As societies evolve, so do religions; they are concomitant. Max Weber analyses more advanced religions. He uses Protestantism as his main example, in particular, Calvinism. In more advanced societies the issue of collectivity has been dealt with. The structure of society has been organized and established. People are raised as individual beings in a particular religious system. There is no longer an issue of the establishment of religion/society and so the individual starts to seek and negotiate its interaction with religion. For Weber, religion is no longer a question of belonging to the group or of the relationship between society and religion, but of the relationship between the individual himself and said religion. Religion is bigger than the individual and he does no longer contribute to it but, it contributes to his life. In other words, the individual doesn't matter in the eyes of God, he cannot do anything to change God but, it matters to him and how he lives his life.
How then was the religious practice expressed? The Calvinist's calling it is to fulfill his/her responsibilities to himself and to God by engaging in worldly activity and be the best he/she can be. For a Calvinist "the only way of living acceptably to God was not to surpass worldly morality in monastic ascetism, but solely through the fulfillment of the obligations imposed upon the individual by his position in the world. That was his calling" (Weber 80).
Religion, in Weber's theory, is no longer a social activity but, an individual one. The individual does not feel the need to belong or be validated. In turn, he feels the need to live according to moral values that he has imposed upon himself. The Calvinist faith rests in the idea that one has been saved. One has been chosen by God to be one of the saved. He must then live up to expectations he sets for himself according to fundamental moral values. One of the main concepts of Calvinism is predestination. This means that God has already selected who is saved and who isn't. A Calvinist believes that he will be saved by God and that he has a duty to validate this salvation. If he were not to engage in social activity and thus not fulfill his obligations, he has failed himself. He then begins to doubt his own salvation and this doubt begins the downfall of his life. As a result, "the influence of those psychological sanctions which, originating in religious belief and the practice of religion, gave a direction to practical conduct and held the individual to it" (Weber 97). To remove your self from worldly activity is wrong because it goes against God's plan for each person. My work is my duty to God.
