The Geometry of Religion in Max Weber's Thought

According to Max Weber, religion is a social phenomenon. He defined religion using a functionalist approach. In the functionalist view of religion, the active and ultimate origin of existence is left out and only the religious statements are looked at without considering its beginning and end. Max Weber -unlike other sociologists- did not just rely on the functionalist view. He has also investigated other aspects of religion in sociology of religion as well. In Weber's thought, religion is a set of teachings that includes beliefs and morals to achieve salvation. In this idea, God is placed at the head of the world as the source of values, the prophet is placed as the bearer of God's message and the driver of social changes, and the savior is placed as an intermediary between God and people, who is responsible for conveying people's prayers and wishes to God and the guarantor of salvation and the reducer of sufferings. In ethics, asceticism and avoiding sins are two main components. Faith in beliefs and adherence to morals lead to salvation. In this article, God, prophet, savior, sin, asceticism and salvation are the keywords depicting religion in the viewpoint of Max Weber and the descriptive-analytical method of the geometry of religion is utilized.