Religions, Taxes, and Societies in History

This volume explores the underexamined intersection of religion, taxation, and social order across cultures and centuries. Drawing on Jewish, Christian, Islamic, and Buddhist traditions, the contributions analyze how religious actors and institutions have legitimized, ritualized, contested, or reshaped fiscal systems. Case studies range from rabbinic concepts of tax and citizenship, Islamic legal reasoning on zakāt, Christian social ethics, to Buddhist sacred economies. Rather than viewing taxation as a purely technical or secular matter, the volume approaches it as a site of moral negotiation and theological meaning-making – deeply embedded in visions of justice, solidarity, and divine authority. By tracing the ways in which religious norms have influenced fiscal practices, supported or challenged state power, and articulated ethical obligations around wealth and redistribution, this issue offers new perspectives on the moral economies of past and present. It thereby bridges theology, history, and political economy to illuminate the sacred foundations of taxation.