The Commercial Face of God: Exploring the Nexus Between the Religious and the Material

• Main Author: Kong, Lily
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 1996
• Subjects: State; religion; secular; Singapore; religious institutions; Asian Studies; Human Geography; Nonprofit Administration and Management; Religion
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/1818; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/3075/viewcontent/Konglily_1996_CommercialFaceGod.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

This paper explores the nexus between the cultural and the material by examining the ways in which religion and the economy are integrated in the context of economy-driven Singapore. The mutually constitutive relationships between the cultural and the material are explored through a discussion of the role of the state, capital and religious institutions in pulling together the sacred and the secular. Specifically, the analysis focuses on how the state harnesses religion ideologically in its economic development strategies; how capital harnesses the potential of religion in commercial enterprises in practical terms; and how religious institutions themselves behave as financial institutions. The ways in which individuals deal with these structural forces and the integration of the 'this-worldly' and the 'wholly other' are also discussed, illustrating the intersection between structural forces and individual experiences.