Brief Notices

Ekelund, Robert B., Jr., and Robert D. Tollison. Economic Origins of Roman Christianity. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 2011. Pp. xiii, 269. $45.00. ISBN 978-0-226-20002-6.)

Through the employment of economic theory and models, the authors, two North American economists, seek to show how the Church of the West in its first millennium functioned similarly to a powerful corporation in offering a valued "product"—the salvation of souls—to an eager market of "buyers" and thereby established a monopoly on the "religion market" in the West. Beside its moral, social, and political goals, the papal corporation, they contend, had economic motives as well, seeking to maximize profits by eliminating competitors and extending its markets. This monopoly eventually was challenged in the sixteenth century by the Protestant Reformation that introduced a successful competition to, and penetration of, the religious market.

Robert B. Ekelund Jr. is emeritus professor of economics at Auburn University, and Robert D. Tollison is professor of economics at Clemson University. Three initial chapters introduce the concept of Roman Christianity as an evolving monopoly, theoretical approaches to the examination of religion, and the economics of religious belief. The following five chapters treat the first thousand years of the Church of the West, from St. Paul to Constantine (networking and entrepreneurship), the Constantinian era (cartelization of Christianity), Constantine to Charlemagne (economic reciprocity of church and civil governments, vertical organization, and so forth), the bumpy road to monopoly in the early-medieval period (conflicts, invasions, and schism), and finally the Church's achievement of monopoly status and the mode of its accomplishment. An appendix discusses the impact of Paul as formative entrepreneur of the Christian movement and mission, engaging with the work and statistics of sociologist Rodney Stark, The Rise of Christianity (San Francisco, 1997).

Readers familiar with other historical and theological accounts of the Church's first millennium will find that this inquiry into the economic dynamic of its rise to dominance offers much to ponder and debate.

John H. Elliott
University of San Francisco (Emeritus)

León Fernández, Dino. Evangelización y control social a la doctrina de Canta. Siglos XVI y XVII. (Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. 2010. Pp. 304. Paperback.)

The Peruvian Province of Canta, northeast of Lima and bordering with the Andes, is less well known than its southern neighbor, Huarochirí, but both share in common a history of idolatry and its repression during the mid-colonial period. By electing Canta, Dino León Fernández expands our knowledge of how the Catholic Church, through its bishops and clergy, dealt with the conversion of the indigenous and, most important, with the deeply rooted local religions. The resilience of native beliefs in the Andean regions challenged Catholicism for centuries. The author deals methodically with well-known historical issues, supporting his work with manuscript materials culled from the archives of the Archbishopric of Lima and the Archives of the Indies in Spain.

Although Peru's history includes an archbishop later elevated to sainthood (Toribio Alfonso de Mogrovejo, 1538-1606, canonized in 1726), the history of conversion in that country is characterized by its ineffectiveness among the native population. Lack of sufficient missionaries and the condescending attitude toward the indigenous by those in charge of their indoctrination did not help. The teaching of the Christian doctrine was maintained at a very low level. Sermons conditioned the Indians to obey, reinforcing a superficial ideology of domination. The author uses pastoral visits to the Indian parishes (doctrinas) to analyze their socioeconomic realities as well as the immediate impact of such visits on the population. He concludes that they were essential to reassert the political and social weight of the Church over the indigenous communities. As suggested by the title, this work eventually turns the reader toward Canta and its government, income, and expenses as a preamble to introduce the discussion of the parallel reality of "idolatries" or worship of precolumbian deities. This remained the most painful chapter of the evangelization project. The Church and its bishops perhaps expected too much too soon and often were disappointed. The evangelizers' attribution of the persistence...