IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/ratsoc/v26y2014i4p397-424.html

From Jesus to Christianity: The economics of sacrifice

Author

Listed:
  • Mario Ferrero

Abstract

This article models the birth of a new religion from the ashes of apocalyptic prophecy. Christianity started around the imminent expectation of God’s Kingdom. Followers forsook worldly opportunities to prepare for the event. As the Kingdom’s arrival tarried, they found themselves “trapped†because those sacrifices—like transaction-specific investments—were wasted if they dropped out. This provided incentives to stay and transform the faith. Such effort, enhanced by reaction to the cognitive dissonance caused by prophecy failure, turned an apocalyptic movement into an established church. A survey of other apocalyptic groups confirms that dropout costs are critical to explaining outcomes.

Suggested Citation

  • Mario Ferrero, 2014. "From Jesus to Christianity: The economics of sacrifice," Rationality and Society, , vol. 26(4), pages 397-424, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:26:y:2014:i:4:p:397-424
    DOI: 10.1177/1043463114546314
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1043463114546314
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1043463114546314?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Akerlof, George A & Dickens, William T, 1982. "The Economic Consequences of Cognitive Dissonance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(3), pages 307-319, June.
    2. James D. Montgomery, 1996. "Dynamics Of The Religious Economy," Rationality and Society, , vol. 8(1), pages 81-110, February.
    3. Brams, Steven J., 2012. "Game Theory and the Humanities: Bridging Two Worlds," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262518252, December.
    4. Iannaccone, Laurence R, 1992. "Sacrifice and Stigma: Reducing Free-Riding in Cults, Communes, and Other Collectives," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 100(2), pages 271-291, April.
    5. Ekelund Jr., Robert B. & Tollison, Robert D., 2011. "Economic Origins of Roman Christianity," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226200026.
    6. Mario Ferrero, 2013. "The Cult of Martyrs," Journal of Conflict Resolution, Peace Science Society (International), vol. 57(5), pages 881-904, October.
    7. Mario Ferrero, 2014. "Competition between Judaism and Christianity: Paul's Galatians as Entry Deterrence," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 204-226, May.
    8. Eli Berman, 2000. "Sect, Subsidy, and Sacrifice: An Economist's View of Ultra-Orthodox Jews," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(3), pages 905-953.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mario Ferrero, 2014. "Competition between Judaism and Christianity: Paul's Galatians as Entry Deterrence," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 204-226, May.
    2. Mario Ferrero, 2021. "From Polytheism to Monotheism: Zoroaster and Some Economic Theory," Homo Oeconomicus: Journal of Behavioral and Institutional Economics, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 77-108, December.
    3. Pavol Minarik, 2022. "The persistence of opposition in an oppressive regime: The case of the Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia," Rationality and Society, , vol. 34(2), pages 218-236, May.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Pavol Minarik, 2022. "The persistence of opposition in an oppressive regime: The case of the Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia," Rationality and Society, , vol. 34(2), pages 218-236, May.
    2. Mario Ferrero, 2014. "Competition Between Exclusive Religions: The Counter-Reformation As Entry Deterrence," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 61(3), pages 280-303, July.
    3. Makowsky, Michael D., 2011. "A theory of liberal churches," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 61(1), pages 41-51, January.
    4. Pavol Minárik, 2013. "Ekonomie náboženství a její relevance pro ekonomy ve střední Evropě [Economics of Religion and its Relevance for Economists in Central Europe]," Politická ekonomie, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2013(5), pages 691-704.
    5. Mark Koyama & Jean-Paul Carvalho, "undated". "Development and Religious Polarization: The Emergence of Reform and Ultra-Orthodox Judaism," Discussion Papers 11/11, Department of Economics, University of York.
    6. Carvalho, Jean-Paul & Koyama, Mark, 2016. "Jewish emancipation and schism: Economic development and religious change," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(3), pages 562-584.
    7. Gilat Levy & Ronnie Razin, 2009. "Religious Organizations," STICERD - Theoretical Economics Paper Series 544, Suntory and Toyota International Centres for Economics and Related Disciplines, LSE.
    8. Ran Abramitzky, 2008. "The Limits of Equality: Insights from the Israeli Kibbutz," Discussion Papers 07-048, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
    9. Francisco Costa & Angelo Marcantonio & Rudi Rocha, 2023. "Stop Suffering! Economic Downturns and Pentecostal Upsurge," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 21(1), pages 215-250.
    10. Mario Ferrero, 2014. "Competition between Judaism and Christianity: Paul's Galatians as Entry Deterrence," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 67(2), pages 204-226, May.
    11. Charles Miller, 2024. "Martial races as clubs? The institutional logic of the martial race system of British India," Rationality and Society, , vol. 36(3), pages 345-372, August.
    12. Makowsky, Michael, 2009. "Religious Extremism, Clubs, and Civil Liberties: A Model of Religious Populations," MPRA Paper 14358, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    13. Kimbrough, Erik O. & Rubin, Jared & Sheremeta, Roman M. & Shields, Timothy W., 2015. "Commitment problems in conflict resolution," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 33-45.
    14. Li Han & Tao Li, 2021. "Marketing Communist Party membership in China," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 188(1), pages 241-268, July.
    15. Mark Koyama, 2024. "Analyzing the medieval church through an economic lens," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 201(1), pages 53-60, October.
    16. Roth, M. Garrett & Skarbek, David, 2014. "Prison Gangs and the Community Responsibility System," Review of Behavioral Economics, now publishers, vol. 1(3), pages 223-243, May.
    17. Ennio E. Piano, 2018. "Outlaw and economics: Biker gangs and club goods," Rationality and Society, , vol. 30(3), pages 350-376, August.
    18. Dehejia, Rajeev & DeLeire, Thomas & Luttmer, Erzo F.P., 2007. "Insuring consumption and happiness through religious organizations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(1-2), pages 259-279, February.
    19. Apolte, Thomas & Müller, Julia, 2022. "The persistence of political myths and ideologies," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    20. Seror, Avner, 2018. "A theory on the evolution of religious norms and economic prohibition," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 416-427.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:ratsoc:v:26:y:2014:i:4:p:397-424. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.