Protestantism as Father of “Liberalism”

Brooks alludes to it, and Zakaria offers more detail, but the rise of liberalism is mostly a Protestant story. As Brook says, Dutch Calvinism, was on “high alert for the corruption that prosperity might bring” and “encouraged self-discipline and norms that put limits on the display of wealth.”  Calvinism in the Netherlands overthrew centralized authority, desacralized hierarchy, literally and figuratively smashed idols, and generated entrepreneurial and scientific energy that lifted a small nation into a great economic, maritime, and cultural power.