Religion and the Rise of Capitalism · Character

Adam Smith

The Scottish economist whose vision of self-interest and market order stands as the endpoint Tawney's history is quietly building toward.

supporting

Also known as Adam Smith, Smith, Adam

First appearance: religion and the rise of capitalism

As a supporting figure in Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, Adam Smith is not background color—the story leans on what they do once the chapter opens.

Mentioned as the greatest English exponent of political arithmetic before his time, though the reference is to the Reverend Dr.

In the storyI: The Medieval BackgroundOpen this moment free

Adam Smith appears in Tawney's narrative as the culmination of a long drift away from the medieval conviction that society is a spiritual organism rather than an economic machine. Where Bucer and the reformers insisted private gain must yield to the public weal, Smith's world assumes economic self-interest can be trusted to serve the whole. He matters because his arrival marks the moment the ethical questions Tawney has been tracing get formally separated from economic science, a divorce the book exists to interrogate.

See Adam Smith in I: The Medieval Background Book page

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Character Web

18 connections

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Character groups

Capitalism and Reformation Figures
Protagonist
Puritan Religious Leaders

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Narrative arc

Story tension across the book.

Setup
Escalation
Breaking point
Aftermath
Closing

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In the story

Adam Smith appears across 3 companion beats. Open any chapter in the free preview to see the notes beside the text.

I: The Medieval Background
Mentioned as the greatest English exponent of political arithmetic before his time, though the reference is to the Reverend Dr. Tucker as the greatest before Smith.
The Growth of Individualism
Referenced for his theory of the invisible hand, which saw in economic self-interest the operation of a providential plan, epitomizing the characteristic doctrine that left little room for religious teaching on economic morality.
The New Medicine for Poverty
Referenced as the philosopher who later propounded the individualism that became the rule of English public life a century earlier.

Chapter companion notes

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See Adam Smith in religion and the rise of capitalism

See Adam Smith in I: The Medieval Background