How does “religious” get distinguished from “economic” in historical and contemporary contexts, and to what effect? The distinction is far from obvious. It could be argued, for example, that capital itself is a ‘god’: an invisible, transcendental entity signified by the Bull, whose workings are mysterious, bringing prosperity but also famine, and sustained by collective acts of faith and a sacrificial cult at its heart. However, economists, businesses, workers, consumers, politicians and lawyers all continually distinguish “economic” issues from “religious” ones (just as from other spheres such as “politics” and “civil society”). How and why do they do that, and with what consequences? It was proposed in a previous conference, for example, that the category of “religion” understood as other-worldly faith has served historically to set in relief the “secular” rationality of individual self-interest, commodity exchange and capital accumulation. “Religion” is often expected to be charitable, concerned with building credit in heaven, shunning this-worldly economic gain, and if it is felt to seek its own economic gain then it is considered a perversion (and sometimes repressed). But different people make different religious-economic distinctions in different contexts and to different effects. The panel will examine a range of ways in which “economics” gets marked off from “religion” (including in the history of the discipline of Economics).

The workshop is to prepare for the Religious-Economics panel of a major conference on 14-16 January, also at the British Academy. Please sign up to http://religioussecular.ning.com to receive information about the conference.

Programme

9 – 9.30 Tea, coffee and biscuits available on arrival

9.30 – 9.45 Introduction

9.45 - 10.05 The Religious-Secular Paradigm: Towards A Narrative Of Religion And Ethics In The Jurisprudence Of Islamic Finance (Jonathan Ercanbrack, SOAS)

10.05 – 10.50 Discussion

10.50 – 11.30 Tea, coffee and biscuits

11.30 – 11.50 The Emergence of the Civil Corporation From 13th Century Poverty: The Case of the ‘Peculiar Exception’ (Michael Black, Blackfriars, Oxford)

11.40-12.35 Discussion

12.35 – 1.45 Lunch

1.45 – 2.05 Notes on Religion and Economics (William Dixon, London Metropolitan Business School)

2.05 – 2.50 Discussion

2.50 – 3.20 Tea, coffee and biscuits

3.20 – 3.40 Understanding Glastonbury as a Site of Consumption (Marion Bowman, Religious Studies, Open University)

3.40 – 4.25 Discussion

4.25 – 5.15 Final discussion and summary

Registration

Please register in advance at http://www.britac.ac.uk/events/2009/religious-economic/

Attendees will be given the option of having lunch with speakers at the British Academy:

Registration with tea, coffee and biscuits: £22.50 (£11.25 for unwaged, retired and students)

Registration with tea, coffee and biscuits and finger food lunch: £37.50 (£18.75 for unwaged, retired and students)

If you have any queries, please contact the British Academy events staff on events@britac.ac.uk or by phone on 020 7969 5246.