Publisher's Synopsis
The central purpose of the book is to analyse and investigate empirically the attitudes of those following an Evangelistic socio-religious way of life towards education and 'a sober industrious career'. The main conceptual background comes from the 'secularisation thesis'; the process in theological terms of demystifying the cosmos through rational explanation of the miracles or more recent radical existential interpretation of the Virgin Birth and Resurrection. Sociologically, the main conceptual reference comes from Max Weber's arguments concerning the connection between what he called the Protestant 'work ethic' and the 'spirit of capitalism' in the book of that title. The accumulation of wealth was for the first time morally sanctioned whereas it had up to then been outlawed as usury by the established church. Lastly, the book examines, through the work of Pierre Bordieu, the extent to which the evangelical way of life, based on a cluster of individualistic qualities, such as frugality, self-reliance, obedience and diligence, produces what he calls a 'habitus' which predisposes evangelical students towards success at school and career.
