The divine economy
how religions compete for wealth, power and people
- ISBN: 9780691133003
- Editorial: Princeton University Press
- Fecha de la edición: 2025
- Lugar de la edición: Princeton (NJ). Estados Unidos de Norteamérica
- Encuadernación: Cartoné
- Medidas: 24 cm
- Nº Pág.: 504
- Idiomas: Inglés
Longlisted for the Financial Times and Schroders Business Book of the Year Award
A novel economic interpretation of how religions have become so powerful in the modern world
Religion in the twenty-first century is alive and well across the world, despite its apparent decline in North America and parts of Europe. Vigorous competition between and within religious movements has led to their accumulating great power and wealth. Religions in many traditions have honed their competitive strategies over thousands of years. Today, they are big business; like businesses, they must recruit, raise funds, disburse budgets, manage facilities, organize transportation, motivate employees, and get their message out. In The Divine Economy, economist Paul Seabright argues that religious movements are a special kind of business: they are platforms, bringing together communities of members who seek many different things from one another-spiritual fulfilment, friendship and marriage networks, even business opportunities. Their function as platforms, he contends, is what has allowed religions to consolidate and wield power.
This power can be used for good, especially when religious movements provide their members with insurance against the shocks of modern life, and a sense of worth in their communities. It can also be used for harm: political leaders often instrumentalize religious movements for authoritarian ends, and religious leaders can exploit the trust of members to inflict sexual, emotional, financial or physical abuse, or to provoke violence against outsiders. Writing in a nonpartisan spirit, Seabright uses insights from economics to show how religion and secular society can work together in a world where some people feel no need for religion, but many continue to respond with enthusiasm to its call.
Part I. What Does Religion Look Like in the World Today? 21
1 What Is Religion? 25
2 What Is Happening to Religion in the Modern World? 38
Part II. How Do Religions Gain Their Power? 63
3 The Demand for Religion 65
4 Choosing Communities: The Platform Model of Religion 88
5 Ritual and Social Bonding 105
6 Religion and Belief 121
7 Religion, Narrative, and Meaning 148
8 The Evolutionary Origins of Enchantment 175
9 The Temple Society—and Other Business Models 197
Part III. Religion and the Uses of Power 233
10 Religion and Politics 235
11 The Great Religion Gender Gap? 264
12 The Abuse of Religious Power 278
Part IV. Conclusion 297
13 The Past and Future of Religion 299
14 Conclusion 326