Was Mother Teresa Maximizing Her Utility? An Idiographic Application of Rational Choice Theory

Abstract

This paper applies rational choice theory to the religion of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Rational choice theory purports to explain individual religious choices, such as conversion and church participation. Yet confirmation of the theory has been invariably quantitative - statistical correlations rather than the close examination of individual religious consumers. How weU can rational choice theory account for the religious career of a single person? The authors - one from religious studies and the other from economics - present an interdisciplinary appraisal. Mother Teresa is presented, first, as a consumer of religious commodities and an investor in religious human capital, rationally conducting cost-benefit analyses in order to maximize her utility; and, second, as the owner of a successful religious firm, seeking to maximize profits. An assessment follows of the power of rational choice theory to illuminate her personal saintliness and world-renowned mission to the poor. We conclude that rational choice theory offers a useful addition to the arsenal of analytic approaches to religion.