Transformations of religion through economic knowledge
Convenor: Anne Koch
Short abstract
Economization penetrates all segments of culture since some decades. In its wake come severe subversions that have not yet been sufficiently understood or that are not even foreseeable. Economic
knowledge has infiltrated religion in this process and by this brings in a total system of mainly neoliberal anthropological, moral and political assumptions and applications: A reign of management takes
over charisma and common forms of religious authority. Knowledge on cult branding, marketing and
building up distribution systems is applied as “naturally” to religion in this course. Believers appear as
„demand side“ and „consumer clientele“. Religious market competition is said to pluralize religion
and help it grow.
All papers are welcomed that consider: - how diverse forms and specializations of economic
knowledge exert these converting effects on religion; - how economic knowledge supersedes, competes or even exceeds religious practices and institutions in past or contemporary religion.
Outline
The formative power of economic knowledge, theories and the economic system itself on all kinds of
religious knowledge production and legitimization can hardly be underestimated. Nevertheless, economics of religion is not yet a very elaborated endeavour in the study of religion beside approaches
from neoclassical rational choice theory as of R. Stark, R. Finke, W.S. Bainbridge, R. McCleary or L.
Iannaccone. The problem with these is that they are located in that very neoliberal ideology they
should analyse in its historical contingency. It has been described at several places especially in critics
of capitalism how neoliberalism comes with a great potency of factuality and holds worldview functions formerly occupied by religions. The modern economic knowledge emerged as a system of moral, political and anthropological knowledge from the 17th century on. This ideological prelude is vital
for understanding central beliefs of this economic knowledge foremost the anthropology of selfinterested agents, the famous imperative of growth, and neoliberal social theory that price mechanisms are the best way to continually establish peace and harmony in societies.
It is evident that this knowledge competes with religious knowledge, infiltrates religious practices
and institutions or prompts counter reactions, and at the same time may convert into religious
knowledge.
Within the socio-economic environment of neoliberal and consumer culture religious knowledge
‘production’ and ‘organizing’ operates to a certain degree according to neoliberal rules. It is rewarding to take a closer look at the marching in of management and leadership knowledge into religious
institutions. Neoliberal anthropology becomes tangible in ‘entrepreneurial spirituality’ and the discussion on how religious organizations protect themselves against free riders. Furthermore, religions
rely in all steps of ‘economic value creating’ from production of sorts of capital and goods to distribution through marketing, branding and retailing and to consumption on economic knowledge of procedures, efficiency, and human behaviour. Again, the digitalized finance market capitalism raises
many new issues that are highly relevant for religion and more general for the shared imaginary of
our societies (e.g. time acceleration or the taking in of the future). Correlating with a highly specialized economic knowledge religious partial markets develop: fundraising at charity markets, bestselling religious pop culture, human capital/educational markets. A further interesting complex of
questions concerns the popular economic understanding of the world economic crisis, unimaginable
wealth or the betting on loss and how religion reacts to this. Where does it offer coping for fear or
engage in protest for ethical reasons?
The contributions to the panel are invited that raise methodological questions about the function of
economic and religious knowledge, about when the one transforms into the other, and on limits of
applying an economic language analytically to culture. Contributions may as well elaborate on the
interplay of economic and religious knowledge in the context of economization and commodification.
Panel I: Commodification of religion
Chair: Anne Koch
Spiritually Shopping Around in Glastonbury
Marion Bowman, The Open University, UK
The small town of Glastonbury, in the south west of England, has become known as a pilgrimage site
and spiritual centre attracting national, European and international interest. Significant among its
attractions is the spiritual service industry which has developed to cater to its broad range of religious and spiritually inclined consumers.
After a brief summary of some of the relevant current academic literature on consumerism within
21st century religiosity, this presentation will consist largely of a short film made in 2012 - a snapshot of one ordinary weekend of commercial and healing activity in Glastonbury, featuring interviews
with spiritual entrepreneurs, the local chip shop owner, and visitors to the town. The film is designed
to encourage more nuanced discussion of the role and significance of consumerism and material
culture within contemporary spirituality, and the self-understanding of those involved in providing
such goods and services.
Commodification of Islamic sacrifice
Paula Schrode, University of Bayreuth, GER
This contribution discusses the transformation of the Islamic practice of sacrifice into a commodity.
In the wake of urbanization, migration and globalization, the practice of sacrifice (uḍḥīya), a
canonical Islamic ritual, underlies fundamental changes. Whereas in traditional and rural settings
sacrificing usually is a domestic ritual, in Germany as in Europe in general sacrifice is often delegated
to Islamic charitable organizations that have been undergoing a strong process of professionalization
during the last decades. Using the example of a Turkey-based transnational religious network, the
paper shows the strategies with which such organizations turn the sacrifice into a commodity and
advertise it. While practices of sacrifice are always related to economics, the commodification of
sacrifice is something new. It will be argued that these processes also change some core aspects of
religious discourses on sacrifice.
Bodies of Knowledge intertwined: Economic ‘hubs’ in the field of religion, health and health care
Nadja Miczek, University of Lucerne, CH
The field of religion, health and health care in contemporary western societies has already proven to
be a rich field of investigation. It allows us to consider how different bodies of knowledge – economic
and religious among them – are intertwined and influence each other. Spiritual healing techniques
offer a good starting point from which to examine some ‘hubs’ where economic, religious and other
knowledge comes together. Using the examples of Reiki and Christian laying-on of hands, I will first
address the area of organisation and education of selected spiritual healing methods and ask at
which points economic knowledge does or does not influence the development of spiritual healing
and which other factors (cultural, social, political) have to be taken into consideration. Second, I will
take a closer look at strategies of positioning. How do ideas of branding and marketing – being present as implicit or explicit knowledge – influence the construction of religious identity and practice?
In this way I will outline and discuss a theoretical approach which conceives different bodies of
knowledge as being part of an extensive discursive negotiation.
Neither Good Nor Evil, Consumerism Is. An Anthropological Approach to Commoditization
Francois Gauthier, Université de Fribourg, CH
Consumption as an ethos and consumerism as a cultural backdrop are certainly among the salient
features of our societies. Yet far from being the backdrop and starting point of social, political, and
cultural analyses, consumption remains relatively understated and under-theorised in the social sciences – especially in relation to religion. Consumption has occupied an increasingly determining
place in social practice in modernity. Still, ‘consumption has a profound but often problematic and
unrecognized place in the social sciences over the modern period’ (Don Slater). This paper considers
consumption and consumerism to be driving forces of globalisation, hand in hand with the hypermediatisation of culture. Together, they have profound consequences on religious practices, beliefs,
expressions, and institutions worldwide. This paper will critically discuss contemporary interpretations of consumerism and its effect on religion, and will propose a working alternative.
Panel II Market forces and religion
Chair: Francois Gauthier
(Inter)national Public-Private Cooperation in the Regulation of Moral Food Standards: Fair Trade
and Halal Compared
Frans van Waarden, University of Utrecht, NL
Religion, science, and production of "sacred" domains: considerations about their permeability to
politico-economic interests
Fabíola Rohden, University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
The notion of coproduction make it impossible to deal with religious or medical-scientific fields as
separate "spheres" distinct from political and economic interests. This paper deals with situations in
Brazil, considering two cases. The first one refers the apparent permeability of the religious and politico- economic "sphere" occurring especially in Pentecostal churches. In the doctrine and practice of
these churches, the theology of prosperity makes it legitimate the constant reference to investments
and economical gains. The second case refers to the permeability between the scientific and the
politico-economic "spheres", existing especially in medicine. In the recent scene of the creation and
promotion of new medical diagnoses related to new drugs, scientific authority, legitimacy of medical
ethics and financial investments are also associated. Moreover, in both cases, a more general reference to the notion of individual improvement can be found via different types of investments.
“When the value system comes in”: Religious and Economic Knowledge in a Pentecostal church in
Honiara, Solomon Islands
Rodolfo Maggio, University of Manchester, UK
This paper examines the case of economic and religious knowledge in a Pentecostal church in Honiara, Solomon Islands. The members of the Kingdom Harvest Ministry International, following a connection with the Malaysian ministry of Dr. Jonathan David, appropriate discourses such as “breaking
free from the spirit of poverty”, “financial planning” and “the power to make wealth”. On that basis,
they organize training sessions on domestic economy, mutual credit schemes, and even multi-level
marketing models. In this way, economic knowledge is increasingly seen as a constitutive aspect of
their religious practice, and the spirit-filled entrepreneur becomes an acceptable and even desirable
ideal type. This, however, is happening in conjunction with an on-going discussion in the Domestic
Moral Economy of the Solomon Islands household. In engaging with this discussion, this paper explores the interpenetration of religious and economic knowledge and raises methodological questions for the study of market values in Pentecostal churches.
Neoliberal Discourses in the German Protestant Church
Jens Schlamelcher, University of Bochum, GER
This presentation explores the emergence of neoliberal reasoning in the Protestant Church. Since the
1990ies, an economic understanding of the Church has caused a widespread debate, centering on
the question in how far the Church may be conceived as a formal Company. Drawing on economic
AND (italique) theological reasoning, Economists, Church officials and several theologians alike argue
that the Church, especially in the period of the flourishing Early Church, has always functioned like an
enterprise. As such, its current crisis may be understood as an economic under-performance and
thus give rise to neoliberal reforms: The Church should adopt instruments such as marketing strategies and processes of enhancing customer orientation. This presentation explores the nature of economic reasoning in the Church and asks how theses discourses aim to convince an audience reluctant
to its message.