Money as God: The Monetization of the Market and the Impact on Religion, Politics, Law, and Ethics
Prof. Dr. Dr. Michael Welker, Prof. Dr. Jürgen von Hagen
Over the centuries, time and again, theologians, philosophers, poets and even sociologists have
proposed that money should be regarded as a “god-term“ (Kenneth Burke). They have spoken of the
omnipotence of money (Georg Simmel) and pondered whether we should not organize religious
faith like money (Niklas Luhmann). They propagated a “pantheism of money“ (Falk Wagner) and
called it the “all-determining reality“.
This treatment of money as a god-like phenomenon stands in sharp contrast to another tradition
which, in the European context, goes back at least to Luther’s polemical use of the phrase, “You
cannot serve God and mammon“ (Matth. 6:20, Luke 16:13) and his explanation of the first article in
his Great Catechism which puts God and Mammon in strong opposition to each other: “Many a one
thinks that he has God and everything in abundance when he has money and possessions; he trusts
in them and boasts of them with such firmness and assurance as to care for no one. Lo, such a man
also has a God, Mammon by name. Luther thus demonizes money as an idol trapping humans by
promising them a false security and luring them into putting their trust in material goods rather than
the living God.
This tension between a tradition of deification and a tradition of demonization of money was the
starting point of the research project. The chief goal of this project was to bring together scholars
from different academic disciplines to compare and discuss the views on money their respective
disciplines offer. The project did not aim at developing a unified perspective on money shared by all
disciplines. Instead, it took a multidisciplinary approach, one that accepts the differences between
different disciplines and traditions and uses these differences to promote a discourse that can affect
the research and thinking in each one of them. For this end, the project involved economists,
historians, lawyers, sinologists, and theologians, who met several times over a period of four years
to develop and discuss their contributions.
Proposition 1: Monetization causes far-reaching changes in a society.
Result: The interaction between monetization and social changes is neither unidirectional nor monocausal.
It is true that the spreading of the use of money triggers changes in societies. But it is also
true that a society must undergo certain developments to create the preconditions for the use of
money. Monetization is both the consequence and the cause of social changes. In particular, the use
of money arises in environments where stable and long-lasting credit relationships do not exist.
Thus, the anonymity and instability of interpersonal relationships, which is often seen as a result of
the monetization of exchange relations, should be regarded as a precondition of the use of money.
Proposition 2: Money makes everything comparable and, in doing so, contributes to the dissolution
of valuable social relationships.
Result: In every society, the question of what has a price (in terms of money) and what does not
depends on what the members of that society regard as tradable and negotiable. This is a question of
basic values, not a property or consequence of the use of money. There are ethical and cultural
limits to what is negotiable, but these limits are not fixed over time. Yet, the use of money and the
assignment of money prices suggests the comparability of things that would not seem easily
comparable otherwise and, thus, makes exchange relations more malleable than those in barter
trade.
Proposition 3: Money is dangerous because it distracts human trust from God to dead material
things.
Result: That people put their trust in material wealth rather than a transcendent god is a
phenomenon observed and bemoaned in many different cultural and historical contexts. The proper
answer to the problem, however, cannot be a demonization of money, if only because monetization
also has many positive aspects for society. Instead, what is required is an ethical, cultural and
eschatological (re)orientation.
Publication:
Jürgen von Hagen and Michael Welker (eds.) Money as God? The Monetization of the Market and the Impact on RELIGION, POLITICS, LAW, AND ETHICS
I. Money and Markets: Economic, Legal, and Theological Foundations
Jürgen von Hagen
Microeconomic Foundations of the Use of Money
Peter Bernholz
Money, its Role in a Decentralized Market Economy, and its Influence on Society
Wolfgang Ernst
Mensura et Mensuratum. Money as Measure and Measure for Money
Burkhard Hess
Standardization and Monetization – Legal Perspectives. Heidelberg
Michael Welker
Kohelet and the Co-evolution of a Monetary Economy and Religion
II. Monetary Exchange: Historical and Social Roots
Tonio Hölscher
Money and Image: The Presence of the State on the Routes of the Economy
Leong Seow
The Social World of Ecclesiastes
Rudolf G. Wagner
Fate’s Gift Economy: The Chinese Case
Hans Ulrich Vogel
“Mothers and Children,” Discourses on Paper Money During the Song Period”
Berndt Hamm
“Buying Heaven"
III. Monetary Exchange: Ethical Limits and Challenges
Konrad Schmid
The Monetization and Demonetization of the Human Body: Compensatory Payments for Bodily Injuries and Homicide in Ancient Near Eastern and Ancient Israelite Law Books
Günter Thomas
What is Life’s Monetary Value? Ethical Observations on the Limits of Law in a Case of Transitional Justice
Piet Naudé
The Standardized Monetization of the Market and the Impact on Current Conceptions of Justice
Shining Gao
Religious faith and the Market Economy – A Survey on Faith and Trust of Catholic Entrepreneurs
in China
IV. Money, Wealth, and Desire
Andreas Schüle
Do not Sell Your Soul for Money: Economy and Eschatology in Biblical and Intertestamental Traditions
Edmondo Lupieri
“Businessmen and Merchants Will Not Enter the Places of My Father” – Early Christianity and Market Mentality
John F. Hoffmeyer
Desire in Consumer Culture: Theological perspectives from Gregory of Nyssa and Augustine of Hippo
