history of economic thought

disclaimer: this post does not reflect my views and opinions whatsoever; is a (unrealiable) recount of what a certain lecturer in USYD mentioned in class.
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the reason why anyone would start a lecture at 9am on a friday remains a perpetual mystery... but to not properly prepare myself with a shot of caffein is purely a function of my individual failings.

i lasted the first 2 hours, which is quite a feat considering the nature of the content; the battle was finally lost in the third hour of question and answer.

i was pleasantly surprised when religion was mentioned by my lecturer as having a role of play in the history of economic thought. below is a recollection of the points he made, taking into consideration that i was half sober.

1. the 3 main religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam, of the West (west of Asia) share a common root.

2. it seemed to be against a certain protocol of these religions to lend money (to each other) at an agreed interest rate.

3. this was conveniently "sidestepped" by the Jews (can be considered a country) lending money to the Christians (can be considered countries) and vice versa; they were not lending money to their own kind.

4. modern Christianity can be considered as having embraced capitalism; it used to be 'brutal and tough', much akin to (feudal) Islamic countries of current times.