RELIGION AND ECONOMICS - CONTRIBUTIONS AND LIMITATIONS OF RELIGIOUS ANALYSIS USING ECONOMIC-MODELS

This paper considers four issues concerning the application to the religious field of concepts and theories taken from economics. (1) Does this approach seek to describe the religious, or does it offer new insights following on from the application of new concepts? (2) Does the appeal to rational choice theory, which is favoured in this approach, neglect the fact that the material and the imaginary are inextricably interwined? (3) Does not the appeal to rational choice overlook the impact on the religious of a social structure which is in the process of transformation? (4) Should the appeal to economy not take into account the transition of an economy that was centred on work into an economy dominated by hedonism?