The Connection of Religion and Money (AOM 1)

Callista Wilson
Global Politics and Historical Contexts

Money and behavior intertwine because people’s actions determine how much money they can obtain. Additionally, money is a strong definer of people’s power, and all power requires responsibility. In the first chapter of Ascent of Money: “Dreams of Avarice,” behaviors based on religion became linked with peoples’ legal abilities to lend and originally establish banks. It is highlighted that in Venice, Jewish people had different abilities than Christians because the church saw requesting interest as a sin, while Jewish people could request interest from others who did not share the same beliefs as them. In extension, varying currencies played a role in the long-term shift of power from churches to banks, governments, and anyone with a significant sum of wealth. This occurred because people who became lenders, for instance the Medici family, disguised any interest they were collecting in the form of their foreign currency exchange business.  From this, they learned that their banking system was the strongest when it was far reaching and diverse to limit the harm of any single defaulter. Overall, spiritual beliefs, and behaviors which initially disguised interest heavily influenced who could make money from lending, and who could not.

Although many people see money as the answer to solve or complete many aspects of their lives, and it usually is, the power of money in the modern world can sometimes be an incentive for greed, and other emotions which blur the reasons why having wealth is important in the first place. With power from anything, especially money, comes responsibility. Further, even with any religious believes or connotations detached, rightful and virtuous ways of allocating the power of money exist alongside corrupt and destructive ways of allocating the power of money. A prominent example of this is weapons spending: several developed countries have the power to destroy the planet hundreds of times through nuclear missiles, meanwhile countless families starve or cannot afford sufficient shelter or education, and are not receiving help from their governments when money could help provide those things. On a more individual level, people have freedom to obtain wealth and use it in the ways they feel are most important. However, when peoples' means of making money involve hurting or exploiting others, for instance with business which thrive on peoples' bankruptcy, it is clear that money has equal power to raise people up, and tear them down. Overall, peoples actions, spirituality, and their work directly determines their money, and once they obtain wealth, they face another challenge regarding the wisest way to use it.  

Reference: 

Ferguson, Niall. The Ascent of Money: a Financial History of the World. Penguin Books, 2019.