The invention of purgatory

Abstract

The contribution of Max Weber's Protestant Ethic to debate on the cultural forces that precipitated the shift from feudal to capitalist modes of production is without precedent. While this debate is presumed to have run its course, contemporary preoccupations with extensive and intensive working hours suggest a revisit may be timely. This article proposes an affinity between the shift to abstract modes of time in capitalism and the ideas underpinning the medieval invention of purgatory. This `invention' was seen to overcome the problem of time scarcity, but similar to the Protestant Ethic, illustrates the conundrum that the cure can become the disease. In the case of purgatory, the disease is a purgatorial complex, a profound anxiety-driven relationship to time.