@inproceedings{01H0HX6C3KFXRBYG08HZ5XGE1B,
  abstract     = {{In The Spirit of French Capitalism (2021),
Charly Coleman provides a telling
addition to Max Weber’s thesis in
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit
of Capitalism (1905) by framing a
particular chronotope in the emergence
of Capitalism: the ‘economization
of spiritual life’ at the dawn of the
French Enlightenment. By means of
the concept of ‘economic theology’
Coleman denotes the economic
dimensions of theology, thereby hinting
at the existence of a vast spiritual
economy: the convergence of spiritual
and material wealth in early modern
French Catholicism. To formulate
his argument, Coleman provides his
readers with an illustrative case study:
the Cérémonies et coutumes religieuses
de tous les peuples du monde (1723–1737).
Published in Amsterdam by the exiled
Huguenot Jean Frederic Bernard and
lavishly illustrated by one of the most
famous engravers of that time, Bernard
Picart, this book series provided a
revolutionary insight into all the world’s
religions by comparing ceremonies,
customs, and rituals on an equal
footing. On the one hand, it did provide
its readers with a general critique of
ceremonial splendor, especially within
the Catholic Church. On the other
hand, however, the books also illustrate
the other side of the ‘economization
of spiritual life’: an increasing focus
of the Dutch free publishing market
on producing marketized knowledge.
While religion might have turned into
commodities because of the fetishist
reliance on devotional practices and
items, throughout the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries knowledge
turned into a fetish of economic interest
too. Hence, the Dutch knowledge
society provides a scholarly example
of an affective economy in which
the Cérémonies provide insights into
both Coleman’s Catholic spiritual
economy as well as Weber’s Protestant
political economy.}},
  author       = {{Nellis, Steff}},
  booktitle    = {{12th Annual RefoRC Conference on Early Modern Christianity, Abstracts}},
  keywords     = {{Picart,Bernard,Economic theology,religious ceremonies}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  location     = {{Leuven, Belgium}},
  title        = {{Picart, Bernard, and the economization of spiritual life in the early eighteenth century}},
  url          = {{https://reforc.com/reforc-conferences/}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}