RELIGION 27 – Capitalism as Religion

RELIGION 27 – Capitalism as Religion

Semester: Spring
Offered: 2026
Instructor: Ido Ben Harush
Meeting Time: TBA

This course maps intersections between economics and religion, as they have been formulated in the fields of philosophy, sociology, critical theory, and theology. The course starts by introducing arguments about capitalism’s spiritual and historical origins in religion and examining affinities between central economic and theological concepts. Then, the course challenges the traditional assumption that religion (especially Christianity and Judaism) is an ally of capitalism and explores alternatives to this supposed natural bond. Among these alternatives, we will study some socialist, anarchist, and Marxist thinkers and theologians who draw on religious sources to support their activism or use religion as a source to develop critiques of capitalism. Through reading texts by authors such as Karl Marx, Max Weber, Walter Benjamin, Hannah Arendt, Gorgio Agamben, Saidiya Hartman, Gustav Landauer, Hermann Cohen, Erich Fromm, and Gustavo Gutiérrez, among others, we will learn about how religion and capitalism are intertwined and how they shape the world in which we live.

For more details please visit the Harvard Course Catalog.