WEBER'S LACUNA:
MEDIEVAL RELIGION AND THE ROOTS
OF RATIONALIZATION

Few works in twentieth-century social thought have received as much
attention as Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism, which appeared in its original form in 1904-5. Weberian
scholars and critics have focused on the links between religion and
the modern economy, but have overlooked an important component of
Weber's study: medieval religion. Analyzing the cultural
significance of modern ascetic rationalism, Weber initially wanted
to extend the PE stepping back in time and study the historical
development of methodical rational ways of life preceding the
Reformation. Between publication of the PE essays and his death in
1920, Weber then put his research agenda in more concrete terms and
elaborated on his earlier views. First these specifications and
elaborations were made as a response to a series of writings by
Ernst Troeltsch, particularly The Social Teachings of the Christian
Churches and Groups, and later while preparing a study on The
Christianity of the Occident as part of his Collected Essays in the
Sociology of Religion. The purpose of this essay is to provide an
analysis of Weber's views on medieval religion as they evolved
between 1904-5 and 1920; and to show how Weber linked his
explorations of medieval religion to his larger intellectual
agenda, appropriating and transcending ideas current in
contemporary historical and religious scholarship.
     Furthermore, I hope to demonstrate that the conclusions of the
few existing studies of Weber's views on this topic have to be
revised. His remarks on medieval religion were neither confined to
the conceptualization of structural transformations in the Middle
Ages, nor did they contain the notion of medieval Christianity as
a step backward in the course of Western rationalization. On the
contrary, Weber was interested in religious contributions and
impediments to a rationalization of conduct in different groups in
the Middle Ages, and while he saw largely impediments in orthodox
lay religion, he presumed the existence of precursors to Calvinist
ascetic rationalism in fringe and heterodox religious movements.
     In the development of his thought, Weber's interest in this
topic runs through three phases: first, the years 1904-5, when the
PE was published, containing the cornerstones of a sociological
treatment of medieval religion; second, the years between 1905 and
1910, in which Ernst Troeltsch supplemented Weber's treatment and
elicited his response; and third, the years between 1910 and 1920,
when Weber began to put medieval Christianity in the context of a
comparative typology and historical analysis of religious
rationalizations in the major world religions.

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