Religious faith in an intellectual's world

pp. 13-28

in: Martin Albrow, Max Weber's construction of social theory, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1990

Abstract

As the global recognition of the significance of Weber's contribution to social science grows, there is a danger that the historical roots of his work will be disregarded. When this happens, new circumstances may be forced to fit old and inappropriate ideas and it becomes difficult to sift the essential from the inessential. The contribution becomes a canon, a source of doctrine, rather than something understood as a living structure of thought, to be criticised, refined and developed under new conditions.