercial andsocial interests do tend to determine their opinions and atti-tudes. Whoever does not adapt his manner of life to the condi-tions of capitalistic success must go under, or at least cannot rise.But these are phenomena of a time in which modern capitalismhas become dominant and has become emancipated from its oldsupport

The ability to free oneself from the commontradition, a sort of liberal enlightenment, seems likely to be themost suitable basis for such a business man’s success. And to-daythat is generally precisely the case. Any relationship betweenreligious beliefs and conduct is generally absent, and where anyexists, at least in Germany, it tends to be of the negative sort. Thepeople filled with the spirit of capitalism to-day tend to be indif-ferent, if not hostile, to the Church.

here was repeated whateverywhere and always is the result of such a process of rational-ization: those who would not follow suit had to go out of busi-ness. The idyllic state collapsed under the pressure of a bittercompetitive struggle, respectable fortunes were made, and notlent out at interest, but always reinvested in the business.

But it was traditionalistic business, ifone considers the spirit which animated the entrepreneur: thetraditional manner of life, the traditional rate of profit, thetraditional amount of work, the traditional manner of regulatingthe relationships with labour, and the essentially traditional cir-cle of customers and the manner of attracting new ones.

Neverthe-less, they may all be carried on in a traditionalistic spirit

And we shall see that at the beginning of moderntimes it was by no means the capitalistic entrepreneurs of thecommercial aristocracy, who were either the sole or the pre-dominant bearers of the attitude we have here called the spirit ofcapitalism

o describe thatattitude which seeks profit rationally and systematically in thethe spirit of capitalism 27

nterprises, namely, which are carried on by privateentrepreneurs by utilizing capital (money or goods with amoney value) to make a profit, purchasing the means of produc-tion and selling the product, i.e. undoubted capitalistic enter-prises, may at the same time have a traditionalistic character.

abour must, on the con-trary, be performed as if it were an absolute end in itself, acalling. But such an attitude is by no means a product of nature. Itcannot be evoked by low wages or high ones alone, but can onlybe the product of a long and arduous process of education. To-day, capitalism, once in the saddle, can recruit its labouring forcein all industrial countries with comparative ease.

his is anexample of what is here meant by traditionalism. A man doesnot “by nature” wish to earn more and more money, but simplyto live as he is accustomed to live and to earn as much as isnecessary for that purpose

he most important opponent with which the spirit of capit-alism, in the sense of a definite standard of life claiming ethicalsanction, has had to struggle, was that type of attitude and reac-tion to new situations which we may designate as traditionalism.

The auri sacra fames is as old as the historyof man. But we shall see that those who submitted to it withoutreserve as an uncontrolled impulse, such as the Dutch sea-captain who “would go through hell for gain, even though hescorched his sails”, were by no means the representatives of thatattitude of mind from which the specifically modern capitalisticspirit as a mass phenomenon is derived, and that is what matters.

It is an obliga-tion which the individual is supposed to feel and does feeltowards the content of his professional11 activity, no matter inwhat it consists, in particular no matter whether it appears onthe surface as a utilization of his personal powers, or only of hismaterial possessions (as capital

heearning of money within the modern economic order is, so longas it is done legally, the result and the expression of virtue andproficiency in a calling;

At the same time itexpresses a type of feeling which is closely connected with cer-tain religious ideas

an isdominated by the making of money, by acquisition as the ultim-ate purpose of his life. Economic acquisition is no longer sub-ordinated to man as the means for the satisfaction of his materialneeds

The circumstance that he ascribes his rec-ognition of the utility of virtue to a divine revelation which wasintended to lead him in the path of righteousness, shows thatsomething more than mere garnishing for purely egocentricmotives is involved

hat in the former case was anexpression of commercial daring and a personal inclinationmorally neutral,5 in the latter takes on the character of an ethic-ally coloured maxim for the conduct of life. The concept spirit ofcapitalism is here used in this specific sense,6 it is the spirit ofmodern capitalism. For that we are here dealing only with West-ern European and American capitalism is obvious from the wayin which the problem was stated. Capitalism existed in China,India, Babylon, in the classic world, and in the Middle Ages. Butin all these cases, as we shall see, this particular ethos waslacking.

Is itnot possible that their commercial superiority and their adapta-tion to free political institutions are connected in some way withthat record of piety which Montesquieu ascribes to them?

or better or worse not in itsalleged more or less materialistic or at least anti-ascetic joy ofliving,

Even more striking, as it is only necessary to men-tion, is the connection of a religious way of life with the mostintensive development of business acumen among those sectswhose otherworldliness is as proverbial as their wealth, espe-cially the Quakers and the Mennonites

But things were verydifferent in the past: the English, Dutch, and American Puritanswere characterized by the exact opposite of the joy of living, afact which is indeed, as we shall see, most important for ourpresent study.

It will be our task to investigate these religions with a view tofinding out what peculiarities they have or have had whichmight have resulted in the behaviour we have described

hus theprincipal explanation of this difference must be sought in thepermanent intrinsic character of their religious beliefs, and notonly in their temporary external historico-political situations

The smaller participation of Catholics in the modern businesslife of Germany is all the more striking because it runs counter toa tendency which has been observed at all times11 including thepresent. National or religious minorities which are in a positionof subordination to a group of rulers are likely, through theirvoluntary or involuntary exclusion from positions of politicalinfluence, to be driven with peculiar force into economic activ-ity.

Even more striking is a fact which partly explains the smallerproportion of Catholics among the skilled labourers of modernindustry.

f Protestants in the posi-tions of ownership and management in modern economic lifemay to-day be understood, in part at least, simply as a result ofthe greater material wealth they have inherited. But there arecertain other phenomena which cannot be explained in thesame way. Thus, to mention only a few facts: there is a greatdifference discoverable in Baden, in Bavaria, in Hungary, in thetype of higher education which Catholic parents, as opposed toProtestant, give their children.

And what the reformers complained of inthose areas of high economic development was not too muchsupervision of life on the part of the Church, but too little

e fact that business leaders and owners ofcapital, as well as the higher grades of skilled labour, and evenmore the higher technically and commercially trained personnelof modern enterprises, are overwhelmingly Protestant

uch a legal sys-tem and such administration have been available for economicactivity in a comparative state of legal and formalistic perfectiononly in the Occident. We must hence inquire where that lawcame from.

from what parts of that structure was it derived, sincenot all of them have been of equal importance?

But the technicalutilization of scientific knowledge, so important for the livingconditions of the mass of people, was certainly encouraged byeconomic considerations, which were extremely favourable to itin the Occident.

us is not, in the last analysis, even from a purely economic view-point, the development of capitalistic activity as such, differing indifferent cultures only in form: the adventurer type, or capitalismin trade, war, politics, or administration as sources of gain. It israther the origin of this sober bourgeois capitalism with itsrational organization of free labour. Or in terms of cultural his-tory, the problem is that of the origin of the Western bourgeoisclass and of its peculiarities, a problem which is certainly closelyconnected with that of the origin of the capitalistic organization oflabour, but is not quite the same thing. For the bourgeois as a classexisted prior to the development of the peculiar modern form ofcapitalism, though, it is true, only in the Western hemisphere

he modern rational organization of the capitalisticenterprise would not have been possible without two otherimportant factors in its development: the separation of businessfrom the household, which completely dominates modern eco-nomic life, and closely connected with it, rational book-keeping

We will define a capitalistic economic action asone which rests on the expectation of profit by the utilization ofopportunities for exchange, that is on (formally) peacefulchances of profit

Religious ration-alization has its own dynamics, which economic conditions merelychannel; above all, it is linked to the emergence of priestly education

involves the projection of ethical criteria and commandments, andthe transfiguration of gods into ethical powers_ which will reward goodand punish evil; now the gocl.s themselves must conform to moral ex-pectations and the individual's sense of sinfulness and his desire forredemption can emerge

The internalization andrationalization of religiosity usually develops parallel to a certain degreeof handicraft production, most of the time to that of the urban trades

In a directly utilitarian fashion,the priesthood and strict adherence to ritual prescriptions serve as meansof magical control over nature, especially as a defense against demonswhose ill will might bring bad weather, attacks by predatory animalsand insects, diseases and animal epidemics.

theodicy

These agricultural strata do not seek redemption, in fact, they do notquite know from what they should be redeemed.

The lforCes of nature become an intellectual problem as soon as they are no!longer part of the immediate environment. This provokes the rationalist ~quest for the transcendental meaning of existence, a search that alwayslleads to religious speculatio

The bourgeoisie depends economically on work which is continuousand rational (or at least empirically rationalized); such work contrastswith the seasonal character of agricultural work that is exposed to un-usual and unknown natural forces; it makes the connection between'means and ends, success and failure relatively transparent.

hierocracy is almost indispensable even (and espe-cially) to the caesaropapist ruler, but also to the personally charismatic(for example, the plebiscitarian) ruler and all those strata whose privi-leges depend upon the "legitimacy" of the political system

onsiderable degree of hierocratic development, especially theexistence of an autonomous office hierarchy and education, is the normalprecondition for the rise of systematic theo]ogic.1] thought; conversely,the emergence of theology and of the'Jlogical training is one of thestrong buttresses of hierocratic power, compelling even the caesaropap-ist state to permit an hiervcratic :inHuenc~ on the subjects

It is very rare that the antagonism between political and hier<rcratic power claims finds a simple solution in the full victory of oneside or the other.

As long as thisinfluence persists, the hierocratic control of conduct is usually as effec-tive as in the case of hierocratic domination proper. However, the politi.cal authorities must pay a high price for thi" support. The monks readilyplace themselves a~ the disposal of the ruler's interest in rational churchreform-whether he be Emperor Henry III or King Asoka-, but theircharismatic religiosity rejects all caesaropapist intervention in religiousaffairs much more vigorously than does any regular priesthood, and theirstrict ascetic discipline permits them to establish a very strong powerposition. Once monasticism has gained strength, it will dash sooner orlater with caesaropapist claims.

We will not pursue this phenomenon further at this point and willurn instead to the relations between monasticism and the political and:.ierocratic powers

It is no longer possible for the monks to maintain them·~Ives permanently through purely anti-economic means, especiallyj',endicaney, even though the principle may be retained as a fiction; on~he contrary-as we will discuss later-rational, methodical self-controlcannot but strongly.inBuence economic behavior.

At this point we focus on the rational achievements of monasticism,which appear irreconcilable with its charismatic anti-rational, spedfically'anti-economic, foundations

ndividual salvation in one's own way, but ofpreparing the monk for work on behalf of the h ~rocratic authority-theforeign and home mission and the struggle ag~ nst competing authori-ties

ndividual salva-tion through finding a personal, direct path to God

How is the officialapparatus to cope with the emergence of a charismatic following ofGod, the monks, who adhere to the demands of the charismatic founderand therefore reject any compromise with mundane concerns?

Office charisma must oppose it, in orderto preserve the -dignity of the organization.

The "weak" -those subject to non-hierocratic power-aredefended; hence slaves, serfs, women and children are championedagainst the arbitrariness of their master, and petty-bourgeois strata andpeasants against usury; the rise of economic powers that cannot be con¥trolled by hierocratic means is impeded, espeCially that of new powersalien to tradition, such as capitalism; in general, any threat to traditionand the belief in its sanctity is opposed, since this is the inner basis ofhierocratic power; therefore, the established and traditional authoritiesare strongly supported.

In particular, the church establishes a distinctive way oflife for its officials. This requires a specific course of training and hencea regular hierocratic education. Once it has created the latter, it alsogains control over lay education· and, through it, provides the politicalauthorities with officials and subjects who have been properly broughtup in the hierocratic spirit

Four features characterize the emergence of a church

Wherever hierocratic charisma is stronger than political authority itseeks to degrade it, if it does n-at appropriate it outright

Gods and saints are deities of the state, their worship is a stateaffair, and new gods, dogmas and cults are accepted or rejected at theruler's discretion.

In return, the priests offer their religious sanctions in support ofthe ruler's legitimacy and for the domestication of the subjects

As a rule, priestly charisma 'compromised with the secular power,most of the time tacitly but sometimes also through a concordat

But wherever they prevail, hierocracy is often invincible, andsecular authOrity must compromise with it.

caesaropapism-thecomplete subordination of priestly to secular power-, can nowhere befound in its pure type

his opposition tt? political charisma has everywhererecommended hierocracy to conquerors as a means of domesticating asubject population.

Wherever a co-ordinate or subordinate royalposition exists, hierocracy seeks to prevent the king from securing in-dependent resources; it impedes the accumulation of the thesauros whichwas indispensable to all kings of early history, and the strengthening ofhis bodyguard in order tn vitiate the establishment of an independentroyal army-witness the early case of Josiah in Judah.

ecular control overthe church varies greatly, from mere administrative and judicial pre--rogatives (Vogteirechte) to the Byzantine monarch's influence on theformulation of church doctrine and to the ruler's preaching function,as in the Caliphate.

The qualified bearer of royal charisma is then legitimated byGod, that means, by the priests, or, at the least, his legitimacy is con-firmed by them; as experts in all things divine, they recognize the rulerwho appears as the incarnation of a. deity

This has usually happened wherever the develop-ment of religious charisma into a priestly attribute was sufficiently-advanced, and its bearers were not identical with the political power-holders.

Even under the worst conditions, therefore, such a removalis anxiously avoided by all groups which benefit from the existing order;it remains to be seen whether such a dethronement is permannentlyfeasible even when the ruling dynasty is considered representative ofan alien regime, as now in China [I9I 1/13]

Here too, the formalruler must be retained because only his specific charisma can guarantee,the proper relation to the deities, which is indispensable for the legiti-macy of the whole political structure, including the position of theactual ruler.

The development of the money economy is a presupposition of amodem bureaucracy insofar as the compensation of officials today takesthe form of money salaries

-Forthis very reason the judge is, if other things are equal, considered lesssocially acceptable by "high society" than are officers and administrativeofficials whose greater dependence on the master is a better guaranteefor the conformity of their life style with status conventions.

hey merely serve the purpose of guarantee-ing a strictly impersonal discharge of specific office duties

The superior qualification and integrityof Federal judges appointed by the president, as over and againstelected judges, in the United States is well known, although both typesof officials are ~elected primarily in terms of party considerations.

Mor~ver, if political partiesare involved in any sort of selection of officials by election, they quitenaturally tend to give decisive weight not to technical competence butto the services a follower renders to the party boss

As laymen, the governed can evalute theexpert qualifications of a candidate for office only in terms of experi-ence, and hence only after his service.

In all circumstances, the designation of officials by meam of anelection modifies the rigidity of hierarchical subordination.

Sometimes the status factor is explicitly acknowledged: for example,in the prescription that the acceptance of an aspirant to an office careerdepends upon the consent ("election") by the members of the officialbody. This is the case in the offICer corps ofthe German army. Similarphenomena, which promote a guild-like closure of officialdom, aretypically found in the patrimomal and, particularly, in prebendal official-dom of the past. The desire tc resurrect such policit:s in changed formsis by no means infrequent among modem bureaucrat~; it played a role,for instance, in the demands of the largely proletarianized [zemstvo-]officials (the tretij element) dUfing the Russian revolution (of 1905

mand for administration by trained experts; a strong and stable socialdifferentiation, where the official predominantly comes from sociallyand tconomically privileged strata because of the social distributionof power or the costliness of the required training and of status con-ventions.

It is decisive for the modem loyalty to an office th,at, in thepure type, it does not establish a relationship to a person, like thevassal's or disciple's faith under Mudal or patrimonial authority, hutrather is devoted to impersmsal ..d fxxctional purposes.

duties

egally granted to an ageney-does not entitlethe agency to regulate the matter by individual commands given foreach case, hut only to regulate the matter abstractly

~is, too, holds increasinglyf9r the modem executive and employee of a, private enterprise, just as itdCles for the state offici'als

he modem organization of the civil service separatesthe bureau from the private domicile of the official and, in general,segregates official activity from the sphere of private life. Public moniesand equipment are divorc~d from the private property of the official

With the full development of thebureaucratic type, t1-: office hierarchy is monocratically organized.

n the sphere of the state these three elements constitute a bureau-em Lie agency, in the sphere of the private economy they constitute abw(';)ucratic enterprise.

employed

disFosal of officials

The regular activities requi;:cd for the purposes or the bureau-cratically governed structure all' assigned as official duties

Ilere is the principk ,)f official jurisdictional ar-eas, which arcgenerally ordered by rules, that is, by bws or administrative regulations.This means:

surrender to the extraordinary, the belief in charisma, i.e.,actual revelation or grace resting in such a person as a savior, aprophet, or a hero

person

authority

penon

ut -in times in whichthe class situation has become unambiguously and openly visible toeveryone as the factor determining every man's individual fate, thatvery myth of the highly privileged about everyone having deservedhis particular lot has often. become one of the most passionately hatedobjects of attack; one ought only to think of certain struggles of lateAntiquity and of the Middle Ages, and quite particularly

he who is more favored feelsthe never ceasing ned to look upon his position as in some way"legitimate," upon his advantage as "deserved," and the other's disaQvan-tage as being brought about by the latter's "fault." That the purelyaccidental causes of the difference may be ever so obvious makes noa;fference

For a domination, this kind of justification of its legitimacyis much more than.. a matter of theoretical or phiiosophical speculation;it rather constitutes the basis of very rf:<ll differenCes in the empiricalstructure of domination.

The predominance of the members of such a structure of dominationrests upon the so-called "law of the small number." The ruling minoritycan quickly reach understanding among its members; it is thus able atany time quickly to initiate that rationally organized action which isnecessary to preserve its position of power.

As soon as mass administra-tion is involved, the meaning of democracy changes so radically that it[to longer makes sense for the sociologist to ascribe to the' term theiame meaning as in the case discussed so far

political party. after all, exists for the very purpose of fighting fordomination in the specific sense, and it thus necessarily tends towarda strict hierarchical structure, however carefully it may be trying tohide this Fac

n the other hand, the battle cry that a "democratic" administra-tion must be obtained or preserved may become a powerful tool of thepoor ih their 6ght against the honoratiores. but also of economicallypowerful groups which are not admi~ted to status honor

Where the elders are deposed. power normally accrues not to youthbut to the bearers of some other kind of social pre~tige. In the case ofeconomic or status differentiation the councils of elders (¥tpovula., sen-atus) may retain its name, but de facto it will be composed of honora-tiores in the sense discussed above, i.e., "economic" hQnoratiores, orhearers of status honor whose power ultimately is also based upontheir wealth

The prestige of old age is preserved, on .theother hand, wherever the objective usefulness of experience or thesubjective power of tradition are estimated highly

ersons who, first, are enjoying an income earned without, or with..s comparatively little, labor, or at least of such a kind that they can afford~. to assume administrative functions in addition to whatever business ac-.oz. tivities they may be carrying on; and who, second, by virtue of such;ncome, have a mode of life which attributes to them the social "pres-tige" of a status honor and thus renders them fit for being called to rule

Wherever it exists, direct democratic administration is unstable,With every development of ecopomic differentiation arises the proba-bility that administration will fall into the hands of the wealthy. Thereason is not that they would have superior personal qualities or more~J!lprehensive knowledge, but simply that they can afford to take thetime to carry on the administrative functions cheaply or without anypay and as part-time jobs.

However mocl.est the administrative func-tion may be, some functionary must have some power of command, andhis position is thus always in suspense between that of a mere servantand that of master.

The first reason is that it is basedupon the amfmption that everybody is equally qualified to conduct thepublic affairs. The second: that in this kind of administration the scopeof power of command is kept at a minimum.

t is obvious that relationships of domination may exist reciprocally.In modem bureaucracy, among officials of different departm.ents,.each issubject to the others' powers of command insofar as the lauer have juris-diction

ndeed, because of the very absenceof rules, domination which originates in the market or other- interestconstellations may be felt to be much more oppressive than an authorityin which the ditties of obedience are set ('·ut clearly and expressly

And from there other gradations lead to theposition of the secretary, the engineer, or the worker in the office orplant, who is subject to a discipline no longer different in its nature fromthat of the civil service or the army. although it has been created by a

In such a case this kind of dominationmight become quite like the authoritative domination of a bureaucraticstate agency over its subordinates, and the subordination would assumethe character of a relationship of obedience to authority.

That board, in tum,can give decisive orders to the management by virtue of the latter's ob-ligation to obey

n itspurest fonn, the first is based upon influence derived exclusively fromthe possession of goods or marketable skills guaranteed in some wayand acting upon the conduct of those dominated, who remain, however,founally free and are motivated simply by the pursuit of their owninterests. The latter kind of domination rests upon alleged absolute dutyto obey, regardless of personal motives or interests

The purest type of the former is monopolistic domination in themarket; of the lauer, patriarchal, magisterial, or princely power

domination byvirtue of a constellation of interests (in particular: by virtue of a posi-tion of monopoly), and domination by virtue of authority, i,e" powerto command and duty to obey

an emerge from the social relations in a drawing room as well as in themarket, from the rostrum of a lecture-hall as well as from the commandpost of a regiment, from an erotic or charitable relationship as well asfrom scholarly discussion or athletics

Domination in the quite general sense of power, i.e., of the possibilityof imposing one's own will upon the behavior of other persons, canemerge in the most diverse forms.

The crucial characteristics of any form ofdomination may, it is true, not be correlated in any clearcut fashion withany particular form of economic organization. Yet, the structure ofdominancy is in many cases both a factor of great economic importanceand, at least to some extent, a result of economic conditions

Domination constitutes a special case of power,

On the other hand, political separation has de-termined the final form of a corresponding linguistic differentiation, as,for instance, in the case of Holland as against Germany." Furthermore,the domination exercised in the schools stereotypes the form and thepredominance of the official school language most eJ:lduringly and, deciSively.

Even where the latter has become a universalorganization, it nevertheless makes membership conditional upon acontractual entry into some particular congregation

This was done because the religious congrega~tion was regarded as a valuable instrument for pacifying the conquere

We want to use the term only whenthe laity has been organized permanently in such a manner that theycan actively participate

hus, by virtue of decrees promulgated. by the Persian kings from Cyrusto Artaxerxes, Judaism evolved into a religious community under royalprotection, with. a theocratic, center ,in Jerusalem.

olitical associa·tions were annihilated ~d the population disarmed; their priesthoods,however, were assigned certain political powers

which the doctrine of the prophetsenters into everyday life, as the function of a permanent institution. Thedisciples or apostles of the prophets thereupon become mystagogues,·teachers, priests or pastors (o~ a combination of them all), serving anassociation dedicated to exclusively religious purposes, namely the con-gregation of laymen

Conse-quently, in this kind of situation they endeavor to create a congregationwhereby the personal following of the cult will assume the form of apermanent organization and become a community with fixed lights andduties.

drifting laymen, or if one is permittedto use metaphorically a modern political designation, "Boating voters."

These devoteeseither lacked altogether any fixed status in the religious community, as ~was Originally the case with the Buddhist Upasakas, or they were organ-ized into some spe<;ial group with fixed rules and obligations. This regu-larly happened when priests, priest-like counselors, or mystagogues likethe Buddhist bonzes were separated out from the exemplary communityand entrusted with cultic responsibilities (which did not exist in theearliest stages of Buddhism). But the prevailing Buddhist practice wasthe voluntary temporary association, which the majority of mystagoguesand exemplary prophets shared with the temple priesthoo<;l.s of particulardeities from the organized pantheon. The economic existence of thesecongregations was secured by endowments and maintained by sacrificialofferings and other gifts provided by persons with religious needs

Primarily, a religious community arises in connection with a propheticmovement as a result of routinization (Veralltiiglichung), Le., as a resultof the process whereby either the prophet himself or his disciples securethe pennanence of his preaching and the congregation's distribution ofgrace, hence insurihg also the economic existence of the enterprise andthose who man it, and thereby monopolizing as wen the privilegesreserved for those charged with religious functions

Moreover, in addi-tion to these permanent helpers, who are active co-workers with theprophet in his mission and who generally also possess some special charis-matic qualifications, there is a circle of followers comprising those whosupport him with lodging, money, and services and who expect to obtaintheir salvation through his mission.

Moreover, this m~ning always contains the important religious concep-tion of the world as a cosmos which is challenged to produce somehow a"meaningful," ordered totality, the particular manifestations of which ateto be measured and evaluated according to this postulate

an effort to systematize all themanifestations of life; that is, to organize practical behavior into a diteC-tion of life, reganlIess of the fonn it may assume in any individual case

the anger and grace of a heavenlyking

hus, the distinctive character of the earliest prophecy, in both itsdualistic and monotheistic forms, seems to have been determined de-cisively-aside from the operation of certain other concrete historicalinHuences-by the pressure of relatively contiguous great centers ofhighly controlled social organization upon less developed neighboringpeoples,

such experiences the ordering of the world should beconceived as the law of a freely acting, transcendental and personal god

The emperor sought to avert meteorological disturbancesthrough sacrifices, public atonement, and various virtuous practices, e.g.,tthe termination of abuses in the administration, or the organizatioll of araid on unpunished malefactors. For it was always assumed that thereason for the excitation of the spirits and the disturbances of the cosmicorder had to be sought either in the personal derelictions of the monarchor in some manifestation of social disorganizatio

The decisive reason for this is the absence of a personal, tran-scendental, and ethical go

"exemplary prophet.

The prophet may be primarily, as in thelast cases, an instrument for the proclamation of a god and his will, bethis a concrete command or an abstract norm. Preaching as one who hasreceived a commission from god, he demands obedience as an ethical duty.This type we shall term the "ethical prophet." On the other hand, theprophet may be an exemplary man who, by his personal example,demonstrates to others the way to rdigious salvation, as in.the case of theBuddha.

Ethical doctrine was lacking in the mystagogue, whodistributed magical salvation, or at least doctrine played only a verysubordinate role in his work. Instead, his primary gift waS hereditarilytransmitted magical art

him

mystagogue

But the prophet, in our specialsense, is never to be found where the proclamatiQn of a religious truth ofsalvation through personal revelation is lacking. In our view, this quali6-cation must be regarded as the decisive hallmark of prophecy

hat primarily differentiates such figures from the prophets is theirlack of that vital emotional preaching which is distinctive of prophecy,regardless of whether this is disseminated by the spoken word, thepamphlet, or any other type of literary compositio

t is characteristic of the prophets that they do not receive theirmission from any human agency, but seize it, as i~ were.

On the other hand, there are various transitional phases linking theprophet to the teacher of ethics, especially the teacher of social ethics.

A merchant, he was first a leader of pietisticbourgeois conventicles in Mecca, until he realized more and more clearlythat the ideal external basis for his missionizing would be provided by theorganization of the interests of the warrior dans in the acquisition of booty

warriors

The Israelite prophets were concernedwith social and other types of injustice as a violation of the Mosaic codeprimarily in order to explain god's wrath, and not in order to institute aprogram of social reform

ut it must not be forgotten that in the motivation of the Israeliteprophets theSe social reforms were only means to an end. Their primaryconcern was with foreign politics, chieBy because it constituted thetheater of their god's activity.

Not only were none of the prophets aisymnetai in this sense, but ingeneral what ncnnally passes for prophecy does not belong to this cate-gory.

It was Moses' great achieve-ment to find a compromise solution of, or prophylactic for, these conflicts(e.g., the seisachtheia of the Year of Release)4 and to o!':"ganize the Israeliteconfederacy with an integral national god

The typical prophet propagates ideas for their own sake andnot for fees, at least not in any obvious or regulated form. The provisionsenjoining the non-remunerative character of prophetic propaganda havetaken various forms. Thus developed the carefully cultivated postulatethat the apostle, prophet, or teacher of ancient Christianity must not"trade on" his religious proclamations.

On the other hand, .it was only under very unusual circumstancesthat a .prophet succeeded in establishing his authority without charis-matic authentication, which in practice meant" magic

nd the core of his mission is doctrine or com-mandment, not magic

The latter lays claim tt>authority by virtue of his service in a sacred tradition, while theprophet's daimis based on personal revelation and charisma

For our purposes here, the personal call is the decisive elementdistinguishing the prophet from the priest.

pletely new deliverances.

Along with the ideology of loyalty, which iscertainly by no means unimportant, allegiance to hereditary monarchy inparticular is very strongly influenced by the consideration that all in-herited and legitimately acquired property would be endangered ifpeople stopped believing in the sanctity of hereditary succession to th,ethrone.

he most important ell:amples of deSignation of a successor by thecharil;matic followers of the leader are to be found in the election ofbishops, and particularly of the Pope, by the original system of designa-tion by the clergy and recognition by the lay community.

as held originally only by personal charismatic martyrs orascetics, hut became transfonned into a power of the office of bishopor priest

It is thus a matter of the type of prestige enjoyed by rulinggroups. A hereditary monarch by "divine right" is not a simple patrimo-nial chief, patriarch, or sheik; a vassal is not a mere household retaineror official. Further details must be deferred to the analysis of statusgroups.

For charisma

transformation

benefices

structure

The result is that all powers and advantages ofaU sorts become traditionalized, The heads of families, who al\t tradi-tional gerontocrats or patriarchs without personal charismatic~legitimacy,regulate the exercise of these powers which cannot be taken away fromtheir family. It is not the type of position he occupies which determinesthe rank of a man or of his family, but rather the hereditary charismaticrank of his family determines the position he will occupy

Charismacan only be "awakened" and "tested"; it cannot be "learned" or "taught."

The concept that· charisma may be transmitted by ritual meansfrom one bearer to another or may be created in a new person. Theconcept was Originally magical. It involves a dissociation of charismafrom a particular individual" making it an objective, transferrable entity.In particular, it may become the charisma of office.

he conception that charisma is a quality transmitted by heredity;thus that it is participated in by the kinsmen of its bearer, particularly byhis dosest relatives.

Designation of a ~'.lCcessor by the charismatically qualified ad-ministrative staff and his recognition by the community.

reduced

Thismeans, above all, making it possible to participate in normal family re-lationships or at least to enjoy a secure social position in place of the kindof discipleship which is cut off from ordinary worldly connections, nota-bly in the family and in economic relationships.

Indeed, in its purefonn charismatic authority may he said to exist only in statu nascendi.It cannot remain stable, but becomes either traditionalized or rationalized,or a combination of bot

traditionalist periods, charisma is the great revolutionary force.

Charisma, on the other hand, may effect a subjective or internalreorientation born out of suffering, conflicts, or enthusiasm. It may thenresult in a radical alteration of the central attitudes and directions of ac-tion with a completely n~w orientation of all attitudes toward the differ-ent problems of the "world."1

n the other hand, in a case of a prilll2rily artistictyF"~ of charismatic discipleship it is conceivable that insulation fromeconomic struggle should. mean limitation of those really eligible to the"economically independent"; that is, to persons living on income fromproperty.

Almost allp!ophets have been supported by voluntary gifts