British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Distinguishing 'Religious' from 'Economic'
Workshop at the
British Academy, Carlton House Terrace, London SW1

9.45 am – 5.15 pm
Thursday 26 November, 2009
Academic convenor: Trevor Stack

PROGRAMME | ABSTRACTS | REGISTRATION FORM

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 it also seems that different people make different religious-economic distinctions in different contexts. The panel will examine a range of contexts 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.

Registration

Please register in advance using the online form.

Attendees have 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 regarding , please contact the British Academy events staff on events@britac.ac.uk or by phone on 020 7969 5246.

Academic enquiries should be directed to  t.stack@abdn.ac.uk.

Sponsors

November Workshop: CINEFOGO Network of Excellence; Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society and Rule of Law ( University of Aberdeen)

January Conference: The British Academy; Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society and Rule of Law ( University of Aberdeen)