Max Weber on Russia and Orthodoxy: An Analysis of the Collectivist Ethical Basis of Eastern Christianity
Max Weber on Russia and Orthodoxy: An Analysis of the Collectivist Ethical Basis of Eastern Christianity

Author(s): Nataša Jovanović Ajzenhamer
Subject(s): Theology and Religion, Sociology of Religion
Published by: Институт друштвених наука
Keywords: Max Weber; Otherness; Russia; Orthodoxy; Revolution; Collectivist ethical basis
Summary/Abstract: In this paper, we will focus on the connection between Max Weber’s interpretation of political events in Russia in 19051907 and after 1917 and his interpretation of Orthodoxy as a collective religion. Although we do not consider that there is a direct causality, this connection can be seen on some examples with positive (when it comes to the compatibility of the democratic spirit of the German and Russian people) or negative connotation (when accusing Russia of cooperation with Serbia beyond every rational geopolitical logic, leading by emotions) with which Weber talks about the relationship between Russian national ethics and the spirit of Orthodoxy. From the point of view of the sociology of religion, it will be interesting to explore why Weber puts Orthodoxy in the same category with Islam and Judaism and separates it from the Western variety of Christianity. This view from the history of sociological theories will be an illustration of how cumulative knowledge is an important part of the study and understanding of contemporary phenomena.

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