Essay On Asceticism

Borrowing from the spirit of asceticism depicted in the “Christian Directory” of R. Baxter, a Calvinist Presbyterian believer, Weber infers that, by safeguarding a place in God’s grace for the believers, the Calvinist asceticism permits them to complete the work assigned to them by God. Thus, to the Calvinist Christians, labor is the main path of asceticism as well as the purpose of life. In the same vein, commitment to a legitimate profession is accepted by the Quakers as a practice of asceticism, and a symbol of piety (Richardson 1958, pp. 106-108; cited in Yi Lin 2013, pp.195). “Therefore, if faith is the cause, then the effect would transcend labor into a calling. Similarly, if an employer’s business activity is regarded as a calling, then the exploitation of such labor is justified” (Weber 1958; cited in Yi Lin 2013, p. 195). “Weber’s point is that, Protestantism produced a new kind of businessman, one who aimed to live and work a certain way. It is the way that mattered, and riches were at best a by-product” (David Landes 2000, pp. 11). Hence, one can conclude that Calvinism promotes capitalist …show more content…
As most of our participants noted, such traits as polygamy, early/child marriage, large family/breeding many children, ‘almajiri’ (practice where the family head sends some, mostly male children to Madrasal and the children have to beg for their upkeep) among other common among the northerners underpin poverty. However, a major challenge in this case is that social institutions and beliefs espouse and promote these practices. For example, early marriage, madrasal, and almajiri are part of Islamic teachings/culture. Even so, the elites do not observe these practices, however, they promote them as their [Hausa-Fulani] identity that must be guarded and