Title: Protestant Ethics in the Kingdom of Hungary in the Eighteenth Century. New Perspectives on the Interpretation of Economics in the Reformed Church – PDF
Abstract: According to Max Weber‘s theory, Protestant ethics significantly contributed to the development of capitalism. Historians agree that a capitalist economy did not emerge in the Kingdom of Hungary in the early modern period. However, Calvinism and puritanism had a strong influence in the country, and a Protestant ethic similar to that of Western Europe developed in the Reformed Church. This study aims to contribute to existing research in the history of ideas and economic history by incorporating new sources. Researchers have not yet examined the works of Benjámin Szőnyi or manuscript chronicles. Nor have they examined church building applications, church accounts, or János Fábián‘s catechism. With the help of these sources, the study conducts a further examination of Weber‘s theory in the 18th-century Kingdom of Hungary. It concludes that Protestant ethics did indeed exist in the Kingdom of Hungary, but that it was unable to transform the feudal economy into a capitalist one.
Author: HEGYI, Ádám
DOI: https://doi.org/10.17846/SHN.2026.30.1.57-72
Publication order reference: University of Szeged, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Cultural Heritage and Human Information Science, Egyetem utca 2, H-6722 Szeged, Hungary, mail: hegyi@bibl.u-szeged.hu
Source: Studia Historica Nitriensia, year: 2026, vol.: 30, number: 1, pages: 57-72
Keywords: Max Weber; Protestant Ethics; Kingdom of Hungary; Church Chronicle; Church Building; Credit; Reformed Church;
Language: English
Funding: The writing of this study has been supported by the National Research, Development and Innovation Office Nr. K-145896