Feature
06 Oct 2025
The Religious Root of Money
Money has a religious beginning. German economic historian and archaeologist Bernhard Laum, the founder of the theory of the religious origin of money, argues in his work Sacred Money that money is a social institution rooted in religious beliefs. This goes against the contemporary view of money as an individualistic quest for pragmatic economic satisfaction. Money is rooted in the sacred realm and moderated by ancient rituals and a sacred legal order.
Money’s creation came from adapting social and historical milieus to the religious realm. About 5,000 years ago, the temple was the heart of the socio-political and religious life of the Sumerian cities in Mesopotamia. As the population in the city increased, food was brought in from the surrounding farmlands and distributed by the temple. It was believed that the gods owned the city, and the temple represented the gods in managing the production and distribution of the resources of the city-state (Paul Stevens and Clive Lim, Money Matters, 30).
Laum was a contemporary of French sociologist Emile Durkheim and agreed with him about the religious root of cultural and societal institutions. Durkheim defines religion as a set of beliefs and rites relative to sacred objects and argues that society is the soul of religion. He believes that great social institutions are built on religion (The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, 421). Collective lives are the soul of religion.
Durkheim, like Laum, believes religious value and economic value are related. Durkheim compares economic power with the use of magic to acquire power. The economic value represented by money is power and the concept of power is itself of religious origin.
Georg Simmel argues that early Greek money was created by the rituals of the Greek priesthood (The Philosophy of Money, 187). He observes that different regions came together under the leadership of the priesthood. Every ancient Greek festive meal was a religious and sacrificial gathering. Bulls were ritually killed and distributed by priests to the individuals in the community based on one’s social rank and contribution.
Elle Semenova in her thesis referred to Laum’s religious root of money and argues that portions of the distributed bull’s flesh eventually became representative of money (“The Origin of Money”, 2011). Instead of the bull’s flesh as payment, the sacrificial roasting spits (obeloe) came to represent this. Greek coins eventually became a symbolic token of roasted bull meat. Semenova argues that the religious ox sacrifice is older than the archaic Greek city-states. It was created not by profane markets but by a holy debt to be paid. It is a debt between men and deities, presided over by the priests in the temple.
Money is Not Neutral
When we say money is neutral, it implies that money has no spiritual or moral influence and is merely instrumental. Many Christians believe money is a neutral phenomenon but a useful tool. It is a useful tool like a hammer or a drill and depends on your skill in handling it. It is neutral because it does not have a life of its own apart from the user and does not exert a spiritual or moral influence.
We have discussed above how money was derived from religious practices more than 5,000 years ago in Sumerian cities in Mesopotamia and later in archaic Greek cities. Economic practices can be perceived as magical practices based on religious beliefs. Durkheim and Laum have shown that societies and economic systems are mutually linked with religious temple practices. Given money’s religious roots, money cannot be spiritually or morally neutral.
Jacques Ellul is adamant that modern man cannot see this spiritual truth about money. The Bible regards money as an object with autonomy and self-generated action. It has a life of its own! It cannot be neutral (Money and Power, 74). According to Ellul money belongs to Satan through Caesar. The power of money is one of the “rule and authority and power and dominion” described in Eph. 1:21.
Jesus calls money “mammon” (Matt. 6:24; Luke 16:13), which he describes as a dark and personal spiritual force. Why do people, institutions and political powers continue to have blind confidence in money and its ability to solve all existential challenges? How can we explain the pervasive greed of the stock markets and the explosive growth of debt around us despite repeated episodes of economic collapses and dire social consequences? Unfortunately, we will continue to be vulnerable if we continue in the illusion that money is neutral and fail to recognise its spiritual force.
This dark spiritual force of money destroys human relationships. It imposes a buy-sell attitude among humans and replaces neighborly economics. Even humans and their organs are bought and sold in the name of money. Money fosters betrayal. It breaks the bond between humans. Judas betrayed Jesus for a paltry thirty pieces of silver, adequate only to buy a small plot of land (Matt. 27:7). What drives a person to sell the almighty God himself for a small piece of field? The god of money! As a Christian, it is not enough to say that I don’t love money. We must recognize the enslaving nature of money and how money’s powerful dark spiritual power entraps us in a bond of love that is beyond our control (Money and Power, 84). Money is a cosmic power that frequently overcomes human restraint, even that attempted by Christians.
We cannot live without money. The whole of our existence in the contemporary world is mediated by money. Money and its usage have become more pervasive and important in the last fifty years, and its influence is likely to grow. Christians need to recognize money’s dark power and use it prayerfully and with extreme caution.
Dr Clive Lim is the managing director of Leap International, a family office (SFO) based in Singapore. He was the Visiting Associate Professor of Marketplace Theology at Regent College (2018 to 2021). He teaches at the Biblical Graduate School of Theology (BGST) and TTC (EQUIP).