For the author, the Church had "institutional preconditions" that made capitalism emerge and develop for as early as the High Middle Ages which occurred between the 14th and 15th centuries. The Church organization showed several features that were also manifested in Protestantism, or more generally, in nations that have developed a capitalist economic society: (1) the growth of rationalized technology and (2) institutional transformation.

In terms of the growth of rationalized technology, Collins asserted that the gradual shift from the use of windmills, water mills, and engines for processing agricultural products (also called the "mill-building craze") gave way to innovations in machinery, where the 14th century was characterized to have produced mechanized tools for agricultural production (48). Apart from these technologies, the organization of the Church itself, including its laws and tenets demonstrate how the clergy and its faithful followers "entered into a contractual relationship that not only gave oaths...
[ View Full Essay]