For this special Christmas week episode, host Jason Jefferies is joined by Benjamin M. Friedman, the William Joseph Maier Professor of Political Economy and former chair of the Department of Economics at Harvard University, who discusses his new book Religion and the Rise of Capitalism, which is published by our friends at Alfred A. Knopf.  Topics of discussion include the perception that any challenge to a market-centered conduct of economic affairs is a fundamental threat to our lives, how economic thinking is rooted in religious thinking, belief in free markets, England's bishops as "Retainers to Superstition", why some low-income Americans don't want higher taxes on high-income Americans, how Adam Smith inspired Ronald Reagan, cryptocurrencies, and much more.  Copies of Religion and the Rise of Capitalism can be ordered here with FREE SHIPPING.