Page 307 - Stati inu obstati, revija za vprašanja protestantizma, letnik XII (2016), številka 23-24, ISSN 1408-8363
P. 307
SYNOPSES, ZUSAMMENFASSUNGEN
contemporary New Testament studies, several burning questions have arisen. Must we
rather speak of “Christianities”, which later on were suppressed, especially by the Roman
Church? What is the role of the unity of the New Testament canon in the multiplicity of
early Christian literature? Why did some early Christian writings not become incorpo-
rated in the canon?
This article concentrates especially on showing the varied yet unified Christianity of
the first and second centuries. The fundamental basis of the “unity in variety” of the early
Christian Church can be sought in the kerygma, which focused on the risen Christ and
his “Spirit”, who existentially transforms the believer. This basic experience can then be
“clothed” in a variety of more or less “orthodox” sounding expressions. As an example
of “untypical” early Christianity we can take the Johannine community, in which John’s
Gospel is supposed to have appeared. With the interpretation of the Semitic notion of
“the Father’s bosom”, which we find in John’s gospel as well as in the Odes of Solomon,
the first extant collection of Christian hymns, we can penetrate to the oldest layer of
Judaeo-Christian (Semitic) Christianity, which in later centuries was lost due to the
hegemony of Hellenistic culture.
UDC 316.7:284.1:94(4)
Marko Kerševan
Max Weber, Protestantism and the question of the “Christianness”
of western civilization
The emphasis on the notion that western civilization has Christian “roots” or “fou-
ndations” quickly founders in view of the fact that when Christianity and the Christian
churches were at the height of their power and influence, in the Middle Ages, western/
European societies were not essentially different in their achievements and style of life
from the societies close by or further afield where other great religions dominated, especi-
ally Islam. Europe experienced accelerated economic, cultural and political development
as well as military power over these other societies only at a time when the unity and
influence of the Christian churches was weakening, a time of secularization, declericali-
zation and desacralization. Max Weber’s thesis about the influence of the Protestant ethic
on the formation of the modern capitalist spirit as an essential element in the shaping of
modern western capitalistic society means that Protestant Christianity, especially in its
Calvinistic Reformation character, helped to form such a modern secularized society.
Weber does not deny the possibility for a modern/capitalistic development in societies
with other religious traditions, since he knows and acknowledges the inner dynamics of
the great world religions; he persists only as regards the uniqueness of the development
of the western/Christian/Protestant world thus far. What then do Weber’s image of the
“iron cage” of modern capitalistic society, where a (religious and ethical) spirit which
willy-nilly helped to create it is considered not to exist any longer, and his diagnosis
305
contemporary New Testament studies, several burning questions have arisen. Must we
rather speak of “Christianities”, which later on were suppressed, especially by the Roman
Church? What is the role of the unity of the New Testament canon in the multiplicity of
early Christian literature? Why did some early Christian writings not become incorpo-
rated in the canon?
This article concentrates especially on showing the varied yet unified Christianity of
the first and second centuries. The fundamental basis of the “unity in variety” of the early
Christian Church can be sought in the kerygma, which focused on the risen Christ and
his “Spirit”, who existentially transforms the believer. This basic experience can then be
“clothed” in a variety of more or less “orthodox” sounding expressions. As an example
of “untypical” early Christianity we can take the Johannine community, in which John’s
Gospel is supposed to have appeared. With the interpretation of the Semitic notion of
“the Father’s bosom”, which we find in John’s gospel as well as in the Odes of Solomon,
the first extant collection of Christian hymns, we can penetrate to the oldest layer of
Judaeo-Christian (Semitic) Christianity, which in later centuries was lost due to the
hegemony of Hellenistic culture.
UDC 316.7:284.1:94(4)
Marko Kerševan
Max Weber, Protestantism and the question of the “Christianness”
of western civilization
The emphasis on the notion that western civilization has Christian “roots” or “fou-
ndations” quickly founders in view of the fact that when Christianity and the Christian
churches were at the height of their power and influence, in the Middle Ages, western/
European societies were not essentially different in their achievements and style of life
from the societies close by or further afield where other great religions dominated, especi-
ally Islam. Europe experienced accelerated economic, cultural and political development
as well as military power over these other societies only at a time when the unity and
influence of the Christian churches was weakening, a time of secularization, declericali-
zation and desacralization. Max Weber’s thesis about the influence of the Protestant ethic
on the formation of the modern capitalist spirit as an essential element in the shaping of
modern western capitalistic society means that Protestant Christianity, especially in its
Calvinistic Reformation character, helped to form such a modern secularized society.
Weber does not deny the possibility for a modern/capitalistic development in societies
with other religious traditions, since he knows and acknowledges the inner dynamics of
the great world religions; he persists only as regards the uniqueness of the development
of the western/Christian/Protestant world thus far. What then do Weber’s image of the
“iron cage” of modern capitalistic society, where a (religious and ethical) spirit which
willy-nilly helped to create it is considered not to exist any longer, and his diagnosis
305
