AbstractThe question of the sources used by MAX WEBER has not yet been fully satisfactorily noted in the secondary literature. In spite of the major efforts made by specialists and the important conclusions reached in regard to both specific aspects of WEBER's sociology as well as its more general orientations, systematic investigations of the sources used by WEBER and their significance are only rarely to be found. A valid base of interpretation of an oeuvre requires not only a methodical

more »

... sis of the texts and a coherent statement of their main themes, but also knowledge of the specific problems and scientific discussions addressed by the author and within which his thought matured.This is also the case for an understanding of MAX WEBER's sociology: Only after the boundaries of the scientific environment within which he worked have been examined and clearly defined and only after the sources from which he created his sociology have been identified can the manner in which WEBER related to this environment and utilized his sources be ascertained. The uniquely WEBERian substance in his opus can be fully acknowledged and evaluated only after an assessment of the extent to which WEBER adopted theories prevalent in his time and the degree to which he qualitatively went beyond them.Beginning with this conviction, this study investigates the sources for specific parts of WEBER's sociology of religion. It has been demonstrated that WEBER created focal as well as secondary components and concepts of his sociology of religion in close reference to the thinking predominant in a specific influential school of thought that existed at the end of the nineteenth century (C. P. THIELE, and others).