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

Abstract

Introduction Jurgen von Hagen and Michael Welker Part I. Money and Markets: Economic, Legal, and Theological Foundations: 1. Microfoundations of the uses of money Jurgen 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 Holscher 7. The social world of Ecclesiastes Choon-Leong Seow 8. The development of monetary systems in Palestine during the Achaemenid and Hellenistic eras Ulrich Hubner 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 Gunter Thomas 14. Standardized monetization of the market and the argument for preferential justice Piet Naude 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 Schule 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 Jurgen von Hagen Index.