Money as God?

Jürgen von Hagen is Professor of Economics at the University of Bonn, Germany, and a member of the German Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on monetary and macro-economics. As a Protestant preacher, he also has a keen interest in theology and its intersection with economics. Michael Welker is Senior Professor for Systematic Theology at the University of Heidelberg, He is a member of the Heidelberg Academy of Science and Humanities and a corresponding member of the Finnish Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has held guest-professorships at numerous universities, including Princeton Theological Seminary, Harvard Divinity School and Cambridge Divinity School. He is the author or editor of around fifty books.

• Introduction Jürgen von Hagen and Michael Welker; Part I. Money and Markets: Economic, Legal, and Theological Foundations: 1. Microfoundations of the uses of money Jürgen von Hagen; 2. Money and its role in a decentralized market economy Peter Bernholz; 3. Mensura et mensuratum: money as measure and measure for money Wolfgang Ernst; 4. Standardization and monetization: legal perspectives Burkhard Hess; 5. Kohelet and the co-evolution of a monetary economy and religion Michael Welker; Part II. Monetary Exchange: Historical and Social Roots: 6. Money and image: the presence of the state on the routes of economy Tonio Hölscher; 7. The social world of Ecclesiastes Choon-Leong Seow; 8. The development of monetary systems in Palestine during the Achaemenid and Hellenistic eras Ulrich Hübner; 9. Fate's gift economy: the Chinese case of coping with the asymmetry between man and fate Rudolf G. Wagner; 10. 'Mothers and children': discourses on paper money during the Song period Hans-Ulrich Vogel; 11. 'Buying heaven': the prospects of commercialized salvation in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries Berndt Hamm; Part III. Monetary Exchange: Ethical Limits and Challenges: 12. The monetization and demonetization of the human body: the case of compensatory payments for bodily injuries and homicide in ancient Near Eastern and ancient Israelite law books Konrad Schmid; 13. What price do we place on life? Ethical observations on the limits of law and money in a case of transitional justice Günter Thomas; 14. Standardized monetization of the market and the argument for preferential justice Piet Naudé; 15. Religious faith and the market economy: a survey on faith and trust of Catholic entrepreneurs in China Gao Shining and Yang Fenggang; Part IV. Money, Wealth, and Desire: 16. 'Do not sell your soul for money': economy and eschatology in biblical and intertestamental traditions Andreas Schüle; 17. 'Businessmen and merchants will not enter the places of my father': early Christianity and market mentality Edmondo F. Lupieri; 18. Desire in consumer culture: theological perspectives from Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine of Hippo John F. Hoffmeyer; Money as God?: conclusions Michael Welker and Jürgen von Hagen; Index.