If you want to propose a review, or alert me to one that has appeared and that is not mentioned on this page, you can contact me here.
Reviews and interviews:
In English:
1) By Sascha Becker, forthcoming in the Journal of Economic Literature:
“[A]n insightful and enjoyable read. [Seabright’s] platform view makes for a fresh look at religious organizations. I suspect that all scholars of religion economics will find the book equally insightful. For those less familiar with the economics of religion, the book is also an easy-to-read launchpad to the field. . . it will enthuse broad-minded social scientists as well. Finally, since the book addresses ‘big questions’ in an accessible and engaging style, it will also be of interest to nonspecialists.”
2) In The Economist – “God™: an ageing product outperforms expectations”:
“The Divine Economy looks at how religions attract followers, money and power and argues that they are businesses—and should be analysed as such.
Professor Seabright calls religions “platforms”, businesses that “facilitate relationships”. (Other economists refer to religions as “clubs” or “glue”.) He then takes a quick canter through the history, sociology and economics of religions to illustrate this. The best parts of this book deal with economics, which the general reader will find enlightening.”
3) By Jane Shaw, in The Financial Times – “Is religion just like business?”:
“A wide-ranging book, full of fascinating examples from the world’s many religions…Using his economist’s tools to analyse the lasting power of the world’s religions, Seabright has produced an engaging and insightful book, which I found myself pondering long after I had read the last page. Religion is a powerful force in many parts of the world. The religions that continue to be successful in a rapidly changing environment, he concludes, keep evolving to remain so.”
4) By Martin Wolf, in The Financial Times‘ Best summer books of 2024: Economics:
“Seabright has a great talent for addressing original questions. In this book, he reverses the familiar trope that religion is the antithesis of mere economics. On the contrary, he argues, religions are competing businesses: they attract people by providing services they value, from the mundane — a community in which to find a compatible mate — to the sublime — a sense of life’s meaning. Since these wants will not disappear, neither will religions. But, he concludes rather encouragingly, religions will fail if they choose to shackle themselves to tyrants. One hopes he is right.” See an associated DALLE image here.
5) By Shadi Hamid in Foreign Affairs: “Secular stagnation: How Religion Endures in a Godless Age”.
“The Divine Economy is an ambitious work that attempts to think economically about something that so often seems beyond the grasp of the social sciences….As Seabright puts it, “Without economic resources behind them, the most beautifully crafted messages will struggle to gain a hearing in the cacophony of life.” It is rare and even refreshing to have a book about the rise of religion that concludes, in a sense, that it’s the economy, stupid…..If there were a world in which people cared only about calculating their economic self-interest, the power of religion would be significantly blunted. But the world does not quite work that way—and, if Seabright’s analysis is any indication, it won’t any time soon.”
6) With Stephen Scott in the Starling Compendium, pp. 409-414: “An Interview with Paul Seabright”, covers both The Divine Economy and The Company of Strangers.
7) By Jonathan Benthall in The Times Literary Supplement: “The free market in faith: viewing religion through the lens of economics”.
“Combining tough-mindedness and cultural sensitivity, Paul Seabright may help to bring religion nearer to the mainstream of international political debate.”
8) By Arnold Kling in EconLib: “The Religion Business”.
There is a “tension between the narrow definition of religion and Seabright’s broader platform perspective. If religion were merely the belief in certain animal spirits, then at least in the United States we would be happy to rely on the First Amendment and a tolerant attitude of, “sure, whatever floats your boat.” But as platforms, religions have an impact on the economy, on politics, and on social relations in general. Friction would seem to be inevitable, and it becomes unclear how best to apply the First Amendment.”
9) By Atul K. Shah in The LSE Review of Books blog:
“The Divine Economy draws from the insights of sociology, anthropology, psychology, political economy and philosophy to show the deep the effect of faith in everyday life and explains why religiosity has been dynamic rather than static, and creative in response to the challenges of modernity. It shows how the prediction that secularism would prevail in an age of science and reason has been proved wrong, precisely because religion provides people with meaning, purpose and community, which secularism alone often fails to deliver. For me, religion’s scope and challenge has been truly ambitious, and the book has risen to this through a structured organisation, beautiful narratives and accessible language, authoritative open-minded research, all compiled from decades of study of the economics of religion.”
10) By an anonymous reviewer in The Interim:
“Paul Seabright, an economist at the Toulouse School of Economics, ambitiously applies not only economics but anthropology, history, philosophy, political science, psychology, science, and sociology, to understand how the world’s religions…attract and retain followers and thus money and power to sustain themselves over time. Furthermore, Seabright does so looking beyond the Abrahamic religions and all in 341 pages before landing at the statistical appendix, endnotes, bibliography, and index….Seabright is on to something when he says that secularism has not succeeded because religion provides people with meaning, purpose, and community that is not available elsewhere; even in our increasingly secular cultures, billions of people still claim (if not always practice) their faith, and examining why through an interdisciplinary lens and economic reasoning helps explain why.”
11) By Mark Koyama, on his substack:
“The Divine Economy is an original and important contribution to the economics of religion. It is accessible and readable but there is also much for specialists and scholars to discuss and debate.”
12) By Helen Nicholls for the National Secular Society: “Paul Seabright’s economic perspective on religion provides useful insights into the power of religious institutions – and how religious privilege can be countered”:
“Religious privilege exists when religious beliefs and interests are treated as more important than secular ones. Discussion of religion often rests on the presumption that it is inherently special. Paul Seabright’s new book, The Divine Economy: How religions compete for wealth, power and people, offers a different approach to religion by viewing it through an economic lens…..The Divine Economy is refreshing in that it is neither pro nor anti religion. Seabright recognises that from an economic perspective, religions operate in a similar manner to other organisations and are as susceptible to corruption and abuse as other institutions. His answer is religious organisations should be just as accountable. He is clear that the relationship between religion and the state will always present challenges that we must be prepared to face head on for the benefit of religious and non-religious people alike.”
13) By Nick Spencer in The Church Times:
“The Divine Economy is an intelligent, wide-ranging, and well-researched book offering a helpful economic lens through which to interpret religion. “
14) By an anonymous reviewer in The Times of India: “Why Religion is Big Business“:
“Paul Seabright’s The Divine Economy explores how religions function like global businesses, competing for resources and adherents. The book examines how religious authority is gained and used, and the role of persuasion versus coercion. It highlights the corporatisation of religions and its implications, emphasising the religious platforms thrive better through persuasion rather than force.”
15) By David Voas in Ethnic and Racial Studies:
“The Divine Economy is a big book, both literally and figuratively. The text alone runs to about 130,000 words, followed by 88 pages of small-font endnotes and references. The title hints at the scale of the ambition: the book amounts to a sole-authored handbook of the scientific study of religion, starting with the question ‘What is religion?’ (Ch. 1) and continuing from there….Seabright has clearly read a tremendous amount, and the scope of the work is imposing. I doubt that anyone is fully competent to assess the whole book: I confess to having little expertise on many of the issues he covers. His writing is always interesting and often persuasive, but as I find the work superficial or mistaken on the topics I know about, my confidence is reduced in his conclusions more generally.”
16) By Miguel Petrosky in The Revealer: “Winning the Religious Marketplace“:
“Seabright’s canvas of the global religious landscape is painted with subtlety; the breadth of his book is global and draws from various episodes of world history and economic thought, yet his arguments offer insights on America’s political and religious climate at this moment.”
In French:
1) By Jean Duchesne in Aleteia – “En quoi la foi n’est pas étrangère aux réalités économiques”. Not so much a review as a short overview of different approaches to the use of economics to study religion.
2) With Thomas Mahler in l’Express: “Au niveau mondial, le christianisme n’est pas en déclin face à l’islam”.
3) By Bertrand Jacquillat in l’Opinion: “Plateformes numériques et religions: rivalités et concurrence”:
“Il peut paraître iconoclaste de soumettre l’espace religieux à l’analyse économique. Les religions pourtant s’y prêtent, du fait qu’elles partagent certaines des caractéristiques des organisations séculaires, et bénéficient d’une puissance financière indéniable”.
4) A short but favourable review by an anonymous reviewer in books.fr: “Les religions comme marques”.
5) By Julien Damon in Les Echos: “Les religions, des firmes comme les autres“:
“Dans le prolongement d’un Adam Smith, qui s’intéressait à la compétition des religions et à leurs relations avec l’univers politique, et à partir d’un vaste ensemble de travaux académiques, il publie un livre passionnant…Seabright réussit l’exploit, sur un sujet aussi dense, de produire un panorama, en bien des points, captivant…Cet ouvrage original et percutant, d’économie mais aussi de sociologie, mérite d’être traduit.”
In German:
1) By Rainer Hank in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung: “Warum Religionen nicht totzukriegen sind”:
“Zwischen 1850 und 1950 erlebte der deutsche Katholizismus eine seiner größten Blüten in der Kirchengeschichte. Zufall? Nein, so lese ich es in einem faszinierenden Buch des britischen Ökonomen Paul Seabright, der an der Universität Toulouse lehrt. „The Divine Economy“ heißt das Buch. Die These: Religionen sind nicht totzukriegen. Der Forscher schreibt sine ira et studio; er argumentiert weder als Religionskritiker noch als Anwalt der Kirchen, sondern strikt als Wirtschaftswissenschaftler…..Da geht es den hiesigen Kirchen nicht anders als dem von Uber attackierten Taxigewerbe. Mehr und nicht weniger Wettbewerb, eine radikale Trennung vom Staatskirchenrecht, wäre die Empfehlung des Ökonomen für die Rückgewinnung von kirchlicher Innovation. Wer glaubt, dass es so kommt, wird selig.”
Other references in the print media:
1) Editorial in The Times of India: “Why Religion is Big Business: an economic lens might explain its fortunes”. Not so much a review as an editorial opinion piece that summarises (approvingly) the book’s main arguments:
“God’s work is worldly work, and religions are businesses like any other, argues The Divine Economy…”. Full editorial here.
2) By Andrew Brown in The Church Times – “Using economics to explain religion has limits”. So, apparently, does reviewing a review of the book instead of reviewing the book itself, since Brown apparently believes the author is one Paul Seagate…. My letter to the Church Times correcting the spelling is here.
3) By John L Allen Jr in The Catholic Herald: “Africa calling: Westerners must accept that Catholicism’s centre of gravity is shifting.” The article begins:
“British academic Paul Seabright recently published an intriguing new book called The Divine Economy, which attempts to offer an economic analysis of religion. For admirers of belief, it includes the consoling premise that “religion is not in decline; it is, in many ways, more powerful than it has ever been”.
To prove the point, Seabright wanted to open with a vignette to capture the enduring appeal of religious faith. It was natural, arguably even inevitable, that he chose a setting in Africa – specifically, a Pentecostal megachurch in Accra, the capital city of Ghana, where his heroine, Grace, devotes a considerable portion of her meagre income to supporting the lavish lifestyle of Pastor William.”
Podcasts and radio interviews:
With Rory Cellan-Jones and Iza Hussin on Crossing Channels, the IAST podcast.
With Mike Fallat on Million Dollar Stories.
With Alison Kuhlow and Roger Goldman on Mountain Money on National Public Radio.
With Chris Voss on The Chris Voss Show.
With Matthew Wilkin on The Sociology Show Podcast (video link to the episode here).
With Vivek Shankar on The Interesting Podcast.
With Louise Perry on her podcast Maiden Mother Matriarch (link to follow).
With Michael Shermer.
With Richard Aedy on The Money (Australian Broadcasting Corporation).
