Presbyteries and Profits: Calvinism and the Development of Capitalism in Scotland, 1560 – 1707

Scotland is one of the few cases that meet the stringent requirements of a test of Weber’s argument about the relationship between Calvinism and the economic ethos of modern capitalism. This treatise investigates Weber’s theory, setting out his thesis and arguing that previous work on Weber has distorted his original ideas. After a close examination of Scottish pastoral theological material and Scots business records for the period from the Reformation to the Act of Union (1707), it concludes that for Scotland, Weber’s argument is vindicated.