LUMSA University and the European SPES organized the two days workshop on “Martin Luther’s Heritage in Modern Economics and Social Sciences”, in November 15–16, 2017 in Rome, Italy.
2017 was the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s 95 theses in the Wittenberg Cathedral, which has been considered the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. Sombart, Weber, Bataille and many others have underlined the crucial role of Luther and the reformers in the birth of capitalism and its spirit. It is just partially acknowledged, that there are important connections between the methodology of modern economics and social sciences and some tenets of Protestantism.
The individualistic approach of modern political economy, the sharp separation between contract and gift, the role of gratuity in the market, the great trust in the incentives for motivating and controlling workers, the big theme of meritocracy (the merit was the main theological criticism of Luther), the absence of virtue ethics in economics and social sciences, and other issues are at the time central in both social sciences and Luther’s theology.