The economics of religion is a relatively new field of research in economics. This survey serves two purposes--it is backward-looking in that it traces the historical and sociological origins of this field, and it is forward-looking in that it examines the insights and research themes that are offered by economists to investigate religion globally in the modern world. Several factors have influenced the economics of religion: (1) new developments in theoretical models including spatial models of religious markets and evolutionary models of religious traits; (2) empirical work that addresses innovatively econometric identification in examining causal influences on religious behavior; (3) new research in the economic history of religion that considers religion as an independent, rather than a dependent, variable; and (4) more studies of religion outside the Western world. Based on these developments, this paper discusses four themes--first, secularization, pluralism, regulation, and economic growth; second, religious markets, club goods, differentiated products, and networks; third, identification including secular competition and charitable giving; and fourth, conflict and cooperation in developing societies. In reviewing this paradoxically ancient yet burgeoning field, this paper puts forward unanswered questions for scholars of the economics of religion to reflect upon in years to come.

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The New Economics of Religion

It is widely assumed that a well-designed and well-implemented constitution can help ensure religious harmony in modern states. Yet how correct is this assumption? Drawing on groundbreaking research from Sri Lanka, this book argues persuasively for another possibility: when it comes to religion, relying on constitutional law may not be helpful, but harmful; constitutional practice may give way to pyrrhic constitutionalism. Written in a lucid and direct style, and aimed at both specialists and non-specialists, Buddhism, Politics and the Limits of Law explains why constitutional law has deepened, rather than diminished, conflicts over religion in Sri Lanka. Examining the roles of Buddhist monks, civil society groups, political coalitions and more, the book provides the first extended study of the legal regulation of religion in Sri Lanka as well as the first book-length analysis of the intersections of Buddhism and contemporary constitutional law.

Buddhism, Politics and the Limits of Law: The Pyrrhic Constitutionalism of Sri Lanka

Le lignage rNgog etait un lignage religieux hereditaire qui s’est epanoui au Tibet entre le XIe et le XVe siecle et a participe a l’efflorescence de plusieurs transmissions tantriques toujours vivantes dans le bouddhisme tibetain contemporain. Cette these est l’histoire du lignage religieux rNgog pa bKa’ brgyud qui puise ses sources dans le Xe siecle indien, s’est acculture au Tibet grâce aux efforts du traducteur Mar pa Chos kyi blo gros (1000 ?-1081 ?) et a traverse le second millenaire. C’est aussi l’histoire du lignage familial rNgog, depuis ses origines mythiques jusqu’a sa plenitude au XIIe siecle et son extinction silencieuse dans le tumulte des transformations politiques du XVIIe siecle tibetain. Cette etude s’appuie sur deux recits composes au sein du lignage rNgog et qui se trouvent au carrefour de l’hagiographie, de la genealogie et des recueils d’enseignements recus. Elle est encadree par deux volumineuses collections d’exegeses et de rituels tantriques. La premiere, le Tresor des Mantras bKa’ brgyud, a ete compilee au XIXe siecle dans le but de sauvegarder et de faciliter la transmission des traditions Mar rngog. La seconde, le Compilation des Cycles rNgog, a ete publie il y a une dizaine d’annees mais contient des materiaux anciens composes par les rNgog et leurs disciples. L’ambition de cette etude est de comprendre l’histoire de ces textes et, plus largement, celle des rNgog et leur position dans le champ religieux du Tibet Central jusqu’au XVIIe siecle. Dans cette optique, plusieurs approches, dont la critique des sources et l’analyse textuelle et socio-historique, sont adoptees.

https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-02106815/document

A Lineage in Time : The Vicissitudes of the rNgog pa bka’ brgyud from the 11th through 19th centuries

The similarities between contemporary externalist theories of knowledge and classical Indian and Tibetan theories of knowledge are striking. Drawing on comparisons with Timothy Williamson's recent work, I address related topics in Indo-Tibetan epistemology and show that correct analysis of these issues requires externalist theories of mind and knowledge. The topics addressed range from a discussion of possible Gettier cases in the Tibetan philosophical tradition to an assessment of arguments for and against the existence of factive mental states/events that fail to be knowledge states/events. I conclude by explaining how these matters in Indian and Tibetan epistemology can inform us about the viability of externalist epistemologies of the sort articulated by Williamson.

Gettier and Factivity in Indo-Tibetan Epistemology

Ancient and medieval sources from Greece to Korea speak of the morally reprehensible habits of the Persians, who engage in close-kin marriage. Indian Buddhist texts also preserve similar ideas. One interesting passage in a narrative text makes use of this motif in a particularly interesting way, thereby indicating the character who appeals to the trope as ethically beyond the pale. The present paper explores the background of this common depiction of Persian marriage customs for its own intrinsic interest, and as a means to explicate the passage in question.

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Putative Persian perversities: Indian Buddhist condemnations of Zoroastrian close-kin marriage in context

an . av ¯ arttika [hereafter PV] 2 by the great Tibetan scholar and visionary Klong chen Rab ’byams pa of the Rnying ma pa school of Tibetan Buddhism had been sighted. This set the imagination on fire. The prospect of the existence of such a work was all the more intriguing because no treatise of this kind, or any work like it, was listed in the then already published catalogue to his voluminous oeuvre Klong chen pa himself had written towards the end of his relatively short life while in exile in what is now Bhutan. Reproduced by Chos grags bzang po in his biography of his master, this incomplete catalogue registers some two hundred and seventy separate items plus an uncounted number of spiritual songs and an assortment of ephemeral compositions. 3 What is more, none of the early indigenous bibliographies list a work by him on Dharmak¯ orti’s thought, let alone on the PV. But this absence should nor induce us to wring our hands, for these bibliographies are as a rule far from comprehensive. 4 That said, if Klong chen pa were indeed responsible for the Tshad ma’i de kho na nyid bsdus pa, as only the colophons of its two extant manuscripts would have us believe, and if it were his sole contribution to Buddhist logic and epistemology (pram ¯ an . a,

A treatise on Buddhist epistemology and logic attributed to Klong chen rab 'byams pa (1308-1364) and its place in Indo-Tibetan intellectual history

Religious pluralism characterized Tibetan Buddhism by the eleventh or twelfth century, allowing for the development of many schools and sects with little differentiation in religious products. The early Ming dynasty (1368-1424) saw a significant shift in policy on Tibetan affairs compared to the Mongolian Yuan dynasty (1271-1368). Relative disengagement from Tibet translated into a liberalization of local politics, resulting in a shift from secular politics and clan wealth to ecclesiastical monastic institutions. The Geluk sect formed during this period, introducing superior technology in its organizational characteristics-celibacy, ordained abbots, casuistical adherence, scholastic training, and doctrinal orthodoxy—that distinguished it from other schools and sects. With the loss of its major Tibetan patron, the Gelukpa faced a serious challenge from its fiercest competitor, the Karmapa, and raised the stakes by introducing the incarnate position of the Dalai Lama and his labrang (financial estate). This allowed the Gelukpa to directly compete with the Karmapa for wealthy patrons. By forming an alliance with the Mongols, the Gelukpa were willing to counter violence with violence to become the monopoly religion.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0021911809991574

The Market Approach to the Rise of the Geluk School, 1419-1642

The oeuvre with which Bhāviveka or Bhavya is associated is beset with a number of problems, ranging from exactly what works can be reasonably attributed to him, to their titles, and the reach and nature of their inter-textualities. Building on earlier contributions to these issues, we seek in this essay to gain a further and, it is hoped, a deeper understanding of these questions and tentatively propose a relative chronology of his main writings.

Further Notes on Bhāviveka’s Principal Oeuvre

ABBREVIATIONS: BO: Bo dong Pan chen 'Jigs med grags pa. Spyod [read: Dpyod\ pa pa'i tsliad ma'i gnas gtan la dbab pa and Spyod [read: Dpyod] pa pa'i lugs dgag pa, Encyclopedia Tibetica. The Collected Works of Bo dong Pan chen Phyogs las mam rgyal, ed. S.T. Kazi, vol. 7 (New Delhi: Tibet House, 1969), 85-297, 37CM19. BRANG: Brang ti Dpal ldan 'tsho byed. Shes bya rab gsal rgyas pa [Bdud rtsi snying po y an lag brgyad/gsang pa (sic) man ngag gis (sic) rgyud kyi spy i don shes bya rab gsal rgyas pa], handwritten dbu med manuscript, Cultural Palace of Nationalities, Beijing, catalogue no. 002291; fols. 48. BU: Bu ston Rin chen grub. Bde bar gshegs pa'i bstan pa'i gsal byed chos kyi 'byung gnas gsnng rab rin po che'i mdzod, The Collected Works of Bu ston [and Sgra tshad pa] [Lhasa print]. Part 24. New Delhi: International Academy of Indian Culture, 1971: 633-1056.

Leonard W. J. van der Kuijp

Papers

A treatise on Buddhist epistemology and logic attributed to Klong chen rab 'byams pa (1308-1364) and its place in Indo-Tibetan intellectual history

The Market Approach to the Rise of the Geluk School, 1419-1642

Further Notes on Bhāviveka’s Principal Oeuvre

The Earliest Indian Reference to Muslims in a Buddhist Philosophical Text of Circa 700

"A Market Approach to the Rise of the Geluk School in Tibet, 1419-1642"