From Jesus to Christianity: The economics of sacrifice

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.

The persistence of opposition in an oppressive regime: The case of the Catholic Church in Czechoslovakia

“…Thus, the more optimistically the individual regards the future, the more likely she is to join and get trapped in the group. This is where the reaction to cognitive dissonance may appear, as described by Ferrero (2014), so that the religious activity of those members does not drop significantly.…”

“…The individual derives her utility from secular consumption S and religious activity R. Let us assume (with Ferrero 2014) quasi-linear preferences, where the utility in each period is given bywhere α is the productivity parameter that represents (subjectively perceived) religious freedom in the society and v′R>0, v″RR<0, v′K>0, and v″KK<0. The sacrifice, interpreted as acquisition of religious capital, increases the utility from religious activity, that is, v″RK>0.…”

“…Second, let us consider the choice in period one. Unlike in Ferrero’s (2014) model, no individual expects the end of the world after period one; thus, we must introduce discounting. Parameter δ represents the discount factor for period two.…”

From Polytheism to Monotheism: Zoroaster and Some Economic Theory

“…Furthermore, unlike Jesus of Nazareth and many early Christians, Zoroaster was not martyred and martyrdom has no place in the religion's tradition; and unlike Moses, other Jewish prophets, Jesus, many Christian saints and martyrs, and the prophet Muhammad, neither he nor his followers are reported as performing miracles (Woodward, 2000). Hence, two of the most powerful engines of historical conversion to monotheism (as modeled in Ferrero, 2014aFerrero, , 2016 are missing in Zoroastrianism, which makes its success and persistence all the more remarkable.…”

“…Comparisons with these two polytheistic systems will help to put Zoroastrianism into analytical perspective. On the other hand, the paper contributes to the meager economic literature on the birth of monotheism, which includes Raskovich's (1996) pioneering work on Judaism as well as Ferrero's (2014aFerrero's ( , 2014bFerrero's ( , 2016 on Christianity.…”