Religion and Finance


Book Description

Judaism, Christianity and Islam all impose obligations and constraints upon the rightful use of wealth and earthly resources. All three of these religions have well-researched views on the acceptability of practices such as usury but the principles and practices of other, non-interest, financial instruments are less well known. This book examines each of these three major world faiths, considering their teachings, social precepts and economic frameworks, which are set out as a guide for the financial dealings and economic behaviour of their adherents.




Business and Religion


Book Description

This volume elucidates both the diverse texts of the New Testament as well as the larger Jewish, Greek, and Roman worlds in which they were produced. It contains sections with various papers on the "Jewish Background of the New Testament," "Greco-Roman Background of the New Testament," "Jesus and the Gospels," "The Apostle Paul," "Hebrews, the Catholic Epistles, and Revelation," "New Testament Issues and Contexts," "The Text of the New Testament," and "After the New Testament." The volume therefore ranges from the law of Moses and intertestamental period to the First Jewish Revolt of AD 66-73 and the canonization of the New Testament.




Financing American Religion


Book Description

Brings together short essays that emerged from an evaluation of the Lilly Endowment Inc.'s Financing American Religion initiative. Nineteen chapters (some previously published in well known works and others only in difficult-to-find pamphlets) explore who gives, how much, and why. They investigate how money moves and how it affects religious organizational behavior as well as how attitudes toward money have altered over time. Topics include individual giving as well as congregations and religious organizations and their resources. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR




Islamic Law and Finance


Book Description

Mirroring the expansion of wealth in the Middle East and Asia and a surge in Islamic self-identity, Islamic banking practices have either become the law of the land or coexist and compete with Western practices in at least six countries. A growing number of institutions and mutual funds (akin to Western ''socially responsible'' funds) have established Islamic investment and other practices to cater to this burgeoning market. Because of its prevalence, practitioners in every banking-related area must familiarize themselves with current Islamic finance practices in order to do business with Muslim clients and to engage in cross-border financing. Injunctions from the "Qur'an and the sayings of Prophet Muhammed have generated a web of interrelated norms which prohibit Islamic financiers from engaging in transactions that involve interest "(riba) and speculation "(gharar). "Islamic Law and Finance describes the dynamic set of Islamically-sanctioned ways financiers can transacat business.




Rich is a Religion


Book Description

If you're stressed about your financial future, stuck at a job that you hate, or feel trapped by your income, Rich Is a Religion is a road map that will help you transform your life. By showing you the mindset of millionaires and billionaires, you'll learn how to make more money than you ever thought possible and how to preserve this money for your entire life. With the insights found here, you'll quickly discover how to create a solid financial base and channel your money to maximize the gift of life.




Christianity and the New Spirit of Capitalism


Book Description

One of the world’s most celebrated theologians argues for a Protestant anti-work ethicIn his classic The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber famously showed how Christian beliefs and practices could shape persons in line with capitalism. In this significant reimagining of Weber’s work, Kathryn Tanner provocatively reverses this thesis, arguing that Christianity can offer a direct challenge to the largely uncontested growth of capitalism.Exploring the cultural forms typical of the current finance-dominated system of capitalism, Tanner shows how they can be countered by Christian beliefs and practices with a comparable person-shaping capacity. Addressing head-on the issues of economic inequality, structural under- and unemployment, and capitalism’s unstable boom/bust cycles, she draws deeply on the theological resources within Christianity to imagine anew a world of human flourishing. This book promises to be one of the most important theological books in recent years.




Religion and the Morality of the Market


Book Description

This book focuses on how neoliberal market practices engender new forms of religiosity, and how religiosity shapes economic actions.




Investor Behavior


Book Description

WINNER, Business: Personal Finance/Investing, 2015 USA Best Book Awards FINALIST, Business: Reference, 2015 USA Best Book Awards Investor Behavior provides readers with a comprehensive understanding and the latest research in the area of behavioral finance and investor decision making. Blending contributions from noted academics and experienced practitioners, this 30-chapter book will provide investment professionals with insights on how to understand and manage client behavior; a framework for interpreting financial market activity; and an in-depth understanding of this important new field of investment research. The book should also be of interest to academics, investors, and students. The book will cover the major principles of investor psychology, including heuristics, bounded rationality, regret theory, mental accounting, framing, prospect theory, and loss aversion. Specific sections of the book will delve into the role of personality traits, financial therapy, retirement planning, financial coaching, and emotions in investment decisions. Other topics covered include risk perception and tolerance, asset allocation decisions under inertia and inattention bias; evidenced based financial planning, motivation and satisfaction, behavioral investment management, and neurofinance. Contributions will delve into the behavioral underpinnings of various trading and investment topics including trader psychology, stock momentum, earnings surprises, and anomalies. The final chapters of the book examine new research on socially responsible investing, mutual funds, and real estate investing from a behavioral perspective. Empirical evidence and current literature about each type of investment issue are featured. Cited research studies are presented in a straightforward manner focusing on the comprehension of study findings, rather than on the details of mathematical frameworks.




The Oxford Handbook of the Economics of Religion


Book Description

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.




Religion, Economics and Demography


Book Description

Using the tools of economics, this book analyses how religion affects decisions and outcomes in a wide range of areas, including education, employment, family size, entry into cohabitation and formal marriage, the choice of spouse and divorce. In each case, the relationships are rigorously quantified based on multivariate statistical analyses of large scale US data. The results show, for example, that when people marry outside their faith, there is an increase in the probability of divorce, the magnitude of the adverse effect depending in part on the ecumenical/exclusivist nature of the two religions. Other analyses show that youth who grow up with some religion in their lives are less likely than their counterparts with little or no religious involvement to drop out of high school or enter cohabiting arrangements at a young age. Overall, both religious affiliation and the extent of participation in religious activities are found to have far-reaching implications for economic and demographic behaviour. The book contains a wealth of data illustrating how the religious and secular realms of people’s lives are intimately intertwined. With its economic perspective, it offers new ways of thinking about these relationships and is a valuable resource for students and scholars interested in the role of religion in education, work and the family.