# Calvinism — Religion and the Rise of Capitalism character guide

> Calvinism in Religion and the Rise of Capitalism by R. H. Tawney.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** Calvinism

**First appearance:** 0003-religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism

## Snapshot

The urban, trade-facing theology that broke with medieval suspicion of profit and taught merchants their diligence was a calling, not a sin.

## Who they are

Calvinism emerges in Tawney's pages as a movement headquartered in Geneva and rooted in the commercial cities of Antwerp, London, and Amsterdam, addressing itself primarily to traders and industrialists. Unlike Luther's peasant mysticism, it accepted capital, credit, and banking as facts of life, placing the merchant's profits on the same respectable footing as the laborer's wages. Its tension lies in moralizing a commercial civilization it had already conceded was legitimate, and its early rigor would later dissolve into the very economic individualism it once sought to discipline.

## In the story

### [III: Calvin](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/religion_and_the_rise_of_capitalism_se/chapters/iii-calvin)

Treated as a movement and a creed; its international character, revolutionary path, and influence on social ethics and economic thought are discussed.

### [IV: The Puritan Movement](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/religion_and_the_rise_of_capitalism_se/chapters/iv-the-puritan-movement)

The theological system whose two elements—business imprimatur and inquisitorial discipline—flew apart in England.

### [Puritanism and Society](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/religion_and_the_rise_of_capitalism_se/chapters/i-puritanism-and-society)

Identified as the parent stem from which Presbyterianism, Congregationalism, and Puritanism descended.

### [III: The Triumph of Economic Virtues](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/religion_and_the_rise_of_capitalism_se/chapters/iii-the-triumph-of-economic-virtues)

Calvinism is described as containing two elements—imprimatur to business enterprise and inquisitorial discipline—which later flew apart in England.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/religion_and_the_rise_of_capitalism_se/characters/calvinism
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/religion_and_the_rise_of_capitalism_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/religion_and_the_rise_of_capitalism_se/characters