Affluence, agricultural productivity and the rise of moralizing religion in the ancient Mediterranean

KAŠE, Vojtěch and Tomáš GLOMB. Affluence, agricultural productivity and the rise of moralizing religion in the ancient Mediterranean. Religion Brain & Behavior. Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2022, vol. 13, No 2, p. 202-206. ISSN 2153-599X. Available from: https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2022.2065350.

Basic information

• Original name: Affluence, agricultural productivity and the rise of moralizing religion in the ancient Mediterranean
• Authors: KAŠE, Vojtěch and Tomáš GLOMB.
• Edition: Religion Brain & Behavior, Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis Ltd, 2022, 2153-599X.

Other information

• Original language: English
• Type of outcome: Article in a journal
• Field of Study: 60304 Religious studies
• Country of publisher: United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
• Confidentiality degree: is not subject to a state or trade secret
• WWW: URL
• Impact factor: Impact factor: 2.200
• Organization unit: Faculty of Arts
• Doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/2153599X.2022.2065350
• UT WoS: 000818877600001
• Keywords in English: Affluence; Prosperity; Agriculture; Moralizing Religions; Antiquity; Data analysis
• Tags: International impact, Reviewed

Abstract

In this study, we focus on the way the authors of the target article (Peter Turchin et al.(2022) Explaining the rise of moralizing religions: a test of competing hypotheses using the Seshat Databank, Religion, Brain & Behavior) approach affluence and its role in the emergence of moralizing religions. In their analysis, they employ agricultural productivity as a proxy for affluence and operationalize it by means of Seshat’s Agri variable. While we believe that Agri might offer useful insights concerning the history of agriculture, we argue that it is not appropriate to employ it as a proxy for affluence in assessment of affluence-based accounts of moralizing religions (esp. Baumard et al., 2015). In support of our argument, we offer a more detailed look at the Agri data for four of Seshat’s natural geographic areas (NGAs) from the Mediterranean Sea region (MSR) from ca. 1000 BCE to 1000 CE and compare them with alternative approaches to affluence commonly used in the literature.

Links

• GA20-01464S, research and development project: Name: Kulturní evoluce moralizujících náboženství ve starověkém Středomoří: Přístup distančního čtení (Acronym: CEMRAM)

Investor: Czech Science Foundation