The religion of brotherly love : Leo Tolstoy and Max Weber

The world religions have, through much of human history, embraced radical criticisms of earthly violence and, at the same time, have been deeply implicated in the conduct of violence. In this chapter I look at war and peace through the lens of Max Weber's sociology of religion, and explore his relationship to the radical pacifism of Leo Tolstoy. Weber's contrast between an ethic of absolute ends and an ethic of responsibility offers a powerful insight into the contradictions that attend religion's response to the world. However, before turning to Weber, we need a framework within which to understand the idea of a "world religion" and in order to get that initial perspective I turn to the philosophy of Karl Jaspers.