The book they are discussing can be found here
Notes
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Prior to capitalism there was an understood enchantment of the world, somewhat popularized by the Catholic Church After Protestantismentered the scene, this enchantment was replaced with rationality
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Protestantism sees the rituals of Catholicism paganistic
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Webersaid that protestantism was a mistrust of ritual and sacraments in religion
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Protestantism is the spirit that drives America and capitalism
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Weber said that protestants saw success in business as religious success
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He said that attempts to re enchant the world will only be a kind of self therapy, consolation, to make
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Sacraments pervaded every aspect of life in the medieval period
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The commonswere granted collective ownership of a certain portion of land. This idea flies in the face of modern capitalism
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Land was constantly equitably divided in the commons frequently redistributed according to common need
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Although the commons sound great, the past shouldn't be romanticized. Medieval Christendom was as hypocritical as modern capitalist ideology
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Catholicism (notably Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi) considered communism the ideal, private propertya necessary concession
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Catholic monastic orders were essentially communist: believed in common ownership, common work, etc.
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Peasants revolts in this period occurred because nobles didn't adequately protect peasantry. A sort of social contract was violated
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Protestants re-invented their own rituals. May speak to a desire of belonging and purpose
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Much of the Inquisitionwasn't as bad as people thought; their aim was to combat heresy to kill someone would have been seen as a failure.
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The Spanish Inquisitionwas as bad as people thought; it was a colonialist project to reclaim land and integrate population
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Accumulation of wealth was seen as a Protestant duty to God ([[file:../20200714093453-prosperity_theology.org][prosperity theology]])
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John Lockesaid that land had to be improved, nature has no value, and otherwise you don't have a right to it
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Miltonsuggested that having to labor was the punishment imposed by God, self-reliance is satanic
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The Diggerswere an anti-capitalist movement of sorts, who aimed to undo enclosure
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Gerrard Winstanleywrote something like "Why is knowledge only ever used for misery and not for the enrichment of all?"
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Marxsays the antidote to religion is revolution The essence of Christianity (i.e. communistic living) is the essence of humanity
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Religion is a necessary medicine for a world of pain, "opiate of the masses"
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Marxists should be against mechanized reason, not reason itself
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