Call for Papers:  2007 Duke HOPE Conference  
  
Keeping Faith:  Religious Belief and Political Economy  
  
Although the early efforts of western social and political theorists were sometimes made
in opposition to religious interpretations of the world, religious belief held sway
throughout the early modern period as the dominant means to interpret human experience.
Sometime in the 19th century, however, economics and the other social sciences began to
develop analytical models that were completely severed from theology and religious belief.
Thus, in the early 19th century Malthus's work was animated by his complex religious
beliefs, but by the last quarter of that century Sidgwick and Marshall each were working
to develop an analytical apparatus that, while still focused heavily on social ethics, was
completely secular.
  
Still, the period from the middle of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century clearly
did not involve a sudden transition or even a steady progression to a secular economics.
Throughout Western Europe and North America, the work of many economists in this period
was animated by their religious beliefs.  For example, on both continents, the "Labor
Question" that arose in the last decades of the 19th century because of the second
Industrial Revolution posed problems that forced many theorists back to their religious
beliefs.  Some of this work may have been in response to activism in the Church,
exemplified by the papal encyclicals Rerum Novarum and Quadragesimo anno, for example,
which attempted to humanize a seemingly increasingly inhuman capitalism.  At the same time
in the United States, the first generation of economists who returned from their German
graduate studies included a core of people dedicated to Christian socialism and the Social
Gospel.
  
The purpose of this conference will be to focus on efforts by European and North American
economists from roughly 1800-1950 to include their religious beliefs in their economic
analysis.  We are interested in describing, articulating, contextualizing, and
interpreting the work of those economists whose work was animated by their religious
faith.  We are primarily interested in the work of those who could be considered
professional economists, rather than the social writings of theologians and religious
leaders, except insofar as these latter have a direct bearing on the former.
  
We are interested in papers that address this phenomenon from many perspectives.  Papers
included in the conference might address some of the following questions:
  
-Who were economists whose work was animated by a desire to keep religious perspectives in
political economy? How did their work differ--in methodology, motivation, narrative, and
area of inquiry--from the work of other contemporary economists and social theorists at
this time?
  
-What differences existed between these patterns in Europe and North America?  
  
-Were there significant differences in the efforts of people from different religious
traditions to keep religious perspectives in political economy?
  
-Did religious economists work together in formal or informal networks to integrate their
faith and study, and if so what was their form and how did they shape the history of
economics?
  
-To what extent were the political economists who tried to keep religious perspectives in
their work successful/ unsuccessful at influencing public policy?
  
-How did the nature of the efforts to keep religious perspectives in political economy
change through the period 1800-1950?  Were these changes in response to clearly
discernible events?
  
-How did secularization finally overtake mainstream economic analysis?  Did this take
place differently in different contexts?  Was European secularization significantly
different than North American secularization?
  
Conference Logistics  
  
The conference will take place in late April 2007, at Duke University in Durham, NC.  It
is tentatively scheduled for Thursday April 19th to Saturday April 21st.  The conference
will be part of Duke's History of Political Economy (HOPE) series, an annual workshop of
approximately 15-20 participants.  The conference is organized as a single plenary session
and is designed to foster discussion and exchange among participants.  Submitting a paper
to the conference is considered offering a submission to the journal History of Political
Economy; papers are refereed for inclusion in the annual supplemental issue, produced as a
book.
  
Duke University Press will pay for lodging and some meals.  Additional funds may become
available to defray other costs.
  
Submissions  
  
Proposals for papers (not to exceed five hundred words) and complete contact information
should be sent to both conference organizers, Brad Bateman and Spencer Banzhaf, by October
14, 2005 (see contact information below).  Proposals will be selected and authors will be
notified by Dec 1, 2005.  The completed papers are due March 2, 2007.
  
Contact Information  
  
To submit applications or for further information, please contact  
  
Bradley Bateman  
Dept. of Economics  
Grinnell College  
Grinnell, IA 50112-1690  
Telephone:  641-269-3145  
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and/or  
  
Spencer Banzhaf  
Resources for the Future  
1616 P Street NW, Washington, DC  20036  
Telephone:  202-328-5033  
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