The German word for occupation is Beruf, from berufen, to call. In 1904 and 1905, Max Weber published the essays that became Die protestantische Ethik und der „Geist“ des Kapitalismus, The Protestant Ethic and the “Spirit” of Capitalism. He wrote that the word, like the English calling, carries a religious idea, a task set by God. In its modern sense, he wrote, it comes from the Bible translations. It appears to have been used first in Luther’s translation of the Book of Sirach.
At the end of the book, Weber drew his conclusion: Der Puritaner wollte Berufsmensch sein, – wir müssen es sein. The Puritan wanted to be a man of the calling. We have to be. He warned that for the last men of this development, a phrase might come true: Fachmenschen ohne Geist, Genußmenschen ohne Herz, specialists without spirit, sensualists without heart.