In 1905 Max Weber wrote "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism" in which he described how a religiously instilled work ethic became a moral imperative in forcing capitalist economics. Weber went beyond the surface structure of Protestantism and probed deeper political and economic aspects of how religion became the foundation of pre-corporate capitalism.
The economy has moved on and so has Protestantism. Today the largest and fastest growing Christian churches in America espouse a new type of Christianity called prosperity theology, also known as Gospel prosperity or Christian materialism, which does for 21st century corporate capitalism what early 20th century Protestantism did for regular capitalism: connect economics to God's blessing.
Today prosperity theology is promoted by megachurches and televangelists. Its message is, if you tithe and attend church, God will bless you with...
