Call for contributions for a special issue “God, Taxes and Societies. Exploring Intersections of Religion and Taxation in History”, of the Interdisciplinary Journal for Religion and Transformation in contempo-rary Society (JRAT).

  • Deadline for paper proposals: June 30th, 2024
  • Deadline for finished contributions (40.000 signs including spaces): September 30th, 2024.


The international, transdisciplinary conference “God, Taxes and Societies. Exploring Intersections of Reli-gion and Taxation in History” took place at Paderborn University, 28.2./1.3.2024. The contributions will be published in a special issue of peer-reviewed JRAT. Additional to the seven contributions which we will pub-lish, there is room for up to two additional ones which we seek to include with this CfP.


Discussions about paying taxes (honestly) always concern the core of social order: Who contributes how much to the community? Which groups are relieved? How much equality and redistribution are necessary or possible? What constitutes a “just” tax system, how can the state legitimize its tax demands - and what does a “just” society look like accordingly?


It was not only statesmen, lawyers, party politicians, lobbyists or journalists who have therefore discussed and continue to discuss tax issues; religious communities also had their say, bringing their ideas of just distribution and social structure into the discourse. Indeed, all major religions have spoken out on issues of “fair” taxation, the legitimacy of government demands, tax liability, and possible sanctions for evaders. Our interdisciplinary conference asks about the positions of different theologies toward state taxes: did they affirm or negate their adherents' tax obligations to the state? How did they legitimize their position the-ologically, but also in very practical terms in a concrete historical setting? What fundamental relationship between the state and the faith community is expressed in this position? What role did the financing of their own faith community play for it?
The aim of the special issue is to firstly bring different religions (Buddhism, Islam, Judaism, Protestant and Catholic Christianity, and others) into conversation about the topic of taxation and to contribute to the his-tory of ideas on taxation. Secondly, we analyze from an interdisciplinary perspective theological tax dis-putes of the past, including the fields of theology, law, history, and political studies.


Paper proposals (up to 500 words) with a short CV (up to 300 words) are welcomed until 30the June 2024 to both idris.nassery@upb.de and korinna.schoenhaerl@upb.de. Accepted proposals must be prepared in full text of up to 40,000 characters by the end of September 2024. We especially encourage early career re-searchers to send us their proposals.

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