Hobson - God and Mammon

Routledge Revivals

First published in 1931, this is an attempt by the great economist J. A. Hobson to analyse the relations between economics and religion. After considering the origins of the conflicts and compromises between God and Mammon in the life of primitive man, the author concerns himself primarily with medieval and modern Christianity and the business climate and ethos corresponding with these periods. In particular he focuses upon Catholicism and Protestantism, before considering the attitude of the church towards modern economic movements.

The Relations of Religion and Economics

J. A. Hobson

First published in 1931
by C. A. Watts & Co Ltd

This edition first published in 2011 by Routledge
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A Library of Congress record exists under LC Control Number: 32000088

ISBN 13: 978-0-415-69990-7 (hbk)
ISBN 13: 978-0-203-12741-4 (ebk)

The Forum Series.No. 13.

GOD AND MAMMON

THE RELATIONS OF
RELIGION AND ECONOMICS

BY

J. A. HOBSON

LONDON:

WATTS & CO.,

5 & 6 JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET STREET, E.C.4

FIRST PUBLISHED, JUNE 1931

PRINTED AND PUBLISHED IN GREAT BRITAIN FOR THE RATIONALIST PRESS ASSOCIATION LIMITED BY C. A. WATTS & CO. LIMITED, 5 & 6 JOHNSON'S COURT, FLEET STREET, LONDON, E.C. 4

T HIS brief attempt at an intelligible analysis and survey of the relations between economics and religion has some difficulties to encounter. Even had I possessed the necessary knowledge, spacial limits would have precluded an extension of my enquiry into all or most of the great religions of the world. Even the most condensed statement of facts in so many fields would have left no scope for the necessary interpretation.

Under such circumstances it seemed best, after a short preliminary chapter dealing with the beginnings of the conflicts and compromises of God and Mammon as shown in the life of primitive man, to confine myself to selected studies in medieval and modern Christianity, and in the business life coeval with these religious phases, so as to bring out most clearly the mingled aspects of discord and harmony.

Particular attention is given to the attitude adopted towards modern business life by what Matthew Arnold termed the Protestantism of the Protestant Religion as illustrated in the Calvinist churches of Western Europe, in Wesleyanism, among Baptists and Quakers, chiefly in Britain and the United States. The material aid rendered by God and Mammon to one another in the pursuit of this world's goods demands a closer psychological analysis than has here been possible. But I take it to be a main purpose of this Forum Series to stimulate thought and evoke study in many readers. Though an increasing volume of attention has in recent years been devoted to the relation between Capitalism and Religion, some of the richest fields still remain unexplored. Readers of this essay will readily recognise how deep a debt I owe to Mr. R. H. Tawney's work, Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, as well as to several other recent writers.

J. A. H.

February, 1931