 In the 21st-century landscape of shopping malls and skyscrapers, capitalism appears irreligious—but beneath its secular veneer lie theological principles born in the 1500s. This program examines the rise of the Protestant work ethic and the religious foundations of Western industry; it also reveals a Protestant consciousness at the heart of social activism and the opposition to extreme capitalism. Beginning with John Calvin and his sanctification of material success, the film focuses on Britain’s Nonconformist movement, John Winthrop’s colonial ventures, the Puritan basis of Benjamin Franklin’s ideals, and divisions that arose within Protestantism over slavery and the excesses of factory labor. (60 minutes)
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