Unlike English and American Puritanism, German Pietism has hardly ever been used as an example in works on religious sociology and general modern history. Max Weber, in his famous study on The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, first published in 1904–5, pointed out that Pietism in Germany was, with regard to his thesis, in many ways similar to Puritanism in England and America. Yet those following the Weberian tradition and most of those studying religious sociology, or writing general modern history, rarely pay attention to German Pietism. This has meant that, first, most of the research on Pietism has been and is still being done by church historians. Accordingly, in works other than on church history, little can be found on Pietism. Second, until now there has been no thorough analysis or comprehensive description of the impact of Pietism on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century German society, culture, politics, or economics. Third, certain specific Pietist concepts, such as the concepts of ‘community’ and ‘work’, which possess a central position in modern sociology and were influential far beyond the ranks of the Pietists themselves, have not been investigated and thereby introduced into comparative studies.
THE FORMATION OF A “SPIRIT OF CAPITALISM” IN UPPER GERMANY: LEONHARD FRONSPERGER’S “ON THE PRAISE OF SELF-INTEREST”
