We begin the discussion with Prof. Smith’s personal journey to this topic.  For an Australian studying American politics, a field dominated by quantitative studies of contemporary political behavior, the choice of such a historical topic seems a bit unique.  Nonetheless, David points out how the eyes of a foreigner can often uncover interesting behavioral patterns that often go unnoticed by natives.  This leads us to a discussion of how “mythic ideals” within a nation often do not match with historical practice, particularly given that human beings are quite fallible when it comes to reaching noble goals.

David then jumps into a detailed elaboration of the persecuted path of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (i.e., Mormons) in the 19th century, from their early days in New York and Ohio, through an “extermination order” in Missouri, to the mob execution of their leader Joseph Smith, and finally through their travails into Utah territory and the struggles to become a state.  Along the way, David drops hints at his explanation to come, including how the presence of the Mormons in different areas affected the political calculus among existing elites.  David places the debates over polygamy and political partisanship into a context of broader struggles for political power that were affecting the nation in the pre- and post-Civil War era.  We learn some interesting things about how Harriet Beecher Stowe, famed feminist crusader, changed her position on whether or not Mormon women should be given the right to vote, and how Reed Smoot (half of the infamous Smoot-Hawley tariff act) was prevented from taking his seat in the US Senate because of ongoing concerns over polygamy.

We then jump into the early 20th century to discuss the rise of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a seemingly innocuous group of Christians who refused to salute the flag or have their children recite the Pledge of Allegiance in school.  Such actions, combined with their visible proselytizing presence, provoked a number of local organizations such as the American Legion to consider them a serious threat to American nationalism.  Combined with concern over the balance of political power at the local level and their stand against military service at a time war was on the horizon, a rash of physical harassment of Witnesses arose in the late 1930s and early 1940s, dissipating around 1941/42 when roughly half of the Witnesses young male missionaries were jailed.  We further discuss the reasons why the Witnesses were targetted, but not groups such as the Mennonites and Amish, another religious group that resisted military service and spoke German!

Prof. Smith shows how both of these instances of religious persecution were theoretically linked by how each group — Mormons and Witnesses — were perceived as a political threat to the existing state power structure.  We then discuss how his explanation played out in other historic instances of religious persecution (or lack thereof) including Catholics, Jews, and the Nation of Islam (a homegrown Muslim group).  Interestingly, while the Nation of Islam was facing persecution (around the time of the Witnesses), political authorities were encouraging Muslim immigration from overseas.  We also explore why Muslims over the past decade and a half (since September 11, 2001) have not seen the levels of persecution or harassment experienced by the Mormons and Witnesses.  David closes with some thoughts on how future persecutions might be contained.  Recorded: January 7, 2014.

RELATED LINKS

David Smith’s bio at the Department of Government & International Relations at the University of Sydney.

Religious Persecution and Political Order in the United States, by David Smith.

United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.

RELATED PODCASTS

Patrick Mason on Anti-Mormonism and Mitt Romney.

Lynita Newswander on Mormons in America.

Jason Jewell on Locke and Religious Toleration.

Mark Koyama on Jewish Expulsions.

Anthony Gill on Religion and Religious Liberty (An EconTalk simul-podcast).

Anthony Gill on the Political Origins of Religious Liberty.

Michael McBride on Religious Free-Riding and Mormons.

Carmel Chiswick on the Economics of American Judaism.

What are the various cost constraints with being Jewish in America?  Prof. Carmel Chiswick, a research professor of economics at George Washington University, uses the lens of economics to reveal the various constraints facing a religious minority in the United States and how this affects Jewish culture.  We walk through her book Judaism in Transition: How Economic Choices Shape Religious Tradition.

We start the conversation with a general overview of Jews in America, including the size of the population, their immigration history, and other demographic features.  It is pointed out that Jews are both an ethnic group, and a group with a distinct religion.  We chat a bit about how Jewish (in terms of religion) Jews are in America.  Prof. Chiswick then discusses the difference between Great Tradition and small tradition Judaism.  The former focuses on the essential religious components of Judaism, including the Torah,  Talmud, Mishnah and several key holy days.  Small tradition Judaism, on the other hand, is a reflection of different cultural practices and emphases that can vary across different groups of Jews (e.g., Spehardi or Ashkenazi) and across time.  This is mixed with some personal reflection on her own life growing up Jewish, which gives this academic topic a much more personal touch.  Carmel explains why she chose to write her book with these personal stories, noting that she uses economics everyday to understand her own daily choices.

We then begin a discussion of how economics is used to explain Jewish behavior and traditions.  Carmel gives us a good introduction of how actions not only have a financial cost but a time cost as well, resulting in what economists call the “full price” (or “real cost”).  She points out that there are a variety of constraints on Jews in America that affect how they make decisions about worship and other aspects of life.  For example, as an individual becomes wealthier, the cost of their time also increases and this has an impact on how synagogue worship has been conducted given that Jews have been an upwardly mobile community.  We also talk about the issue of human capital and education and the constrained choices that have to be made here.  Carmel reflects upon her family’s decision whether to send their children to Hebrew or public school, as well as the reliance upon summer camps and other activities that are designed to preserve Jewish religious culture in an environment where time becomes more valuable for professional parents.

Carmel next lays out some of the contemporary challenges facing Jews in America.  Most notable among these challenges are the new demographic categories that are emerging, principally “young adult singles” and “empty nesters.”  With marriage ages increasing quite substantially over the past few decades, there is a growing population of individuals in their 20s and early 30s who are not married, do not have children, and who do not feel as connected to the synagogue.  Whereas people often connect with religious institutions when they have children, and synagogues often cater to the needs of this group, the decade or so wherein individuals are not married or having children becomes a time when they can drift away from their faith.  We also discuss the issue of intermarriage and how that might affect the Jewish population in the future.  Interestingly, the rise of “young adult singles” also gives rise to another demographic group known as “empty nesters” who are not actively raising kids yet are not grandparents either.  Once again, this becomes a life cycle point where people do not feel as connected to the synagogue.  (Note: These issues arise again in next week’s podcast with Daniel Libenson, who discusses some attempts to deal with this new environment.)

We finish off with some of Carmel’s personal observations on what she has learned in her years studying the economics of religion, being Jewish in America, and writing her highly readable book.  Recorded: April 7, 2015.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Carmel Chiswick’s bio at the George Washington University.

Judaism in Transition: How Economic Choices Shape Religious Tradition, by Carmel U. Chiswick.

Association for the Study of Religion, Economics, and Culture (ASREC).

RELATED PODCASTS

Carmel Chiswick on the Economics of American Judaism.

Daniel Libenson on the Jewish Future.

Linda Weiser Friedman on Jewish Humor.

Colleen Haight on Jewish Peddlers in 19th Century America.

Larry Iannaccone on Sacrifice, Stigma, and the Economics of Religion.

Jeff Levin on Judaism and Health.

Mark Glickman on the Cairo Genizah.

Mark Koyama on the Economics of Jewish Expulsions.

Ken Wald on the Puzzling Politics of American Jews.

Ellie Estrin on the Traditions of Chanukah.

Rajdeep Singh on American Sikhs and Religious Liberty.

We begin the discussion with Dr. Markos making a case for why studying the classics is important.  Tony admits that literature was never one of his favorite topics in school, and also has Lou explain to him the difference between poetry and prose.  Poetry, we discover, does not necessarily mean words that rhyme, but rather a genre of writing where every word counts and there is extensive and deep use of metaphor, simile, and cadence.  Lou proposes that while there is not merely one “correct reading” of poetry, there can be “wrong answers.”  Tony reveals that his skepticism of literature emanated from a college course that seemingly read too much Freudian psychology into The Odyssey, which then launches Dr. Markos into a discussion of how poorly literature is often taught today.

The discussion of contemporary education in the area of literature then takes us to Dr. Markos’s book Heaven and Hell: Visions of the Afterlife in the Western Poetic Tradition.  He notes that his goal is to bring Athens and Jerusalem together.  Lou explains the difference between general revelation, wherein God speaks to all humans throughout history, and special revelation, wherein God specifically speaks through Jesus Christ.  Christianity, he asserts, is not the only truth, but is the only complete truth.  This allows him to note the importance of early pagan writers and the foundational influence they had on later writers such as Dante, Milton, and Lewis.  It is at this point where Prof. Markos also explains why C.S. Lewis wrote that humans are the only species that fear the dead and what the difference is between fear of an imminent danger and fear of the unknown.  It is the latter, in the form of what comes after life, that has motivated great literature throughout the ages.

The last half of our interview walks (or perhaps jogs) through nearly three millennia of literary history.  Lou starts us with Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, which deals directly with Odysseus having to face death (though it is not clear in this epic work if the hero actually ventures into the afterlife or merely stands at its gates).  Plato is next up, and although Plato banished the poets, Lou observes that this great Greek philosopher plants himself firmly in the poetic tradition as he tends to “lose himself” in myth after introducing a philosophic principle.  Here we also see how the afterlife becomes a place of judgment, not just a destination, which in turn helps Plato to wrestle with the concept of justice.  Moving to Rome we briefly pick up the work of Virgil who becomes a major influence on the likes of Dante.  What is introduced here is that we are introduced into the souls of the great Romans who act out an eternal drama.  It is no wonder, Lou mentions, that Dante then picks up on Virgil who Prof. Markos considers to be the climax of general revelation.  Dante infuses this vision with the specific revelation of Christianity and develops the notion that hell is not just punishment for a sin, but that it is the sinner becoming sin — an explanation of what sin does to humans.

Time constraints forbid us from examining a number of other authors that Prof. Markos discusses in his work (e.g., Milton), and so we jump up to the (relatively) contemporary period and C.S. Lewis where Lou reveals that his favorite work of that author is The Great Divorce.   Lou discusses how Lewis builds upon Dante and gives us a psychology of sin by using the story of the grumbling old lady on the bus from hell.  He points out that “the grumbler” really is nothing more than a “grumble” herself, leaving little to save on the road to heaven.  The intellectual challenge of that work is how all but one of the characters, when offered a choice of heaven and hell, choose the latter revealing how the process of sin is really the hell we face; hell is not just a single destination.  We finish with an interesting observation about how evangelical Christians, who used to be very skeptical of reading non-Christian authors, are once again embracing these classics at a time when The Academy may be abandoning them.  Lou offers the analogy of building a bridge between the pre-Christian and Christian eras and its important for general and special revelation.  Recorded: July 6, 2015.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Louis Markos’ website over at The City Online, a website hosted by Houston Baptist University.

Lou Markos’ bio at HBU’s Department of English and Modern Languages.

Heaven & Hell: Visions of the Afterlife in the Western Poetic Tradition, by Louis Markos.

From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics, by Louis Markos.

The Eye of the Beholder: How to See the World Like a Romantic Poet, by Louis Markos.

On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue in Tolkien and Lewis, by Louis Markos.

C.S. Lewis: An Apologist for Education, by Louis Markos.

The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis (mentioned in podcast).

RELATED PODCASTS

John Mark Reynolds on A Christmas Carol.

Jason Jewell on Why Christians Should Read the Great Books.

Pamela Edwards on Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Corey Olsen on J.R.R. Tolkien, Religion, and the Hobbit.

Hunter Baker on the Future of Higher Education.

After a bit of introductory chat about how Prof. Haight stumbled on this project, rituals, and her aunt’s oyster stew, our conversation about Jewish merchants begins with a rather odd and seemingly unrelated topic — used car lemons.  Nobel Laureate George Akerloff’s famous “lemons problem” will become an important foundational point for Colleen’s argument about Jewish peddlers.  Akerloff used the selling of used cars to highlight what is known as an asymmetric information problem in economics.  While the seller of a used auto knows the various problems the car has, the buyer is uncertain whether or not the information about the car is correct or not.  If no trust can be established between the buyer and seller, such economic transactions are likely to break down.  We then discuss various solutions to this problem including, and most importantly, the role that reputation and investments in one’s trustworthiness makes.

We then turn to the issue of “middlemen” — peddlers and merchants who provide a very important role in the economy by transporting resources to their highest use, but who are often much maligned because they do not seem to add any value to the goods they are trading.  Colleen notes that the role of the merchant is not one that many people like to do because of its negative image.  We then discuss the very unique role that religious minorities and immigrants have played in this portion of the economy.  She explains how dense networks of trust create the right environment to overcome many of the financing (credit) problems that beset peddlers.  This then moves us to a discussion of the role that stigma plays in differentiating a community, binds people more tightly in their networks, and makes it difficult for members to defect upon agreements when it might be easy to do so.  We note that Jews out in pioneer territory would have found it hard to “fit in” with the dominant community because of their religious rituals and particular ethnic markers.  This was also exacerbated by a cultural hostility that was exhibited towards Jews in the 19th century.  But we further note that this hostility created a “love-hate” relationship between pioneers and Jewish peddlers in that the pioneers needed the vital services of the travelling merchants even though they didn’t fit in with the community.  Indeed, it was the fact that they didn’t quite fit in to the dominant culture that enhanced their ability to be trustworthy businesspeople.

We finish off the podcast with Colleen’s broader reflections this study and she notes that scholars need to look more closely at behaviors that seem odd or misplaced in order to find some interesting underlying logic to those cultural rituals and traits.  Recorded: November 6, 2014.

RELATED LINKS

 Prof. Colleen Haight’s personal website.

“Hostile Territory: High-tension Religion and the Jewish Peddler,” by Colleen Haight.

“Lessons from Delphi: Religious markets and spiritual capitals,” by Laurence Iannaccone, Collen Haight, and Jared Rubin.

“Is Fair Trade in Coffee Production Fair and Useful?” by Colleen Haight (one of Tony’s favorite economic articles).

RELATED PODCASTS

Colleeen Haight on the Oracle of Delphi.

Carmel Chiswick on the Economics of American Judaism.

Larry Iannaccone on Sacrifice, Stigma, and the Economics of Religion.

Mike Munger on Middlemen (an EconTalk podcast).

Mark Koyama on the Economics of Jewish Expulsions.

Gary Richardson on Religion & Craft Guilds in the Middle Ages.

Mark David Hall on Religious Minorities in the American Founding.

Evan Haefeli on the Dutch Origins of Religious Tolerance .

Larry Witham on the Economics of Religion.

We begin the discussion with Dr. Markos making a case for why studying the classics is important.  Tony admits that literature was never one of his favorite topics in school, and also has Lou explain to him the difference between poetry and prose.  Poetry, we discover, does not necessarily mean words that rhyme, but rather a genre of writing where every word counts and there is extensive and deep use of metaphor, simile, and cadence.  Lou proposes that while there is not merely one “correct reading” of poetry, there can be “wrong answers.”  Tony reveals that his skepticism of literature emanated from a college course that seemingly read too much Freudian psychology into The Odyssey, which then launches Dr. Markos into a discussion of how poorly literature is often taught today.

The discussion of contemporary education in the area of literature then takes us to Dr. Markos’s book Heaven and Hell: Visions of the Afterlife in the Western Poetic Tradition.  He notes that his goal is to bring Athens and Jerusalem together.  Lou explains the difference between general revelation, wherein God speaks to all humans throughout history, and special revelation, wherein God specifically speaks through Jesus Christ.  Christianity, he asserts, is not the only truth, but is the only complete truth.  This allows him to note the importance of early pagan writers and the foundational influence they had on later writers such as Dante, Milton, and Lewis.  It is at this point where Prof. Markos also explains why C.S. Lewis wrote that humans are the only species that fear the dead and what the difference is between fear of an imminent danger and fear of the unknown.  It is the latter, in the form of what comes after life, that has motivated great literature throughout the ages.

The last half of our interview walks (or perhaps jogs) through nearly three millennia of literary history.  Lou starts us with Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey, which deals directly with Odysseus having to face death (though it is not clear in this epic work if the hero actually ventures into the afterlife or merely stands at its gates).  Plato is next up, and although Plato banished the poets, Lou observes that this great Greek philosopher plants himself firmly in the poetic tradition as he tends to “lose himself” in myth after introducing a philosophic principle.  Here we also see how the afterlife becomes a place of judgment, not just a destination, which in turn helps Plato to wrestle with the concept of justice.  Moving to Rome we briefly pick up the work of Virgil who becomes a major influence on the likes of Dante.  What is introduced here is that we are introduced into the souls of the great Romans who act out an eternal drama.  It is no wonder, Lou mentions, that Dante then picks up on Virgil who Prof. Markos considers to be the climax of general revelation.  Dante infuses this vision with the specific revelation of Christianity and develops the notion that hell is not just punishment for a sin, but that it is the sinner becoming sin — an explanation of what sin does to humans.

Time constraints forbid us from examining a number of other authors that Prof. Markos discusses in his work (e.g., Milton), and so we jump up to the (relatively) contemporary period and C.S. Lewis where Lou reveals that his favorite work of that author is The Great Divorce.   Lou discusses how Lewis builds upon Dante and gives us a psychology of sin by using the story of the grumbling old lady on the bus from hell.  He points out that “the grumbler” really is nothing more than a “grumble” herself, leaving little to save on the road to heaven.  The intellectual challenge of that work is how all but one of the characters, when offered a choice of heaven and hell, choose the latter revealing how the process of sin is really the hell we face; hell is not just a single destination.  We finish with an interesting observation about how evangelical Christians, who used to be very skeptical of reading non-Christian authors, are once again embracing these classics at a time when The Academy may be abandoning them.  Lou offers the analogy of building a bridge between the pre-Christian and Christian eras and its important for general and special revelation.  Recorded: July 6, 2015.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Louis Markos’ website over at The City Online, a website hosted by Houston Baptist University.

Lou Markos’ bio at HBU’s Department of English and Modern Languages.

Heaven & Hell: Visions of the Afterlife in the Western Poetic Tradition, by Louis Markos.

From Achilles to Christ: Why Christians Should Read the Pagan Classics, by Louis Markos.

The Eye of the Beholder: How to See the World Like a Romantic Poet, by Louis Markos.

On the Shoulders of Hobbits: The Road to Virtue in Tolkien and Lewis, by Louis Markos.

C.S. Lewis: An Apologist for Education, by Louis Markos.

The Great Divorce, by C.S. Lewis (mentioned in podcast).

RELATED PODCASTS

John Mark Reynolds on A Christmas Carol.

Jason Jewell on Why Christians Should Read the Great Books.

Pamela Edwards on Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

Corey Olsen on J.R.R. Tolkien, Religion, and the Hobbit.

Hunter Baker on the Future of Higher Education.

]]> http://www.researchonreligion.org/historical-topics/louis-markos-on-the-poetry-of-heaven-hell/feed 0 http://www.researchonreligion.org/practioneers/daniel-libenson-on-present-and-future-judaism http://www.researchonreligion.org/practioneers/daniel-libenson-on-present-and-future-judaism#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2015 08:00:58 +0000 http://www.researchonreligion.org/?p=3812 What are the challenges facing contemporary Jews in America?  Following on Carmel Chiswick’s interview last week, we invite Daniel Libenson — director of jUChicago and founder/president of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future — discusses his perceptions of the landscape facing American Jews and how he has been engaged in organizations such as Hillel and the rationale behinds the ones he now directs.  As a “thinker-practitioner,” we get an inside look into how somebody is leveraging research being conducted in academic circles, including by Daniel himself, to adapt to a changing environment.

Our conversation begins with a discussion of challenges facing contemporary Jews in America.  Dan notes that Judaism is not only seen as a religion, but as an ethnicity.  And even though there has been an increase in the number of “secular Jews” religiously, there remains a great deal of pride in heritage among this group, which he notes provides a great opportunity for engaging Jews who may have been falling away from their spiritual roots.  We talk about some of the demographic categories that were mentioned in last week’s interview with Carmel Chiswick.  Dan works closely with college students and understands the difficulty of “young adult singles” as they enter a period of their lives that is often devoid of Jewish rituals.  He also spends some time discussing how Jews have always had to respond to changing circumstances, and discusses the emergence of a “controversial re-imagination of Israel” in the form of secular Zionism over the past century and a half.  He notes that young people today are trying to grapple with these changes, and likens the challenges and adaptations he sees going on currently to the business concept of “disruptive innovation.”

We then turn attention to his work with young Jews on college campuses, first looking at Hillel.  He explains the historical background of Hillel as a place designed to make Jews feel comfortable in a culturally Christian college setting dating back to the 1940s.  Over time, Hillel has tried to appeal to Jews who are intensely religious, occasionally involved in the faith, and those who have no conscious need for Jewish ritual activities but nonetheless want to feel connected to their ethnic heritage.  Balancing the needs and wants of these three communities can be difficult.  It is in this context that we talk about his work with jUChicago, which seeks to meet many of the more secular Jews in spaces they feel comfortable and yet still make them feel part of a larger community.  Unlike Hillel that has a building where college students come to assemble, jUChicago is designed with no real central location (other than some administrative space) and will engage students for dinners in their apartments, social events in the city, or wherever the participants desire to be met.  This flexibility is a key feature of the organization that adapts to student needs, a process Dan calls “design thinking.”   During this discussion, Tony also learns about the “small letter” culture spurred on by Apple media products, and a little bit about Chabad.

The final portion of the podcast picks up on the theme of where American Jews are heading in the 21st century and the creation of the Institute for the Next Jewish Future.  While based on college campus, this organization is aimed at engaging the Jewish community throughout the entire life cycle.  The goal of the institute is three fold.  First, it is designed as a think tank to study Jewish needs and strategies in the coming decades.  Second, there is an emphasis on training religious and lay leaders in ways that continue to foster Jewish human capital.  And finally, the institute seeks to facilitate the networking and funding of Jewish leaders who they train.  Tony asks Dan about his thoughts on where Judaism is heading and he connects back to his earlier thoughts on how Judaism has changed historically.  While conveying an anecdote about how a Jewish sociologist thought that Judaism might not be recognizable a century from now, Dan did not think that was necessarily a bad thing given his optimistic belief in how humans adapt to new environments, yet preserve lineages to the past.  Recorded: April 8, 2015.

RELATED LINKS

Daniel Libenson’s bio at the Institute for the Next Jewish Future.

jUChicago.

Hillel International.

The Jewish Innovator’s Dilemma, an ELItalk by Daniel Libenson.

The Vanishing American Jew: In Search of Jewish Identify for the Next Century, by Alan Dershowitz.

RELATED PODCASTS

Carmel Chiswick on the Economics of Being Jewish in America.

Carmel Chiswick on the Economics of American Judaism.

Linda Weiser Friedman on Jewish Humor.

Colleen Haight on Jewish Peddlers in 19th Century America.

Jeff Levin on Judaism and Health.

Mark Glickman on the Cairo Genizah.

Mark Koyama on the Economics of Jewish Expulsions.

We start the conversation with a general overview of Jews in America, including the size of the population, their immigration history, and other demographic features.  It is pointed out that Jews are both an ethnic group, and a group with a distinct religion.  We chat a bit about how Jewish (in terms of religion) Jews are in America.  Prof. Chiswick then discusses the difference between Great Tradition and small tradition Judaism.  The former focuses on the essential religious components of Judaism, including the Torah,  Talmud, Mishnah and several key holy days.  Small tradition Judaism, on the other hand, is a reflection of different cultural practices and emphases that can vary across different groups of Jews (e.g., Spehardi or Ashkenazi) and across time.  This is mixed with some personal reflection on her own life growing up Jewish, which gives this academic topic a much more personal touch.  Carmel explains why she chose to write her book with these personal stories, noting that she uses economics everyday to understand her own daily choices.

We then begin a discussion of how economics is used to explain Jewish behavior and traditions.  Carmel gives us a good introduction of how actions not only have a financial cost but a time cost as well, resulting in what economists call the “full price” (or “real cost”).  She points out that there are a variety of constraints on Jews in America that affect how they make decisions about worship and other aspects of life.  For example, as an individual becomes wealthier, the cost of their time also increases and this has an impact on how synagogue worship has been conducted given that Jews have been an upwardly mobile community.  We also talk about the issue of human capital and education and the constrained choices that have to be made here.  Carmel reflects upon her family’s decision whether to send their children to Hebrew or public school, as well as the reliance upon summer camps and other activities that are designed to preserve Jewish religious culture in an environment where time becomes more valuable for professional parents.

Carmel next lays out some of the contemporary challenges facing Jews in America.  Most notable among these challenges are the new demographic categories that are emerging, principally “young adult singles” and “empty nesters.”  With marriage ages increasing quite substantially over the past few decades, there is a growing population of individuals in their 20s and early 30s who are not married, do not have children, and who do not feel as connected to the synagogue.  Whereas people often connect with religious institutions when they have children, and synagogues often cater to the needs of this group, the decade or so wherein individuals are not married or having children becomes a time when they can drift away from their faith.  We also discuss the issue of intermarriage and how that might affect the Jewish population in the future.  Interestingly, the rise of “young adult singles” also gives rise to another demographic group known as “empty nesters” who are not actively raising kids yet are not grandparents either.  Once again, this becomes a life cycle point where people do not feel as connected to the synagogue.  (Note: These issues arise again in next week’s podcast with Daniel Libenson, who discusses some attempts to deal with this new environment.)

We finish off with some of Carmel’s personal observations on what she has learned in her years studying the economics of religion, being Jewish in America, and writing her highly readable book.  Recorded: April 7, 2015.

RELATED LINKS

Prof. Carmel Chiswick’s bio at the George Washington University.

Judaism in Transition: How Economic Choices Shape Religious Tradition, by Carmel U. Chiswick.

Association for the Study of Religion, Economics, and Culture (ASREC).

RELATED PODCASTS

Carmel Chiswick on the Economics of American Judaism.

Daniel Libenson on the Jewish Future (forthcoming April 19).

Linda Weiser Friedman on Jewish Humor.

Colleen Haight on Jewish Peddlers in 19th Century America.

Jeff Levin on Judaism and Health.

Mark Glickman on the Cairo Genizah.

Mark Koyama on the Economics of Jewish Expulsions.

]]> http://www.researchonreligion.org/secularization/carmel-chiswick-on-the-economics-of-american-jews-2/feed 2 http://www.researchonreligion.org/historical-topics/colleen-haight-on-jewish-peddlers-in-19th-century-america http://www.researchonreligion.org/historical-topics/colleen-haight-on-jewish-peddlers-in-19th-century-america#comments Sun, 16 Nov 2014 09:00:18 +0000 http://www.researchonreligion.org/?p=3570 In the 19th century, as the US population was expanding westward, Jewish immigrants and their children played an important economic role in moving supplies via merchant channels.  Relative to their numbers in the population, Jews were disproportionately represented as peddlers and merchants.  Prof. Colleen Haight, an associate professor of economics at San Jose State University, returns to the program to discuss this phenomenon and how it relates to the economics of religion.

After a bit of introductory chat about how Prof. Haight stumbled on this project, rituals, and her aunt’s oyster stew, our conversation about Jewish merchants begins with a rather odd and seemingly unrelated topic — used car lemons.  Nobel Laureate George Akerloff’s famous “lemons problem” will become an important foundational point for Colleen’s argument about Jewish peddlers.  Akerloff used the selling of used cars to highlight what is known as an asymmetric information problem in economics.  While the seller of a used auto knows the various problems the car has, the buyer is uncertain whether or not the information about the car is correct or not.  If no trust can be established between the buyer and seller, such economic transactions are likely to break down.  We then discuss various solutions to this problem including, and most importantly, the role that reputation and investments in one’s trustworthiness makes.

We then turn to the issue of “middlemen” — peddlers and merchants who provide a very important role in the economy by transporting resources to their highest use, but who are often much maligned because they do not seem to add any value to the goods they are trading.  Colleen notes that the role of the merchant is not one that many people like to do because of its negative image.  We then discuss the very unique role that religious minorities and immigrants have played in this portion of the economy.  She explains how dense networks of trust create the right environment to overcome many of the financing (credit) problems that beset peddlers.  This then moves us to a discussion of the role that stigma plays in differentiating a community, binds people more tightly in their networks, and makes it difficult for members to defect upon agreements when it might be easy to do so.  We note that Jews out in pioneer territory would have found it hard to “fit in” with the dominant community because of their religious rituals and particular ethnic markers.  This was also exacerbated by a cultural hostility that was exhibited towards Jews in the 19th century.  But we further note that this hostility created a “love-hate” relationship between pioneers and Jewish peddlers in that the pioneers needed the vital services of the travelling merchants even though they didn’t fit in with the community.  Indeed, it was the fact that they didn’t quite fit in to the dominant culture that enhanced their ability to be trustworthy businesspeople.

We finish off the podcast with Colleen’s broader reflections this study and she notes that scholars need to look more closely at behaviors that seem odd or misplaced in order to find some interesting underlying logic to those cultural rituals and traits.  Recorded: November 6, 2014.

RELATED LINKS

 Prof. Colleen Haight’s personal website.

“Hostile Territory: High-tension Religion and the Jewish Peddler,” by Colleen Haight.

“Lessons from Delphi: Religious markets and spiritual capitals,” by Laurence Iannaccone, Collen Haight, and Jared Rubin.

“Is Fair Trade in Coffee Production Fair and Useful?” by Colleen Haight (one of Tony’s favorite economic articles).

RELATED PODCASTS

Colleeen Haight on the Oracle of Delphi.

Carmel Chiswick on the Economics of American Judaism.

Larry Iannaccone on Sacrifice, Stigma, and the Economics of Religion.

Mike Munger on Middlemen (an EconTalk podcast).

Mark Koyama on the Economics of Jewish Expulsions.

Gary Richardson on Religion & Craft Guilds in the Middle Ages.

Mark David Hall on Religious Minorities in the American Founding

Evan Haefeli on the Dutch Origins of Religious Tolerance .

Larry Witham on the Economics of Religion.

The first religious minority we focus on are Jews.  With only about 2,000 Jews present during the time of the Revolutionary War, one might not think this group would have much influence.  Based upon the writings of Prof. David Dalin, Mark notes that Jews were tolerated fairly well throughout colonial history and that George Washington had a very favorable relations with Jews, including Haym Solomon who helped for fund the Continental Army.  Mark cites from Washington’s letter to a Newport synagogue to show how Washington’s view on religious freedom reflected more than mere tolerance.  He also covers Jewish influence on Alexander Hamilton (educated by Sephardic Jews) and John Adams (a Christian supporter of Zionism), as well as the direct action of Jonas Phillips to help end religious tests in America.

We next talk about the role of Islam, with Mark summarizing the chapter in his volume written by Tommy Kidd.  The influence of Islam on the American Founding and subsequent development of the republic was very indirect.  First, it was noted that many of the slaves who were exported to the Americas came from Islamic regions of Africa thus there were most likely some Muslim slaves, though the numbers are not certain.  Islam was also used in revolutionary era rhetoric to set up the trope of despotism, sometimes used by the Anti-Federalists in their arguments pertaining to the constitutional structure of the new republic.  The other important realm in which Islam comes to play in the formation of America’s identity is through the contact with Barbary pirates, one of the first major foreign policy conflicts that had to be managed by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson.  Mark also addresses the controversial interpretation surrounding the Treaty of Tripoli, which is often as evidence that the U.S. was not founded as a Christian nation.

We then move to the topic of Deism, not necessarily a denomination, but nonetheless a real belief system that was floating around in late 18th century America.  Most folks are probably more familiar with Deism given that it is often associated with major historical figures of the time such as Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson.  Mark defines what Deism is, a “squishy definition” at best.  He then discusses whether any of these folks fell solidly within the Deist camp using the notion of an “interventionist God” as a baseline.  Mark notes that several of the Founders most people associate with Deism — such as Franklin, Jefferson, and Washington — did make reference to an deity who does intervene in human history, most notably George Washington who wrote quite a bit about the role of Providence.  When it comes down to it, Mark says that maybe only one or two of the major historical Founders — Ethan Allen and Thomas Paine — would qualify as strictly Deist in their philosophy.  Our conversation on Deism tends to focus on the writings of Paine with Mark pointing out that even despite Paine’s Deist bent, he cites Scripture quite liberally in writings such as Common Sense knowing that the American public was more in tune with an orthodox view of Christianity as compared to a more Enlightenment philosophical posture.  Mark also uses the general repudiation of Paine’s “Age of Reason” by many of the intellectual leaders of the U.S. at the time to illustrate that Deism may not have been as deeply woven into American elite culture as is now commonly assumed.  (It is also at this point in the interview where Mark compliments Tony’s social scientific acumen.  Just sayin’.)

We then finish up talking about the use of The Bible in the writings of American Founders, making reference to the scholarship of Daniel Dreisbach, and a handful of other Christian denominations including the Quakers (the denominational affiliation of George Fox University) and the Baptists (the affiliation of Baylor).  We spend some time on the thought and influence of John Dickinson and John Hancock, a flamboyant albeit philanthropic Calvinist.  Mark also gives us a sneak preview of his current research, something that will probably be heard next year during the Fourth of July!  Recorded: June 5, 2014.

RELATED LINKS

Mark David Hall’s bio at George Fox University.

Faith and the Founders of the American Republic, edited by Daniel Dreisbach and Mark David Hall.

Roger Sherman and the Creation of the American Republic, by Mark David Hall.

America’s Forgotten Founders, edited by Gary Gregg and Mark David Hall.

RELATED PODCASTS

Mark David Hall on Roger Sherman, Puritan Patriot.

Mark David Hall on Religion and the Founding Fathers.

Should Christians Have Fought in the U.S. War of Independence?

Chris Beneke on Religion, Markets, and the Founding Era.

John Fea on Religion and the American Founding.

Evan Haefeli on the Dutch Origins of Religious Tolerance.

Jonathan Den Hartog on the Spiritual and Political Life of John Jay.

Gary Scott Smith on Presidential Faith.

Thomas Kidd on the Great Awakening.

Although the United States is often viewed as a beacon for religious freedom around the world, thanks in large part to the institutionalization of the First Amendment, the practice of religious toleration has often fallen well short of the ideals set for itself.  Prof. David Smith, lecturer in the Department of Government & International Relations and a faculty member at the United States Studies Center at the University of Sydney (Australia), discusses his explanation for episodic religious persecution in the United States.  Using the Latter Day Saints in the 19th century and Jehovah’s Witnesses in the early 20th century as comparative case studies, he argues that religious minorities that are seen as threats to the established political order will quickly find themselves victims of state-sanctioned persecution.

We begin the discussion with Prof. Smith’s personal journey to this topic.  For an Australian studying American politics, a field dominated by quantitative studies of contemporary political behavior, the choice of such a historical topic seems a bit unique.  Nonetheless, David points out how the eyes of a foreigner can often uncover interesting behavioral patterns that often go unnoticed by natives.  This leads us to a discussion of how “mythic ideals” within a nation often do not match with historical practice, particularly given that human beings are quite fallible when it comes to reaching noble goals.

David then jumps into a detailed elaboration of the persecuted path of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (i.e., Mormons) in the 19th century, from their early days in New York and Ohio, through an “extermination order” in Missouri, to the mob execution of their leader Joseph Smith, and finally through their travails into Utah territory and the struggles to become a state.  Along the way, David drops hints at his explanation to come, including how the presence of the Mormons in different areas affected the political calculus among existing elites.  David places the debates over polygamy and political partisanship into a context of broader struggles for political power that were affecting the nation in the pre- and post-Civil War era.  We learn some interesting things about how Harriet Beecher Stowe, famed feminist crusader, changed her position on whether or not Mormon women should be given the right to vote, and how Reed Smoot (half of the infamous Smoot-Hawley tariff act) was prevented from taking his seat in the US Senate because of ongoing concerns over polygamy.

We then jump into the early 20th century to discuss the rise of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, a seemingly innocuous group of Christians who refused to salute the flag or have their children recite the Pledge of Allegiance in school.  Such actions, combined with their visible proselytizing presence, provoked a number of local organizations such as the American Legion to consider them a serious threat to American nationalism.  Combined with concern over the balance of political power at the local level and their stand against military service at a time war was on the horizon, a rash of physical harassment of Witnesses arose in the late 1930s and early 1940s, dissipating around 1941/42 when roughly half of the Witnesses young male missionaries were jailed.  We further discuss the reasons why the Witnesses were targetted, but not groups such as the Mennonites and Amish, another religious group that resisted military service and spoke German!

Prof. Smith shows how both of these instances of religious persecution were theoretically linked by how each group — Mormons and Witnesses — were perceived as a political threat to the existing state power structure.  We then discuss how his explanation played out in other historic instances of religious persecution (or lack thereof) including Catholics, Jews, and the Nation of Islam (a homegrown Muslim group).  Interestingly, while the Nation of Islam was facing persecution (around the time of the Witnesses), political authorities were encouraging Muslim immigration from overseas.  We also explore why Muslims over the past decade and a half (since September 11, 2001) have not seen the levels of persecution or harassment experienced by the Mormons and Witnesses.  David closes with some thoughts on how future persecutions might be contained.  Recorded: January 7, 2014.

RELATED LINKS

David Smith’s bio at the Department of Government & International Relations at the University of Sydney.

United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.

RELATED PODCASTS

Patrick Mason on Anti-Mormonism and Mitt Romney.

Lynita Newswander on Mormons in America.

Jason Jewell on Locke and Religious Toleration.

Mark Koyama on Jewish Expulsions.

Anthony Gill on Religion and Religious Liberty (An EconTalk simul-podcast).

Anthony Gill on the Political Origins of Religious Liberty.

Michael McBride on Religious Free-Riding and Mormons.

Carmel Chiswick on the Economics of American Judaism.