宗教改革经济伦理之原貌与当代中国社会

论及“宗教改革工作伦理”，韦伯（Max Weber）1905年出版的《新教伦理与资本主义精神》于近一百余年宗教社会学、政治经济学等领域影响甚巨。西方右派受其影响，以传统基督教之名义支持放任资本主义；左派人士则指出西方资本主义所带来的种种社会不公义，因而连带拒斥基督教，认为回归圣经的基督新教乃资本主义之母。本文将试图恢复宗教改革工作伦理的原貌，指出韦伯对宗教改革神学与哲学的种种误解，诸如对“选民论”的曲解等。宗教改革一反中世纪“自然”与“恩典”的割裂，赋予日常工作属天的神圣性，建立了“职业不分贵贱”的平等观念。不同于文艺复兴时期富商及十九世纪中产阶级之唯利是图，宗教改革强调不可将“利益”当作人生目标，并教导勤奋工作所带来的多余财产应当用于社会慈善。本文将剖析这套工作伦理背后的理论基础，指出其与放任资本主义之截然不同，以及纳入当代中国特色社会主义之可能，并提出宗教改革工作伦理对当代中国社会可能作出的贡献。

關鍵字

清教徒；宗教改革；经济伦理；工作伦理

並列摘要

Ever since its publication in 1905, Max Weber's Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism has been immensely influential in the fields of sociology, political economics, the sociology of religion, etc. Under the influence of Weber's description of the relations between capitalism and the Protestant work ethic, especially that of the Puritans, the Christian Right in contemporary Western societies often takes lessaiz-faire capitalism to be a necessary implication of the Protestant understanding of the biblical worldview, while proponents of secular social liberalism often accuses Protestantism of being the source of the social injustices associated with the form of capitalism that idolises wealth. This article is an ad-fontes attempt to recover the original work ethic and economic ethic taught by sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Puritans. The first part of the article offers a discussion of Weber's important contribution as well as his misunderstandings of Puritan theology and the wider social dimensions of the so-called Puritan movement. The second and main part of the article begins with a delineation of the Protestant notion of the biblical worldview by tracing it to John Calvin's doctrine of Scripture in contrast to the nature-grace cleavage in medieval scholasticism as demonstrated by Thomas Aquinas's two Summae. The second subsection then offers a brief recapitulation of Leland Ryken's works on the original Puritan work ethic, sets forth a basic understanding of the Puritan teaching of the sanctity of work as divine vocation. The third subsection focuses on the Puritan view of the gift of wealth, setting forth the thesis that whereas the various libertarian forms of capitalism stress the notion of private rights in relation to property, ownership, and wealth, the Puritans held to an almost ruthless focus on the notion of individual responsibility in relation to these divine gifts. This subsection presents Puritan teachings on frugality, charity, covetousness, voluntary distribution of wealth, moderation (and the rise of the Middle Class as a result thereof) etc., and ends on an emphatic note on the Puritan understanding of wealth and profit as a means to the end of glorifying and enjoying God. The concluding part of the article places the foregoing discussions in the context of contemporary Chinese society, arguing that although the Protestant Christians have in view an ultimate goal-the glory of God-that contemporary Chinese socialist ideology would deem irrelevant, the Protestant economic ethic can offer significant assistance to the this-worldly cause of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics.