# Secularization of Social Thought in Religion and the Rise of Capitalism

> Theme guide for Religion and the Rise of Capitalism by R. H. Tawney.

The book traces the shift from a medieval worldview where religion governed all aspects of life, including economics, to a modern one where economic activity is treated as a separate, secular sphere governed by its own laws of expediency rather than moral or religious criteria.

## Where it surfaces

- [Religion and the Rise of Capitalism](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/religion_and_the_rise_of_capitalism_se/chapters/religion-and-the-rise-of-capitalism): Examines how religious ideas about economics gradually gave way to secular economic theories.
- [I: The Medieval Background](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/religion_and_the_rise_of_capitalism_se/chapters/i-the-medieval-background): The chapter describes the gradual secularization of economic thought after the Restoration, as the claim of religion to maintain rules of good conscience in economic affairs vanished.
- [The Growth of Individualism](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/religion_and_the_rise_of_capitalism_se/chapters/iii-the-growth-of-individualism): The chapter highlights the growth of lay opinion that argued economics and ethics are separate, and the replacement of religious teleology with the analogy of a self-regulating mechanism driven by economic motives.
- [IV: The Puritan Movement](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/religion_and_the_rise_of_capitalism_se/chapters/iv-the-puritan-movement): The chapter describes how Puritanism, as it became a political force, was secularized and committed to compromise.
- [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): Puritanism, in becoming a political force, was secularized and committed to compromise, with its practical result being liberty rather than discipline.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/religion_and_the_rise_of_capitalism_se/themes/secularization_of_social_thought
- Themes index: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/religion_and_the_rise_of_capitalism_se/themes