The Divine Economy: How Religions Compete for Wealth, Power, and People

by Paul Seabright

A novel economic interpretation of how religions have become so powerful in the modern world

Religion in the twenty-first century is alive and well across the world, despite its apparent decline in North America and parts of Europe. Vigorous competition between and within religious movements has led to their accumulating great power and wealth. Religions in many traditions have honed their competitive strategies over thousands of years. Today, they are big business; like businesses, they must recruit, raise funds, disburse budgets, manage facilities, organize transportation, motivate employees, and get their message out. In The Divine Economy , economist Paul Seabright argues that religious movements are a special kind of they are platforms, bringing together communities of members who seek many different things from one other—spiritual fulfilment, friendship and marriage networks, even business opportunities. Their function as platforms, he contends, is what has allowed religions to consolidate and wield power.

This power can be used for good, especially when religious movements provide their members with insurance against the shocks of modern life, and a sense of worth in their communities. It can also be used for political leaders often instrumentalize religious movements for authoritarian ends. Religious leaders can exploit the trust of members to inflict sexual, emotional, financial or physical abuse, or to provoke violence against outsiders. Writing in a nonpartisan spirit, Seabright uses insights from economics to show how religion and secular society can work together in a world where some people feel no need for religion, but many continue to respond with enthusiasm to religion’s call.

Genres: Economics, Religion, Politics, Nonfiction, Sociology, Business, Psychology

504 pages, Hardcover

First published May 14, 2024

Reviews

[Celine Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really fascinating, well-structured, and clearly written book that tries to analyze the world’s major religions through an economic lens—arguing that organized religions have rarely been studied in the same way long-lived corporations are, with attention to their bureaucracies, competitive strategies and more.

Along the way, Seabright mobilizes a huge amount of research (especially from historians and sociologists) to consider questions like:

Has modernity led to greater secularization and a decline in religion? (No; but Seabright points out how complicated it is to define “modernity,” “secularization” and “religiosity,” and also explains why the statistics that seem to indicate decline must be carefully interpreted.)

What made certain religions so appealing and long-lasting, and why did they outlast other competitor religions? (The chapters addressing this have an especially interesting discussion on evolutionary psychology explanations for why humans are drawn to narrative.)

How has the relationship between religion and politics changed over time? (Seabright uses a cross-cultural range of examples, over multiple centuries, to suggest that political leaders often seek out the support of religious leaders because they have developed independent power and legitimacy through their believers; religious leaders, in turn, may confer some legitimacy to politicians to secure favorable treatment or increase their monopoly relative to other religions. When this goes wrong, religious leaders can lose trust—because they’re seen as compromising their universal message and values.)

What makes certain religious communities prone to abuse and exploitation, such as sexual abuse in Irish Catholic dioceses? (Seabright splits this up into a few factors and also suggests ways that all communities, not just religious ones, can safeguard against abuse.)

I also appreciated how Seabright is very careful in discussing what the research is/isn’t able to answer, and takes the reader through fairly cogent and accessible explanations on the strengths/weaknesses of different types of data; competing theories and why Seabright favours one over the others…

This was honestly very fun to read!! Full of interesting anecdotes to open each chapter, great for a layperson who actually wants to see sources cited and methodology explained, and full of interesting ideas and references that can be ported over to other domains.

[Tomislav · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is a collection of loosely connected essays in which tools from economics, sociology, political science, and evolutionary psychology are applied to various topics related to religion. Seabright tries to elucidate how different forms of religious behavior are less dependent on personal faith or specific doctrines and more on economic incentives, information processing, and natural instincts. Even though he announces some specific points and methodological ideas at the beginning, the rest of the book is quite meandering, jumping from one region or historical era to another, touching on many topics without providing many memorable conclusions. He discusses numerous cognitive biases that influence people's behavior, different theories of religion, myth-making patterns, hierarchical structures, gender disparities, religion as a platform, franchise etc. Seabright takes a moderate approach to religion as an important social phenomenon, noting both its good and bad effects, and disputes the idea that the significance of religion is globally declining.

The book attempts to cover a wide range of topics but does not go very deep into any one of them, nor does it have a meaningful overall thesis or conclusion. Among the more prominent themes is the idea of religion as a platform and the complex relationship between religion and politics, especially in the contemporary environment of increasing partisan divide. The sections dealing with economics sometimes reminded me of LinkedIn ramblings; I guess I am already tired of hearing how everything is a platform and how there is a business lesson in everything. In case you are wondering – yes, there is also a chapter on AI/LLMs and the metaverse, but cryptocurrencies are surprisingly missing. It is not a bad book, but it lacks focus and the essays vary in quality; some parts are written in an academic style, while others include long-winded stories about the religiosity of some Indian villagers, etc. Overall, even though most of the arguments presented are quite reasonable, it is not a very captivating read. However, you will probably find at least some intriguing ideas scattered throughout the book, historical details that you did not know, recent research and statistics, so it is worth checking out if you are very interested in the topic.

[A]

I read an excerpt of this book here (https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/05/05/...?) and appreciated these quotes below:

"while religious movements may preach in poetry, for their work to be effective they must minister in prose"

"The velvet glove of enchantment clothes an iron fist of organization."

"Religions, in short, are businesses. Like most businesses, they are many other things as well—they’re communities, objects of inspiration or anxiety to observers from outside, cradles of ambition and frustration to their recruits, and theaters of fulfilment or despair to those who invest their lives or their savings within them."

"Whether religions preached a tolerant or an intolerant message...was not the result of some quality inherent in religion, but the result of the incentives that religious leaders faced."

"protection would weaken religious leaders’ incentives to listen to their members"

"The 21st century will not see religion disappear, because religious communities will continue to minister to real human needs more effectively than most available alternatives."

[Greg Wilkinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book and unhesitatingly gave it a 5-star rating. After I finish a book, I usually look at the Goodreads reviews to see if my reading experience differed from others. Usually, I’m in the band with the reviewers, sometimes a little higher, now and again a little lower. But for this book my take is way out of sync with several reviewers who describe the book as “meandering”, “long winded”, and without an “overall thesis or conclusion”.
As a counterpoint to those readers' experiences, I found The Divine Economy to be clearly structured, with a novel but understandable thesis that is explained and supported rigorously, but without overly dense technical detail. The appendix offers much more data, and voluminous endnotes are available for those who want to dive deeper.
The Divine Economy is a fascinating and expertly argued take on why religion is what it is in the world today.

[Popup-ch · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Wallmartization of religion, and Religion as fast food franchise.

In this book Seabright tries to explain how religion has become such an important power (and tool for power) over the millenia. He starts with an observation by Adam Smith that in an environment with multiple competing religions they have to be more competitive, and provide a 'better offer' than in an environment with one single hegemonic religion. This might explain why there are so many protestant sects, but only one (OK - three¹?) Catholic churches.

The book is full of interesting anecdotes, such as the fact that there are two villages in Vanuatu where the late Prince Philip is revered as a reincarnated god. It's also full of rater dense prose with references to scholarly articles for every claim.

He also points out that while there is a growing secularization in 'The West', it's by no means universal. The big religions are still growing in Africa and South America, mostly by encroaching on traditional belief systems. What he only mentions in passing is the changes that this brings to e.g. the Anglican church, that now has many more (and much more active) participants in sub-saharan Africa.

He also claims that the Catholic church is a remarkably 'flat' organization, with all bishops being appointed by the Pope, and all priests responsible to their bishop. It means that any catholic person is only three levels from the Pope! (OK - in practice it's more complicated, with deacons and cardinals and what-not.) This is significantly flatter than most international organizations, and has been achieved by an unprecedented level of 'franchising', whereby the bishops take a hands-off approach to individual priests in their parishes. This worked reasonably well in the past, but has also led to abuses of power, such as the infamous child-molestation cases, where the bishops did know about it, but silently moved the priests elsewhere and hushed it all down.

All in all, the book is written in an erudite, yet friendly tone, with lots of information and references in footnotes, rather than clogging up the central narrative. Personally, I found it a bit too long and detailed, but I'm barely even a layman in this field.

¹ Depending on how you count, you can come up with any number. I was thinking of the Latin Rite, Eastern Rite, and Old Catholicism. There's also sedevacantism etc.

[Christopher Benfer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would say the basic premise of this book is to treat religions like any other organization and look at them from the standpoint of an economist. What are their inputs and outputs? What value do they provide? What competition do they have? While I'm sure some folks will be offended by the concept, and the author says up front that he isn't religious, the concepts apply whether or not you subscribe to the beliefs of any particular religion. Religions are competing for attention and resources in the world and need to be aware of how they do so to be successful.

Seabright opens with a section outlining and defining what he is discussing. One of the more interesting things he states is that while the decline of religion has gotten a lot of attention in the media, it isn't really happening in quite the ways that it is being portrayed. In the first place, the effect isn't global, and in fact many areas are in fact becoming more religious. Second, even the trend in the US doesn't necessarily indicate a trend that will continue, with the author arguing that it will likely stabilize soon.

The next section is probably what I would consider the real meat of the book and covers how religions gain power - social, political, and economic. He spends a lot of time discussing religions as platforms - similar to something like social media. Essentially, at some level the community and the fact that you have members becomes part of the reason to join the religion, not just a feature of it. Seabright argues that most of the actual beliefs are secondary to the platform features in terms of attracting and keeping members, and that the beliefs, rituals, etc become more important for enforcing group norms. While I think this can be taken too far and there are certainly exceptions, it does make some sense and I can see this as a valuable way to look at the growth (or decline) of religions. There is much more to the section, including potential evolutionary drivers for religious belief and the importance of narrative, that I don't have the space to delve into here but I found interesting.

Seabright finishes with a section on what religions do with power. The first portions I thought were fine but not particularly illuminating, but Seabright finished off with a discussion of abuse in religion. Counter to what I would have expected, he basically says that religions themselves don't necessarily lead to abuse when compared to similar secular organizations. He does, however, give some features of organizations that lend themselves to the types of abuse we have seen, and gives some concrete ways for religions (or any other organization) to make changes that would make abuse less common.

The book was generally readable, although a bit dry. I think a change in organization would have helped a bit, as it was hard to tell where he was going with things sometimes. He would make a point and give some backing evidence, but sometimes this felt disconnected from the narrative as a whole. Don't expect something written for the average person to just pick up and read in an airport, but I did think his writing was clear and concise.

Overall, an interesting read, but not one I'm putting at the top of my recommendation list. Part of that might be me - I don't often like things like economic models where I can see where they are going but don't find myself convinced of the usefulness of the model for predicting future events. If you are interested in the study of religion I would say that this book has a very different perspective from anything else I've seen, though, so from that aspect it may be worth your time.

[Alaation · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Evolution of Trust:

Seabright delves into how trust evolved from small tribal societies to global economies. In early human history, cooperation was limited to close-knit groups, but today, billions of strangers interact daily through complex market systems.

He argues that this shift was not inevitable but emerged through gradual evolution and institutional frameworks that mitigated the risks of betrayal.

Markets as Extensions of Human Nature:

The book emphasizes that markets are not separate from human nature; rather, they reflect our innate ability to exchange, negotiate, and build relationships.

Seabright highlights how the marketplace operates similarly to ecological systems, where competition and cooperation coexist.

The Invisible Hand vs. Visible Cooperation:

While Adam Smith's concept of the 'invisible hand' is a central metaphor in economics, Seabright suggests that visible cooperation and governance structures are equally critical.

Institutions, legal systems, and social norms play essential roles in maintaining trust and preventing market failures.

The Fragility of Economic Systems:

Seabright cautions that economic systems, though robust, are not invincible. Crises often emerge when trust is broken or when institutions fail to adapt to new challenges.

He provides historical examples, such as financial collapses, to illustrate how fragile cooperation can be.

Key Takeaways:

Trust is a Scarce Resource: The modern economy relies heavily on trust among strangers. Maintaining and nurturing this trust is essential for economic stability.

Markets Mirror Human Behavior: Economic systems are not purely mechanical; they reflect the complexities and irrationalities of human psychology.

Institutional Support is Crucial: Robust institutions and legal frameworks are necessary to manage risks and sustain large-scale cooperation.

Evolution Over Design: Economic systems evolved over time rather than being intentionally designed. Understanding this evolution helps in addressing modern economic challenges.

Who Should Read This Book:

Business professionals and economists interested in the psychological and anthropological underpinnings of markets.

Anyone curious about how complex cooperation evolved in human societies.

Policymakers looking for insights on maintaining economic stability and fostering cooperation.

Final Thought:
The Divine Economy is not just an economics book; it is a thought-provoking exploration of how humanity has overcome its tribal instincts to build interconnected global systems. By weaving together insights from various disciplines, Seabright offers a compelling narrative about the resilience and vulnerability of the market economy.

[Rama Rao · Rating 4 out of 5]

The operation of market forces, supply, and demand on the faith platform

The religious institutions today are business platforms. They offer a unique service for people seeking spiritual fulfillment and opportunities. The author examines the supply and demand concepts, market/societal forces, and competition among other godly institutions that specialize in providing similar metaphysical and mystical experiences. This analysis focus on how religions attract, retain, and grow. They operate like businesses, competing for wealth, power, and followers at the global level. They have honed their competitive strategies for thousands of years while expanding their influence on masses across nations.

The success of businesses like Microsoft or Apple requires the managers to understand the current structure of their businesses, logistics, and corporate culture in an ever-changing global economy. The same requirements are necessary for the religious institutions except that the latter require faith of their followers in their belief system. The biggest followers are politicians and the government. They grant vast powers to religious movements by establishing them as official religions, by granting them subsidies and tax breaks, and by giving them legal power to punish people who don't accept their authority. Historically this autocratic system worked well for both Islam and Christianity. From battlefield to ballot box, from boardroom to bedroom, religious movements have enjoyed immense power. The most successful religious movements today are those that have been developing and adapting the platform model for the demands of the twenty-first century. A study published in 2016 estimated that faith-based organizations in the United States received revenues of $378 billion which illustrates the enormous inflow of resources. In fact, this is greater than the revenues of Apple and Microsoft combined.

Islam has sought legitimacy in Islamic autocracies in modern world like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Iran, Türkiye, and most Arab countries. Religiosity is a key component of their political strategy. The author reviews the statistical analysis from literature and shows that between 1900 and 2020, Muslim population almost doubled, rising from 12.4% to24.2%. Over the same period, Christianity fell slightly from 34.5% to 32.2%. This work illustrates as how the religions have dominated human lives in many ways imagined. The earlier part of the book focuses on historical aspects of religion and economics.

[Tyna Orren · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why does religion continually fascinate us? In The Divine Economy, economist Paul Seabright explains that religion holds sway over so many because it meets deep needs--needs for meaning in life, and also for human connection, “the fellowship of kindred minds.” Consequently, religion has become a big business, and is booming worldwide. Seabright demonstrates that, like secular businesses, religions of all sects and denominations compete. He deftly traces how religions compete for adherents and power, how successful religions outcompete others, and how power, once acquired, impacts religions. And he convincingly shows how abuses of power within religious organizations may be controlled.

Religions, Seabright shows, operate as “platforms”--institutions that function by facilitating relationships. By filling deep needs, religions gain adherents, leading governments to seek religions’ blessing, and to pay for it with privileges, sometimes even quasi-governmental power.

Religions lose adherents when abuses of power—sexual abuse by Catholic clergy, for example--come to light. Seabright shows how some privileges that governments confer on religions—especially exemptions from requirements to publish internal information—create opportunities for abuse. To preserve religions’ beneficial impacts, Seabright argues that governments must limit these opportunities, and religions themselves must accept rules of transparency that apply to the non-divine economy.

[Александър Стоянов · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paul Seabright has put himself up for the task oft explaining how religions work through the perspective of economics. Reading the book I was expecting to come across some eye opening ideas but I didn't. The thing is religion is like an engine that uses faith as a fuel. And faith can't be explained by the invisible hand of the market nor by taking the means of production. Choosing the way one interacts with the Divine is not a risk aversive decision nor is ot an insurance policy for the afterlife. In addition, faith is a very personal thing and thus it greatly differs between individuals. The idea that you can model a church in a sense one would run a successful business venture is rather more convincing, but still you need to understand the mentality of believers before drawing a larger model. In addition the moment a church elite chooses to run its parish like a business venture is the moment that church walks down the path of decline. States and churches are simply not economic entities, or rather they are not only economic entities and to understand them, you need to approach them trough many perspectives. In this sense, Seabright 's book offers a wonderful economic perspective, but it is just not enough to adequately cover the whole understanding of the chosen topic.

[Jacek Olender · Rating 5 out of 5]

Paul Seabright’s "The Divine Economy" presents a fascinating argument that religious movements function primarily as social platforms. By stripping away the spiritual layer from religions, Seabright offers intriguing insights that are usually hidden beneath theological doctrines. Some might see the book's theses as somewhat provocative — after all, comparing the Catholic Church to Facebook is bound to make a few uneasy. However, Seabright skillfully avoids coming across as an anti-religious crusader.

Unlike Richard Dawkins’ books, "The Divine Economy" doesn’t read like a manifesto by someone hell-bent on proving that religion is the root of all evil. Whether it's Seabright’s straightforward writing style or his lack of an obvious agenda, he manages to make his points without stirring too much controversy. This is quite an achievement, given the usually heated and emotional debates surrounding the topic.

[Christy Matthews · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book started off strong by examining changes in religiousness and affiliation to specific religions, along with benefits people may perceive from being associated with a religious community outside of salvation/karma/etc. Also covered some religious conflicts and differences between different religions (emphasis on specific beliefs vs traditions following vs social community vs attracting members). However, the last 1/3 or so of the book seemingly devolved, and went into topics such as AI.

While not a major issue, the title of the book is a bit misleading as the focus is not on finances or fundraising of religious institutions.

[Dee-Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Think it could have been 1/2 the length and been effective but it was a good read with good anecdotes and stats to help untangle why religions are compelling, why they continue to have legitimacy even in the modern world and how religions compete both intra and inter

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book, but I thought its narrative was more of a lesson in marketing than the economics of religion.

[Pankaj · Rating 1 out of 5]

Verbose, poorly written collection of essays that try and cover a wide range of topics but go nowhere.

Couldn’t finish the book in spite of diligence. Boring.

[Robert C · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent look at the state of the worlds major religions today. Note, the book is a secular look. It is not an attempt at validation for ay particular faith.

[Kai]

Quite a serious and dense sociological essay that took me some time to finish. It was interesting though I had flash horror throwbacks to university days of poring over these essays

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just an astounding book from beginning to end. The breadth of Seabright's understanding is exceptional, a must-read. The Smyth chapter is heartbreaking and revealing. Filled with insights.

[Stephen Hemingway · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best book I've encountered so far on explaining why religions are so successful, and why they actually deliver a lot of value to their adherents (devotees, congregations, etc.).

It's a book that isn't virulently anti-religion, but at the same time isn't written by a priest. It doesn't bother about whether God exists, or what the origins of religion are. It tries to understand religion as a societal phenomenon.

Not only that, but it's a bit too academic, and needs a popular makeover, to make a big impact, maybe something along the lines of “The Dictator's Handbook”, by Bueno de Mesquita, which summarized the key ideas of selectorate theory in non-mathematical terms (not that there are any equations in this book).

It makes some distinctions between types of religions, especially between transcendental and immanent religion (e.g. between Christianity and the pagan religion of the ancient Romans), to explain the ongoing success of the former.

Overall, I'm glad I found this book, and benefitted from reading it. However, writing this now, six months after I finished it, I have a nagging suspicion that there is a much better book waiting to be written on this very topic, by this author or someone else. Religious ideas still shape so much of our secular world that an understanding of it, from a nontheological point of view, seems vitally important. The Overton Window is one that derives from our culture, which is in large part shaped by religion.

There is an interesting aside about John Smythe, QC, who has been in the news recently. The author encountered his camps as a young man.