RELG 336 - Religion and Capitalism

“Christianity is freedom. Freedom is free enterprise; hence capitalism is Christianity in action.” Following contemporary research, students will explore the relation from the high medieval monasteries to the present, highlighting the 17th and 18th-century Christian and Jewish farmers and traders, 19th-century British industrialists, and the 21st-century consumers, financiers and traders in commodities and various financial instruments (e.g., stocks, bonds, equities, derivatives, and securities, etc.). The course will investigate how worldviews and religious teachings order a lifestyle and a value system that inform and influence a particular economic activity. The course includes: what capitalism is (i.e., its elements and types, and the classical theories of capitalism); investigate the religious views, the cultural and social history that gave rise to capitalism, and the intellectual and economic innovations that turned capitalism into a system. Topics of discussions will include: capitalism and the environment, poverty and the Puritan work ethic, culture and global capitalism, capitalism and moral values, and the relation between contemporary spirituality and capitalism.

Credits: 1.00
Corequisite: None
Prerequisites: None
Major/Minor Restrictions: None
Class Restriction: No First-year
Area of Inquiry: Human Thought and Expression
Liberal Arts CORE: Global Engagements

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