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1 Introduction

Religion is one of the most important cultural achievements of mankind. Religious ideas can be found in human societies at all times and in all places. Their roots go back to the time before human settlement. Religious content manifests itself in stories and rituals whose meanings are not usually directly accessible to the human mind. A particular problem for human reasoning is the fact that the various religions proclaim matters and events as truths that often contradict each other or scientific findings. Several creation myths illustrate this. In Christianity, the world and humanity were created by God in seven days. In the Babylonian creation myth, the Enuma Elish, the god Marduk creates the world and man from the body of the monster Tiamat, which he had previously defeated in a fight.¹ Finally, in an Indian creation myth, the gods Vishnu and Brahma form the world from their bodies.² It is obvious that these different versions of creation cannot all simultaneously be true. Furthermore, none of these creation myths are compatible with the scientific findings on the origin of the universe. Insights from biology, geology, and astrophysics show that the world was not created only a few thousand years ago but is already several billion years old. Likewise, science proves that humans are not the product of a divine act of creation, but that they have developed from other living beings over millions of years. These findings are contrary to the creation myth in the Bible and the creation myths of other religions. In addition, to this day, there is no scientifically documented example of divine activity in the world. Such contradictions are central to the problem of a rational understanding of religious ideas.

Therefore, the question of the meaning of religion can only be answered if it is possible to make religious content rationally accessible by means of appropriate interpretation methods. The description of one such interpretation method is the subject of this book. The method used here is based on the instruments of economics. This is a new approach because it connects two areas – economics and religion – that usually have nothing to do with each other. At an initial glance, only the contrasts between these areas seem obvious. Economics deals primarily with material matters, such as the prices of goods, corporate profits, costs, and consumption quantities. On the other hand, religion often calls for material renunciation; i.e., it is about humanity and love, things that have nothing to do with money and other material values. So, what can economics contribute to the understanding of religious content?

The answer to this question can be found in the similarities between religion and economics. Religion is basically about human happiness. One example is the biblical story of a lost paradise, which refers to an imaginary state of human happiness. Another example is God-given punishments and rewards, which also impact human well-being. Furthermore, many religions offer their followers the prospect of a future state that is equated with immeasurable happiness. Thus, human happiness plays a central role in religion. This is precisely the point of its relationship with economics. After all, economics, or more precisely microeconomics, is also concerned with human well-being.

Microeconomic theory uses abstract models to describe the relationship between people’s needs and their buying and consumption behavior. According to this theory, every consumer behavior leads to an increase in benefits and happiness. The pursuit of happiness is the driving force behind people’s economic behavior. Classical microeconomic models have traditionally only been used to describe purely economic behavior, such as the purchase of goods. Since the middle of the 20th century, however, microeconomics has increasingly been applied to areas that go beyond mere purchasing decisions. For example, microeconomic models have been developed to explain social phenomena, such as discrimination, marriage behavior, or criminal activity.³

The model presented in this book goes one step further. It can be used as a universal explanatory model for human behavior in all areas of life. In addition, the model describes a mental state that can be interpreted as absolute happiness. The formal conditions of this state form the basis for building a bridge with religion. This is because religion does not offer the prospect of arbitrary happiness to man but immeasurable, absolute happiness, as mentioned above. The model thus enables a rational view of the state of absolute happiness and forms the starting point for interpreting religious stories.⁴ The application of microeconomic exegesis offers two prospects. On the one hand, it leads to a rational understanding of religious content. On the other hand, it provides a perspective for understanding the meaning of religion in general, and thus an approach for resolving the conflict between faith and reason.

In Chapter 2, the microeconomic model is developed based on a universal human behavior model. This behavioral model can be called homo agens because it is based on the entire realm of human action. It differs from the stricter model of homo economicus used in traditional microeconomics. The homo agens model assumes that every human action is caused by triggering needs. It thus describes not only – as in traditional microeconomics – particular areas of action but all areas of activity. This is where its universality lies. In addition, the model enables the description of needs and actions aimed at changing the structure of needs itself, i.e., the preferences of a person. Such needs are directed toward the inside of the human psyche and not the outside world. These inwardly directed needs have, thus far, been completely ignored in traditional microeconomic models because homo economicus is assumed to have a constant structure of needs (preference structure). However, the homo agens model allows the derivation of conditions for a state of absolute happiness from the changeability of human needs. This state is the basis for the development of the microeconomic interpretation method.⁵

In Chapter 3, the microeconomic interpretation method is applied to religious texts. Section 3.1 illustrates the basic principle of microeconomic exegesis using the Heracles myth as an example. In this context, it is particularly important that myths and religious texts have constant structural characteristics; i.e., they are structured according to a certain scheme. This scheme was described by the mythologist Joseph Campbell (1904–1987) and is termed the monomyth. The characteristics of the monomyth can be assigned to certain aspects of the need structure described in Chapter 2. The connection between the monomyth and the need structure can be used to interpret religious texts. Sections 3.2 to 3.7 apply the microeconomic interpretation method to selected texts from six world religions. Of these, three religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – arise from Western culture and three religions – Hinduism, Buddhism, and Daoism – from Eastern culture.⁶

In Chapter 4, the microeconomic interpretation method is applied to particular forms of religious rituals. Here, the focus is on two important ritual categories. One category is the rites of passage, which can be found in practically all religions. Rites of passage have the same structural characteristics as the monomyth, which is why the microeconomic interpretation method can be easily applied to this type of ritual. The second ritual category includes sacrificial rituals, which are, or were, also a central part of many religions. The examples provided show that sacrificial rituals have common structural characteristics that can be interpreted using microeconomics.

The selected examples represent only a small part of the total religious content. However, the descriptions clearly show that the microeconomic exegesis can also be applied to further content from the above-mentioned or even other religions.

Chapter 5 uses the insights gained in the previous chapters to develop an explanatory approach to the emergence of and change in religious beliefs. It will become apparent that religious ideas can be interpreted as intuitively generated symbols that represent elementary characteristics in the human need structure. The microeconomic interpretation method and its underlying model, on the other hand, provide a corresponding rational perspective on the characteristics of the need structure. Religious beliefs and the microeconomic homo agens model thus prove to be two sides of human self-awareness, where religion represents the intuitive side and the microeconomic model the rational side. This perspective provides a solution to the conflict between faith and reason.

Selected topics are examined in more detail in the appendices. Appendix A provides further details on the integration of the model presented in Chapter 2 into current microeconomic theory. Section A.1 explains the formal conditions of homo agens and compares them with different variants of homo economicus. The aspects that limit the meaningfulness of models based on the rigid assumptions of homo economicus are highlighted in this section. At the same time, the suitability of homo agens as a universal model of human behavior is illustrated. Section A.2 outlines human decision-making behavior based on the homo agens model. Thereby, findings from the newest branches of microeconomics are considered, namely behavioral economics and neuroeconomics. In addition, results from neuroscience, motivational psychology, and emotional psychology are employed. The decision model uses selected examples to illustrate the situational character of human decisionmaking behavior. Section A.3 explains some empirical methods that can be used to identify human needs and their impact. The description shows the possibilities and limitations of current methods and provides perspectives for future research activities. Section A.4 specifies and extends the microeconomic model developed in Chapter 2. This extension illustrates the formal connection between the consumption of goods and human happiness. Through this extension, the model can be applied to the problems of traditional microeconomics, such as the purchase of goods. Moreover, this section explains the significance of the scale of utility, which is used to describe the state of absolute happiness defined in Chapter 2. For this purpose, the scale of utility of the homo agens model is compared with other possible scales of utility. Finally, Section A.5 compares the homo agens model with traditional models in the economics of religion. These include microeconomic approaches that are intended to describe and explain religious behavior. The homo agens model differs from these approaches in its ability to interpret religious content and thus explain the emergence and existence of religious needs.

Appendix B illustrates the microeconomic interpretation method by providing further examples. Section B.1 presents a microeconomic interpretation of the Oedipus myth. The Oedipus myth has a long history of interpretation that makes it possible to compare microeconomic exegesis with other interpretation methods. Here, microeconomic exegesis is compared with the psychological interpretation of Sigmund Freud (1856–1939) and the structuralist approach of Claude Lévi-Strauss (1908–2009). Microeconomic exegesis can be applied not only to religious texts but also to profane ones. As an example, the fairy tale Cinderella is interpreted in Section B.2. In addition, the structural features of the monomyth are compared with the scheme of the Russian philologist Vladimir Propp (1895–1970), which is based on an investigation of the plot structure of fairy tales. Section B.3, with its interpretation of Shakespeare’s tragedy Romeo and Juliet, is a detour into the realm of world literature. These two examples from profane literature – fairy tale and tragedy – illustrate the manifold possibilities for expressing the monomythic structure. Section B.4 looks at the Toltec myth of Quetzalcoatl, a story from Central American culture, which had no connection to Europe or Asia at the time the myth was created. This example supports the hypothesis that the creation of stories with the same structural features is not based on culturally acquired characteristics but on inherited, fundamental human characteristics. Section B.5 provides a microeconomic interpretation of the Christian Trinity, one of the most mysterious and contradictory religious symbols. The example shows that the microeconomic interpretation method can be used not only to interpret text passages but also to interpret single symbols.

Appendix C examines the relationship between religion and morality, which are often closely related. Section C.1 looks at morality as a component of religious symbolism. One of the questions at stake here is whether religion is a necessary precondition for moral action. As an example, the biblical story of the Good Samaritan is given a microeconomic interpretation. Section C.2 deals with the theodicy problem from a microeconomic point of view, i.e., the justification of God in the face of suffering in the world. Here, the microeconomic perspective is compared with traditional explanatory approaches.

¹ Cf. Eliade, M. (1959, reprinted 2002), pp. 128–129.

² Cf. Michaels, A. (1998, reprinted 2012), p. 329.

³ The works of Gary S. Becker are specifically to be mentioned here, cf. Becker, G. S. (1993b).

⁴ In sociology and economics, there are models for describing religious behavior and the economic effects of religion (economics of religion), cf. Iannaccone, L. R. (1998). However, these models cannot be used to interpret religious content and do not explain why religion exists and how it relates to reason.

⁵ Many explanations in Chapters 2 and 3, as well as in Appendices A and C, have been taken from my book Bedürfnis, Glück und Religion (2006) without modification or special reference.

⁶ For a better understanding of the examples used, basic knowledge of the religions concerned is helpful. This knowledge can be gained by reading introductory literature on world religions. The book The World’s Religions (2009) by Huston Smith offers a good overview.