"Sociology of the World Religions: Introduction" by Max Weber By
'world religions,' we understand the five religions or religiously
determined systems of life-regulation which have known how to gather
multitudes of confessors around them. The term is used here in a
completely value-neutral sense. The Confucian, Hinduist, Buddhist,
Christian, and Islamist religious ethics all belong to the category
of world religion. A sixth religion, Judaism, will also be dealt
with. It is included because it contains historical preconditions
decisive for understanding Christianity and Islamism, and because of
its historic and autonomous significance for the development of the
modern economic ethic of the Occident--a significance, partly real
and partly alleged, which has been discussed several times recently.
References to other religions will be made only when they are
indispensable for historical connections.