The Destiny of Modern Societies

by Zafirovski, Milan

• ISBN13: 9781608461257
• ISBN10: 1608461254
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-06-14
• Publisher: Haymarket Books

Summary

Elaborating on the Weberian method, Milan Zafirovski reveals that Calvinism's influence on America stretches far beyond free market capitalism

Author Biography

Milan Zafirovski, PhD (1990) in Economics, University of Saint Cyril and Methodius, Macedonia, PhD (1999) in Sociology, Florida International University, is Associate Professor of Sociology at the University of North Texas. He has published several books, including Liberal Modernity and Its Adversaries (Brill, 2007), and The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Authoritarianism (Springer, 2007).

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
America's Destiny and Calvinism	p. 7
The ôFirst New Nationö and European Calvinism	p. 7
Calvinism via Puritanism	p. 10
Calvinism-The Genesis and ôDestinyö of America?	p. 13
Calvinist Predestination via the Puritan ôDestinyö of America	p. 19
ôAll in the Extended Calvinist Familyö	p. 26
The Nature and Scope of the Calvinist ôPredestinationö of the ôNew Nationö	p. 29
From Total Mastery to ôHolistic Destinyö	p. 29
ôHolismö in Societal Predestination: Varieties	p. 31
Appendix: America's ôDestinyö and Tocqueville, Weber, and Marx	p. 36
America's Calvinist ôDestinyö Identified and Specified	p. 41
What is America's Calvinist ôDestinyö?	p. 41
Calvinism Retrieved from the (Theocratic) ôGolden Pastö	p. 41
Calvinist Theocracy-America's ôDestinyö?	p. 48
Calvinist ôDestinyö of Tocqueville's America	p. 50
Bibliocracy from the Genesis to the Destiny	p. 57
Theocratic ôParadise Lost and Foundö	p. 57
The Calvinist Theocratic Genesis and Evolution	p. 60
The Calvinist Theocratic Destiny and Heritage	p. 66
The Calvinist Design and System of Theocracy Reconsidered	p. 70
Calvinist Theocracy as ôDivinely Ordainedö	p. 71
Calvinist Theocracy and Despotism via Puritan Theocratic Tyranny	p. 78
From Calvinist Theocracy to the Moralistic ôTyranny of Puritanismö to ôMoral Fascismö	p. 84
Calvinism, Puritanism, and Moral Fascism	p. 84
Calvinist Theocracy as Total Society	p. 90
Calvinist Theocracy as a Total Social System: Theocratic Subsystems	p. 90
From Total Mastery of the World to a Totalitarian Social System	p. 96
Economic System of Calvinist Theocracy	p. 101
A Theocratic Master-Servant Economy	p. 101
From the Mastery of Society to a Master-Servant Economy and Back	p. 101
Calvinist Vision and Reality of a Master-Servant Economy	p. 104
Theocratic Economic Logic and Structure	p. 109
A Master-Servant Economy versus the Weberian Elective Affinity of Calvinism and Capitalism	p. 114
The Master-Servant Economy-America's Calvinist Economic ôDestinyö?	p. 120
Elements and Subtypes of the Calvinist Pure Master-Servant Economy	p. 122
The Calvinist Slave Economy	p. 124
Pure Calvinist Theocracy and Economic Slavery	p. 124
The Calvinist ôRational Choiceö: Extermination or Enslavement?	p. 129
Composite Economic Slavery	p. 132
Calvinist Feudal Servitude	p. 136
Calvinist Theocracy and Feudalism	p. 137
Calvinist Feudalism Déjà Vu	p. 140
Calvinist Neo-Feudalism	p. 142
Calvinist New Bibliocracy and Neo-Feudalism	p. 145
The Calvinist Caste System	p. 147
Calvinist Theocracy and the Caste Economy	p. 147
Calvinist Caste Exclusion versus Total Extermination	p. 149
Forms and Meanings of the Calvinist Caste System	p. 153
Elements of the Calvinist Diluted Master-Servant Economy	p. 156
Diluted Calvinist Theocracy and the Master-Servant Economy	p. 157
Attributes of the Calvinist Diluted Master-Servant Economy	p. 159
Calvinist Predatory Capitalism	p. 163
From Rapacious Theocracy to Predatory Capitalism-and Back	p. 165
ôMaria Capitalismö	p. 167
The Calvinist Spirit cum ôGhostö of Capitalism	p. 171
Calvinist Master-Servant Capitalism: Specification	p. 176
Economic ôAutocracyö versus Democracy	p. 177
ôOne-Partyö Economic System	p. 180
Extreme Economic Anti-Egalitarianism	p. 181
Extreme Economic Anti-Humanism	p. 186
ôFree Enterpriseö Epilogue: Anti-Labor Economy-America's Calvinist Economic ôDestinyö?	p. 192
Political System of Calvinist Theocracy	p. 193
Theocratic Polity	p. 193
Theocratic Polity: Formal Terms	p. 198
Legal-Institutional Fusion between Politics and Religion	p. 199
Legal-Institutional Fusion of Secular and Sacred Powers	p. 206
Subverted Institutional Separation of Sacred and Secular Power	p. 209
Theocratic Polity: Substantive Terms	p. 213
Factual Societal Fusion between Religion and Politics	p. 213
Factual Societal Fusion of Sacred and Secular Power	p. 221
Diluted Societal Differentiation between Religion and Politics	p. 224
Theocratic cum Anti-Liberal Polity	p. 234
Calvinist Political Anti-Liberalism versus Democracy	p. 235
From the 16th Century French Calvinist Synod to 21st Century American Evangelicalism	p. 244
Theocratic Polity as a Non-Democratic Government	p. 249
From Fundamentalist Anti-Liberalism to Theocratic Totalitarianism	p. 252
ôGodly Politicsö versus Liberal-Secular Democracy	p. 257
Specific Calvinist Subversions of Liberal-Secular Democracy	p. 260
Theocratic Aristocracy	p. 260
From the Aristocracy of Heaven to the Aristocracy of Society	p. 260
Theocratic Oligarchy	p. 266
The (Predestination) Doctrine of ôHeavenlyö Oligarchy	p. 267
The Sociological ôLawö of Calvinism and Political Oligarchy	p. 275
Theocratic Plutocracy	p. 284
Political and Social Closure and Exclusion	p. 289
Appendix: Catholic and Neo-Calvinist Theocratic Tendencies	p. 296
Civil Society of Calvinist Theocracy	p. 297
Puritan Moralistic Tyranny	p. 297
Rediscovering and Redefining Moral Fascism	p. 303
Syndromes of Puritan Moral Fascism	p. 311
Denial and Suppression of Individual Moral Freedom	p. 311
Equation of Pleasures, Sins, and Crimes	p. 319
Anti-Humanism	p. 323
Coercive Imposition of Puritanical Morality	p. 332
ôDraconianismö	p. 340
Sadism and Masochism	p. 358
The Legal-Institutional Mechanism of Puritan Moral Fascism	p. 362
The Vice-Police State	p. 362
Puritan and Islamic Vice-Police States Compared	p. 369
From a Free Private Sphere to a Coercive Monastic Order	p. 384
Global Moral Fascism-Pan-American ôManifest Destinyö?	p. 390
Cultural System of Calvinist Bibliocracy	p. 397
Theocratic Culture	p. 397
Culture as Theocratic Religion	p. 397
Anti-Aesthetic Culture	p. 400
Anti-Rationalistic Culture	p. 402
Secular Culture versus Theocratic Religion	p. 404
The Puritan ôCulture of Deathö?	p. 410
Indicators (ôSymptomsö) of the Puritan ôCulture of Deathö	p. 412
The Adverse Fate of Aesthetic Culture in Calvinist Theocracy	p. 424
The Anti-Renaissance and Anti-Humanism	p. 424
The Anti-Renaissance and Anti-Humanism Initiated	p. 428
The Anti-Renaissance Generalized and Perpetuated	p. 433
Indicators of Puritan Anti-Artistic Antagonism	p. 436
The Adverse Fate of Intellectual Culture in Calvinist Theocracy	p. 441
The Counter-Enlightenment	p. 441
The Counter-Enlightenment as the Dark Middle Ages Déjà Vu	p. 445
Counter-Enlightenment in Religious and Cultural Intolerance	p. 453
Counter-Enlightenment in Intolerance in Comparative Perspective	p. 460
Instances of Religious Tolerance and Freedom in Calvinist Societies-Despite Calvinism	p. 465
Counter-Enlightenment in Cultural Anti-Rationalism	p. 471
Counter-Enlightenment in Anti-Scientific Nihilism	p. 485
Calvinism Reconsidered	p. 497
Reconsidering Calvinism	p. 497
From Calvinism to Puritanism and Back	p. 498
Calvinism's Genesis Revisited	p. 504
The Dual Story of Calvinism: From an Abysmal Failure in the ôOld Worldö to a Fateful Triumph in the ôNew Nationö	p. 509
Summary of Calvinism's Path: The Birth, Decline, and Rebirth	p. 521
The Spirit and Heritage of Calvinism Reconsidered	p. 525
ôWhat is in the Nameö (of Calvinism)?	p. 526
Orthodox, Conservative Protestantism	p. 526
Extreme, Radical Protestantism	p. 537
Disciplinarian, Repressive, and Hyper-Ascetic Protestantism	p. 546
Calvinism Reinvented and Reinforced: Reenter Puritanism	p. 558
Appendix: ôDifferencesö between Calvinism and Puritanism Revisited	p. 562
Conclusions	p. 575
ôDestiniesö of Human Societies	p. 575
The ôWealth and Destiny of Nationsö	p. 585
The Calvinist-Capitalist Elective Affinity in the ôNew Nationö: Theocratic Capitalism?	p. 591
The Supreme Historical Irony? The Calvinist ôFrench Connectionö to America	p. 594
References	p. 601
Index	p. 615
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