Welcome to Episode 22 of Season 4! In this episode I speak with economist Dr. Jared Rubin. Jared Rubin is an economic historian interested in the political and religious economies of the Middle East and Western Europe. His research focuses on historical relationships between political and religious institutions and their role in economic development.

This episode focuses on Rubin’s ground-breaking 2017 book Rulers, Religion, and Riches: Why the West Got Rich and the Middle East Did Not (Cambridge University Press, 2017). His book explores the role that Islam and Christianity played in the long-run “reversal of fortunes” between the economies of the Middle East and Western Europe. It was awarded multiple book prizes. Rubin is the co-director of Chapman University’s Institute for the Study of Religion, Economics and Society (IRES) and the president of the Association for the Study of Religion, Economics, and Culture (ASREC).

I have little knowledge of economics as a science and so I appreciated learning some of the background to economic realities that impact us all, worldwide. And I appreciated Jared speaking about what motivated him to study economics: a desire to learn in order to help respond to conditions of poverty in which many people live. It’s something that ought to concern us all, and I know it does for listeners to this podcast. How can we help to create economies that work for all and not, as it seems increasingly right now, the super rich, the super powerful, the super connected. Jared mentioned another of his books, too, if you want to delve a bit deeper into this topic, his more popular treatment in How the World Became Rich: The Historical Origins of Growth with Mark Koyama.

It seems to me that maybe we need to have Jared on again some time to talk about more of these issues and to find some more economists to talk about religion with us. And maybe we should think about getting an economist or two to join us at our 2028 conference: Cross Purposes: Christianity and Nationalism.

This podcast emerges from the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC, a centre that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, other religious traditions, and those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation.

What Matters Most is produced by the Centre for Christian Engagement at St Mark’s College, the Catholic college at UBC. The CCE is a centre at St. Mark’s College that explores the Christian and Catholic intellectual tradition and seek to learn from others, other Christians, members of other religious traditions, and from those who do not claim any particular or formal religious affiliation. Our goal, then, is to talk to a lot of people, to learn from them, to listen to them, and to find out what motivates them, what gives them hope, what gives them peace, and what allows them to go out into the world to love their neighbors.

A few thanks are in order. To Martin Strong, to Kevin Eng, and to Fang Fang Chandra, the team who helps me bring this podcast to you, but also makes the CCE run so much more smoothly.

I also want to thank our donors to the Centre, whose generosity enables this work to take place at all: Peter Bull, Angus Reid, and Andy Szocs. We are thankful to their commitment to the life of the academic world and of the work of the Church in the world by funding the work of the CCE. I am also thankful to the Cullen family, Mark and Barbara, for their support of the ongoing work of the CCE through financial donations that allow us to bring speakers to the local and international arenas.

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Thanks again for listening and remember what matters most.

John W. Martens

Director, Centre for Christian Engagement