Catholic Dictionary
Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.
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PROTESTANT ETHIC
The assumed set of values associated with Anglo-Saxon Protestantism. Essential to these values are a stress on personal freedom, hard work, a competitive spirit, and the profit motive in order to achieve. Modern capitalism is said to be the creation of the Protestant ethic, where the Reformation principle of private inspiration in religion was gradually transferred to rugged individualism in economics.
