Religion, Afterlife, and Property Rights in the High Middle Ages

Abstract

Religion serves a number of important functions, one of which is to provide an alternative to the state and to the local community in enforcing particular social behavior. As the nature of the state's power, of the influence of the local community, and of economic activity change, religious doctrine changes in a predictable manner. The behavior and doctrine of the Medieval knights and of the mendicant orders are used as examples. This essay reviews an economic theory of religion and uses the theory to explain changes in attitudes toward hell, heaven, and divine retribution in Western Europe during the Middle Ages.