Research On Religion » rent-seeking

Anne Rathbone Bradley on Christianity and Capitalism

tonygill — Sun, 10 Sep 2017 08:00:16 +0000

Does capitalism get a bad rap? Was Jesus and his followers socialists? These questions and more frame our discussion this week as we invite Dr. Anne Rathbone Bradley onto the show to discuss her latest co-edited volume Counting the Cost: Christian Perspectives on Capitalism. Dr. Bradley is the Vice President of Economic Initiatives at the Institute for Faith, Work, & Economics. We begin with an overview of this relatively new institute and what it does, and then turn to the question of what motivated an edited volume on Christianity and capitalism. This leads us to a discussion of how capitalism often gets a bad image, often viewed as synonymous with greed, materialism, and the rich taking from the poor. Anne provides a different working definition of capitalism that rests upon who makes decisions about how the means of production are used (which is a wide swathe of people), and a system of exchange through the mechanisms of profit and loss. We then take a look at the chapter written by Joy Buchanan and Nobel Laureate Vernon Smith about who benefits from capitalism and review the progress humanity has made over the past 200 years as markets have become historically more free. Anne points out that commoners can enjoy such luxuries today that would have only been reserved for a small hereditary class in the past. We move to Jonathan Pennington’s chapter on the topic of human flourishing in both the Old and New Testaments, noting that enjoying life (and the gifts of God) is an important goal here on Earth. This is contrasted to “Kantian altruism,” that tends to wallow in asceticism that often subverts enjoyment of material things. We further talk about how free markets allow us to trade with strangers and the role that trust plays in society, springboarding ourselves into the chapter written the late Michael Novak on how democratic capitalism also helps to raise human dignity. Art Lindsley’s chapter falls next on the docket. He argues that while the New Testament does not specifically call for a capitalist system, neither does it endorse the socialist alternative. The “sharing economy” described in Acts 2-5 is put into context, and Anne introduces the importance of the concept of “ownership of self.” The last portion of our interview is spent discussion one of Dr. Bradley’s specialties — inequality (of both income and wealth). We talk about “good” and “bad” inequality, how inequality is measured, and how God has gifted individuals with different talents that manifest themselves in different returns. Tony notes that this does not undermine the inherent dignity of a person, comparing Bill Gates and his bartenders equally. At this point, Anne relays a personal story about the survival of her daughter immediately after a premature birth and how much she not only benefited from a feeding tube patent introduced by Henry Turkel in the early 1950s, but all the other people that brought the all the technology together that saved a precious life. We also bring up Jesus’s Parable of the Talents that this point. Anne offers some thoughts about what Christians can and should do about inequality, specifically denouncing “cronyism” — the use of government coercion to direct social resources towards one’s personal gain. The interview ends with some of Dr. Bradley’s thoughts on what she has learned over the course of a couple decades studying economics while being a practicing question. She has enjoyed how her spiritual faith has always put her “economic way of thinking” to the test. Recorded: August 18, 2018.

Sarah Bond on the Church & Funerals in Late Antiquity (Encore Presentation)

tonygill — Mon, 14 Sep 2015 15:32:48 +0000

(The following is an encore presentation of an earlier podcast. The RoR staff is taking a short break and we will be back shortly with more crescent fresh episodes!)

It has been said that the only thing certain in life are death and taxes. If that is the case, then Dr. Sarah Bond — assistant professor of history at Marquette University — has discovered a very interesting topic for research. Prof. Bond examines the changes to the funeral industry that occured in the Late Antiquity portion of the Roman Empire resulting from Constantine’s Edict of Milan. Through the course of this interview, we find out that workers in the “death industry” received some pretty sweet tax exemptions for their service. And this wasn’t the only noteworthy item about the lives of what Sarah refers to as “disreputable workers.”

We begin with a discussion of Sarah’s general work on “disreputable professions” in ancient times, and she defines what this term means — careers in occupations that most people find distasteful and whose workers tend to remain “invisible,” yet critically important, to society. Funeral workers are the classic example of such a profession given that their contact with the deceased (who often die in violent or vile ways) conveys a sense of “death pollution” on them. Sarah notes that in pagan times, funeral workers were required to live outside of the city walls and would only be allowed into the city under the cover of dark to retrieve bodies. We discuss several of the other traditions associated with death at the time, including the preference for cremation over inhumation (i.e., burial).

With the rise of Emperor Constantine (and his co-Emperor Licinius in the East), things begin to change. The Edict of Milan puts Christianity on an equal footing as pagan religions, and soon thereafter the Church begins to see a flood of state financial support. Being a bishop now conveys more political and economic power in the Empire, and with it come changes in how the funeral industry operates. Sarah discusses how stronger patron-client relationships between bishops and funeral workers emerge, and how these funeral workers were often employed as personal “gangs” or “para-militaries” for the Church hierarchs. Some of the stories are incredible! Along the way, we also are given a sense for who is all involved in the funeral process, including paid mourners. Sarah teaches Tony a number of very cool Latin words. Prof. Bond also talks about the Cult of the Saints, and how the desire by wealthy people to be buried near a Christian saint, and the general lack of burial space (a scarce commodity), led to a great deal of corruption. Tony, ever the political economists, points out that this is an excellent example of rent-seeking behavior wherein a small group with coercive power controls access to a scarce resource and can extract all sorts of additional income and favors in exchange for that access.

Dr. Bond concludes our podcast with her reflections on what the study of the death industry and other “disreputable professions” in Late Antiquity can teach us about our current conditions. While the institutions of funeral services have changed over time, she notes that we still have certain cultural visions about people who provide these valuable services to society. Tell your friends about this truly fascinating discussion as it has valuted upwards to become one of Tony’s favorite podcasts over the course of 170 other interviews. Please connect with us via our Facebook Fan Page for regular updates. Recorded: October 3, 2013.

Sarah Bond on the Church and Funerals in Late Antiquity

tonygill — Sun, 06 Oct 2013 08:00:56 +0000