The thesis seems to be that the move away from predestination led to capitalism. Never thought much about it, but it definitely doesn’t seem right. Will have to look into it later, but thought I’d share.
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The author of this article has a forthcoming book out on this topic:
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Weber pointed in particular to the Calvinist notion of predestination—the belief that God decided whether each individual would be saved or damned before the person was even born. Driven by anxiety over their ultimate fate, Weber theorized, believers sought to convince themselves that they were among God’s “elect” by displaying virtues like thrift, industriousness and individual initiative. In this way, a “Protestant ethic” emerged that enabled the rise of modern capitalism.
Bro, do you even Calvinism? I don’t think the Mr. Weber understands Calvinism.
Looks like an interesting article, but tucked neatly behind a WSJ paywall that I don’t have the initiative to scale. 
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More likely to be Protestantism generally, as distinct from its specifically Calvinistic genus?
https://archive.is/CzLiZ
From the HN discussion.
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Interesting, I remember being taught this very concept in my public high school 25 years ago, almost word for word. I never heard it repeated again until now.