Open AccessBook Review: Robert J. Barro and Rachel M. McCleary, The Wealth of Religions: The Political Economy of Believing and Belonging, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2019.
Author(s) -
Karen FerreiraMeyers
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
new trends in social and liberal sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2469-4002
DOI - 10.24819/netsol2021.14
Subject(s) - construct (python library) , politics , index (typography) , positive economics , sociology , religious studies , political economy , social science , economic history , environmental ethics , economics , political science , philosophy , law , world wide web , computer science , programming language
A preface, eight chapters, notes, a bibliography, and an index are what constitute Barro and McCleary’s in-depth analysis of the “wealth” of religions. The book’s title is very attractive, and at the same time quite provocative, as politics, economics and religions are widely debated topics in most societies these days, but people remain reserved to tackle certain aspects, in particular the link between money, markets and religious beliefs and belonging. Bringing together the views of an economist, Barro, and a moral philosopher, McCleary, leads to an interesting approach to religion as different from a social construct, the main idea upon which reflecting and debating religion has been based upon for years, if not centuries.