Economic Origins of Roman Christianity

Economic Origins of Roman Christianity
Author: Robert Burton Ekelund
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 284
Release: 2011-08-15
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0226200027

Using basic concepts of economic theory, the authors explain the origin and subsequent spread of Roman Christianity, showing first how the standard concepts of risk, cost and benefit can account for the demand for religion.

Roman Religion

Roman Religion
Author: Clifford Ando
Publisher:
Total Pages: 424
Release: 2003
Genre: History
ISBN:

Historiography and method -- Religious institutions and religious authority -- Ritual and myth -- Theology -- Roman and alien -- Continuity and change from Republic to Empire.

The Economy of Roman Religion

The Economy of Roman Religion
Author: Andrew Wilson
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 375
Release: 2023-06-22
Genre: History
ISBN: 0192883534

This interdisciplinary edited volume presents twelve papers by Roman historians and archaeologists, discussing the interconnected relationship between religion and the Roman economy over the period c. 500 BC to AD 350. The connection between Roman religion and the economy has largely been ignored in work on the Roman economy, but this volume explores the many complex ways in which economic and religious thinking and activities were interwoven, from individuals to institutions. The broad geographic and chronological scope of the volume engages with a notable variety of evidence: epigraphic, archaeological, historical, papyrological, and zooarchaeological. In addition to providing case studies that draw from the rich archaeological, documentary, and epigraphic evidence, the volume also explores the different and sometimes divergent pictures offered by these sources (from discrepancies in the cost of religious buildings, to the tensions between piety and ostentatious donation). The edited collection thus bridges economic, social, and religious themes. The volume provides a view of a society in which religion had a central role in economic activity on an institutional to individual scale. The volume allows an evaluation of impact of that activity from both financial and social viewpoints, providing a new perspective on Roman religion - a perspective to which a wide range of archaeological and documentary evidence, from animal bone to coins and building costs, has contributed. As a result, this volume not only provides new information on the economy of Roman religion: it also proposes new ways of looking at existing bodies of evidence.

Literature and Religion at Rome

Literature and Religion at Rome
Author: Denis Feeney
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 180
Release: 1998-01-13
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780521559218

Recent reevaluations of Roman religion by ancient historians have stressed the vitality and creativity of the Romans' religious system throughout its long history of continual adaptation to new challenges. Capitalising on these insights, Denis Feeney argues that Roman literature was not an artificial or parasitic irrelevance in this context, but an important element of the dynamic religious culture, with its own status as another form of religious knowledge. Since Roman culture, both literary and religious, was so thoroughly Hellenised, the book also makes a case for a reconsideration of the traditional antitheses between Greek and Roman literature and religion, arguing against Hellenocentric prejudices and in favour of a more creative model of cultural interaction.

The Roman Empire

The Roman Empire
Author: Peter Garnsey
Publisher: Univ of California Press
Total Pages: 352
Release: 2015
Genre: History
ISBN: 0520285980

During the Principate (roughly 27 BCE to 235 CE), when the empire reached its maximum extent, Roman society and culture were radically transformed. But how was the vast territory of the empire controlled? Did the demands of central government stimulate economic growth or endanger survival? What forces of cohesion operated to balance the social and economic inequalities and high mortality rates? How did the official religion react in the face of the diffusion of alien cults and the emergence of Christianity? These are some of the many questions posed here, in the new, expanded edition of Garnsey and Saller's pathbreaking account of the economy, society, and culture of the Roman Empire. This second edition includes a new introduction that explores the consequences for government and the governing classes of the replacement of the Republic by the rule of emperors. Addenda to the original chapters offer up-to-date discussions of issues and point to new evidence and approaches that have enlivened the study of Roman history in recent decades. A completely new chapter assesses how far Rome’s subjects resisted her hegemony. The bibliography has also been thoroughly updated, and a new color plate section has been added.

The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Religion

The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Religion
Author: Rachel M. McCleary
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 415
Release: 2011-01-27
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0199781281

This is a one-of-kind volume bringing together leading scholars in the economics of religion for the first time. The treatment of topics is interdisciplinary, comparative, as well as global in nature. Scholars apply the economics of religion approach to contemporary issues such as immigrants in the United States and ask historical questions such as why did Judaism as a religion promote investment in education? The economics of religion applies economic concepts (for example, supply and demand) and models of the market to the study of religion. Advocates of the economics of religion approach look at ways in which the religion market influences individual choices as well as institutional development. For example, economists would argue that when a large denomination declines, the religion is not supplying the right kind of religious good that appeals to the faithful. Like firms, religions compete and supply goods. The economics of religion approach using rational choice theory, assumes that all human beings, regardless of their cultural context, their socio-economic situation, act rationally to further his/her ends. The wide-ranging topics show the depth and breadth of the approach to the study of religion.

Pollution and Religion in Ancient Rome

Pollution and Religion in Ancient Rome
Author: Jack J. Lennon
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2014
Genre: History
ISBN: 1107037905

A detailed study of pollution and impurity in Roman religion, offering new theories on a previously neglected, yet vital, subject.

Rulers, Religion, and Riches

Rulers, Religion, and Riches
Author: Jared Rubin
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2017-02-16
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 110703681X

This book seeks to explain the political and religious factors leading to the economic reversal of fortunes between Europe and the Middle East.

The Altars of Republican Rome and Latium

The Altars of Republican Rome and Latium
Author: Claudia Moser
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 227
Release: 2019-01-17
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1108428851

This book reorients the study of sacrifice, examining the locus of ritual action - the altars of Republican Rome and Latium.

Roman Artisans and the Urban Economy

Roman Artisans and the Urban Economy
Author: Cameron Hawkins
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2016-07-19
Genre: Art
ISBN: 1107115442

Vividly reconstructs economic conditions in ancient Roman cities and the socio-economic strategies of artisans who lived in them.