韋伯在《基督新教倫理與資本主義精神》一書中探討馬丁路德於宗教改革時期因個人風格的聖經原文翻譯所帶出來的社會效應。他指出路德由於將「Beruf」的原意翻轉而使得「基督新教－德文地區」的信徒與宗教思維有了新的變化，自此也影響到周遭鄰近語區與其他宗派的神學認識。本文即從韋伯對於路德關於「Beruf」觀念的轉移之描述出發，試圖指出在他特有的分析方法與論述邏輯的特徵。從選定路德這個角色到描述其對聖經的翻譯、再到論述引進神學思想所造成的社會效應，本文欲指出一種理念型的研究方式，其使得韋伯在本研究的主論述得以可能。但，這種詞源式的神學思想考古是否能充分證成他在本書中的主軸論旨？面對社會心態史方面的質疑，是否能過關？

In ”The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism”, Max Weber discussed the social effects following Martin Luther's translation of the Holy Bible in terms of his personal style and theological interpretation. According to Weber, Luther transformed the meaning of the term Beruf, and the modification changed theological thinking in what he called the ”Protestant- German area”; he further claims that even the ”Catholic-Latin area” and other protestant sects were influenced by the change. In this article I discuss the specificity of this analysis and the logic behind Weber's investigation of the development of the protestant ethic, defining this particular reasoning as a kind of ”ideal typical” methodology, and observing that Luther and his translation occupied a central position in Weber's book. I respond to two questions in this article: Does etymological archeology concerning the Beruf concept justify Weber's main argument? And How would the theologians and the Christian civilization historians think about the ”social reality” as described by Weber?