Money as God?
The Monetization of the Market and its Impact on Religion, Politics, Law, and Ethics

An interdisciplinary study of the nature of money and its impact on our economic, social, political, legal and spiritual lives.

Jürgen von Hagen (Edited by), Michael Welker (Edited by)

9781107617650, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 1 September 2016

468 pages, 3 b/w illus. 10 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.6 cm, 0.68 kg

The nature of money and its impact on society has long interested scholars of economics, history, philosophy, law, and theology alike, and the recent financial crisis has moved these issues to the forefront of current public debate. In this study, authors from a range of backgrounds provide a unified examination of the nature and the purpose of money. Chapters cover the economic and social foundations of money; the historical origins of money in ancient Greece, China, the ancient Middle East, and medieval Europe; problems of justice connected to the use of money in legal systems and legal settlements, with examples both from ancient history and today; and theological aspects of monetary and market exchange. This stimulating interdisciplinary book, with its nontechnical and lively discussion, will appeal to a global readership working in the interfaces of economics, law and religion.

Introduction Jürgen von Hagen and Michael Welker
Part I. Money and Markets: Economic, Legal, and Theological Foundations: 1. Microfoundations of the uses of money Jürgen von Hagen
2. Money and its role in a decentralized market economy Peter Bernholz
3. Mensura et mensuratum: money as measure and measure for money Wolfgang Ernst
4. Standardization and monetization: legal perspectives Burkhard Hess
5. Kohelet and the co-evolution of a monetary economy and religion Michael Welker
Part II. Monetary Exchange: Historical and Social Roots: 6. Money and image: the presence of the state on the routes of economy Tonio Hölscher
7. The social world of Ecclesiastes Choon-Leong Seow
8. The development of monetary systems in Palestine during the Achaemenid and Hellenistic eras Ulrich Hübner
9. Fate's gift economy: the Chinese case of coping with the asymmetry between man and fate Rudolf G. Wagner
10. 'Mothers and children': discourses on paper money during the Song period Hans-Ulrich Vogel
11. 'Buying heaven': the prospects of commercialized salvation in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries Berndt Hamm
Part III. Monetary Exchange: Ethical Limits and Challenges: 12. The monetization and demonetization of the human body: the case of compensatory payments for bodily injuries and homicide in ancient Near Eastern and ancient Israelite law books Konrad Schmid
13. What price do we place on life? Ethical observations on the limits of law and money in a case of transitional justice Günter Thomas
14. Standardized monetization of the market and the argument for preferential justice Piet Naudé
15. Religious faith and the market economy: a survey on faith and trust of Catholic entrepreneurs in China Gao Shining and Yang Fenggang
Part IV. Money, Wealth, and Desire: 16. 'Do not sell your soul for money': economy and eschatology in biblical and intertestamental traditions Andreas Schüle
17. 'Businessmen and merchants will not enter the places of my father': early Christianity and market mentality Edmondo F. Lupieri
18. Desire in consumer culture: theological perspectives from Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine of Hippo John F. Hoffmeyer
Money as God?: conclusions Michael Welker and Jürgen von Hagen
Index.

Subject Areas: Business ethics & social responsibility [KJG], Economic history [KCZ], Economics [KC], Religious ethics [HRAM1]