Abrahamic Norm and the Architecture of Interest-Based Capitalism: A Historical-Technological Reconstruction

The conventional view treats the interest-based order as a product of the secularization of economic life. This paper offers a different reading: the secular-rational description of the interest-based order itself functions as a mask for its religious character. The Abrahamic prohibition on interest was never formally abolished or theologically refuted — it was neutralized step by step through three qualitatively distinct breaks: Calvin's theological reinterpretation (1545), the legalization of interest in England (1571), and the institutional rupture of the Bank of England (1694). The resulting ecosystem reproduces itself through financial, epistemological, cultural, and military channels, neutralizing systemic alternatives through three methods: co-optation, coercive discipline, and military pressure. The severity of the response tracks how much distinct economic content the alternative retains. The long-running confrontation surrounding Iran can be read as a collision between two normative systems — sacralized accumulation and the Islamic solidarity economy.