OTHER- AND INNER-WORLDLY
ASCETICISM
IN MEDIEVAL WALDENSIANISM:
A WEBERIAN ANALYSIS

Building on work by Weber and Troeltsch, this article examines
other- and inner-worldly asceticism in Waldensianism, one of the
largest heterodox religious movements in the Middle Ages. To
explain variation in the types and directions of religious
conduct, the historical comparative analysis focuses on the
interplay of ethics and organization in early, later, and
Austrian Waldensianism. Based on the exploration of largely
primary sources, the article argues that asceticism in early and
later Waldensianism was other-worldly and confined to Waldensian
itinerant preachers. In the unique case of the Austrian
Waldensians, asceticism not only extended to lay congregations,
but was also oriented toward the secular world. For the Austrian
Waldensians the world was a task and had to be mastered through
diligent, methodical behavior. The Austrian Waldensians'
rationalized conduct in the secular sphere was a form of inner-
worldly asceticism that preceded ascetic Protestantism's by more
than three centuries.

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