Elye Kehat L&S Social Sciences
‘Usury’ and The Dynamics Of Religious Co-Production
Prohibitions against lending with interest, or ‘usury,’ are found in the earliest texts of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. While shared origins are acknowledged by many scholars, the subsequent histories of religious conceptions of usury are treated as unambiguously divergent. This study seeks to complicate traditional accounts of financial and religious history by reframing usury as “co-produced”: rather than developing independently within each religion, ideas and practices pertaining to lending with interest were created and continuously transformed by interreligious polemics, commercial partnerships, adaptive exegesis, and legal regulations of ethnic and religious minorities. My project explores these dynamics through case studies from Roman Judea, 7th-century Arabia, 12th-century Egypt, and 13th-century England. Through these diverse contexts, I demonstrate the complex dynamics of co-production; at times fostering tolerance and coexistence, at others stigmatization, segregation, expulsion, or violent destruction. I hope this study will provide insight into the dynamics of religious co-production – and foster mutual understanding between Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
Message To Sponsor
I would like to extend my utmost gratitude to SURF’s donors, who‘ve given me a unique chance to combine two passions of mine – economics and the history of religion – into an interdisciplinary project. This research fellowship and the generous grant made possible work I could not otherwise pursue. Thank you for your support; your contribution to my own project, to student researchers more broadly, and to the wider UC Berkeley community is immeasurable.