Religion and Commerce in Early Modern Europe Essay -- European History

Class discussions about unearthly history inevitably operate to the question of whether phantasmal ideals throughout history remain absolute or are relative to the social, political andeconomic trends of the time. For example, students are sometimes maladjusted to learn that in earlyChristian history, conversion was often in response to economic or political benefits rather than sacred fervor. Naturally, at the Catholic prep school where I teach, students want to believe spiritual ideals and rhetoric are absolute. Yet, when studying the role of religion in influencesocieties, one cannot help but be struck by the runniness of religious rhetoric. Although such(prenominal) adiscovery may be self-evident to some, it is important for students to understand that we still live in a adult male where people make important social and political decisions based on moral absolutes, withan insistence on traditional and un channeliseable religious values. It is essential, therefore, thatteach ers of religious history promote discussion on the possible flexibility of religiousideologies is religious rhetoric part of an unwavering, scriptural tradition, or do those who institutionalize religion create the rhetoric? Moreover, do human self-interest and socio-economicchange always trump religion? Are social ideologies always stronger than religious tradition?After studying the creation of a modern industrial economy in Europe for these five weeks, I am convince that analyzing the evolution of religious rhetoric in early modern Europe, which issuch a transitional phase of history, can illuminate how social, political, economic and heathenishchange can guide or completely alter the moral philosophy and ideologies of a society.Eric Hobsbawm and Keith Wrightson both argue th... ... crude Press, 1999.Lynn, Martin. British Policy, Trade, and Informal Empire in the Mid-Nineteenth Century.In The Oxford History of the British Empire, the Nineteenth Century, vol III, edited byAndre w Porter, 101-121. Oxford, naked as a jaybird York Oxford University Press, 1999.More, Thomas. Utopia. Translated by Paul Turner. London Penguin Books, 2003.OBrien, Patrick. Inseparable Connections Trade, Economy, Fiscal State, and the working out ofEmpire, 1688-1815. In The Oxford History of the British Empire, The EighteenthCentury, vol. II, edited by P.J. Marshall, 54-77. Oxford, New York Oxford UniversityPress, 1998.____. Mercantilism and Imperialism in the Rise and Decline of the Dutch and BritishEconomies 1585-1815. De economic expert 148, no. 4 (2000) 469-501.Wrightson, Keith. Earthly Necessities. New Haven and London Yale University Press, 2000.