Christian views on poverty and wealth
Encyclopedia
Since the inception of Christianity, there have been a variety of Christian attitudes towards materialism and wealth. John Cobb, Jr. argues that the "economism that rules the West and through it much of the East" is directly opposed to traditional Christian doctrine. Cobb invokes the teaching of Jesus that "man cannot serve both God and Mammon (wealth)". He asserts that it is obvious that "Western society is organized in the service of wealth" and thus wealth has triumphed over God in the West.
Mahoney characterizes the saying of Jesus in as having "imprinted themselves so deeply on the Christian community through the centuries that those who are well off, or even comfortably off, often feel uneasy and troubled in conscience."
At one end of the spectrum is a view which casts wealth and materialism as an evil to be avoided and even combatted. At the other end is a view which casts prosperity and well-being as a blessing from God. Some Christians argue that a proper understanding of Christian teachings on wealth and poverty needs to take a larger view where the accumulation of wealth is not the central focus of one's life but rather a resource to foster the "good life". David Miller has constructed a three-part rubric which presents three prevalent attitudes among Protestants towards wealth. According to this rubric, Protestants have variously viewed wealth as: (1) an offense to the Christian faith (2) an obstacle to faith and (3) the outcome of faith.
David Miller suggests that this view is similar to that of the third century Manicheans who saw the spiritual world as being good and the material world as evil with the two being in irreconcilable conflict with each other. Thus, this strand of Christianity exhorts Christians to renounce material and worldly pleasures in order to follow Jesus. As an example, Miller cites Jesus' injunction to his disciples to "take nothing for the journey."
viewed Mammon (or the desire for wealth) as "the most common idol on earth". Miller cites Jesus' encounter with the rich ruler as an example of wealth being an obstacle to faith. According to Miller, it is not the rich man's wealth per se that is the obstacle but rather the man's reluctance to give up that wealth in order to follow Jesus. Miller cites Paul's observation in 1st Timothy
that, “people who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction." . Paul continues on with the observation that "the love of money is the root of all evil."
Miller emphasizes that "it is the love of money that is the obstacle to faith, not the money itself."
Kahan cites Jesus' injunction against amassing material wealth as an example that the "good [Christian] life was one of poverty and charity, storing up treasures in heaven instead of earth.
Jesus counsels his followers to remove from their lives those things which cause them to sin, saying "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to go with two hands into hell, where the fire never goes out." . In order to remove the desire for wealth and material possessions as an obstacle to faith, some Christians have taken vows of poverty. Christianity has a long tradition of voluntary poverty which is manifested in the form of asceticism, charity and almsgiving.
Kahan argues that Christianity is unique because it sparked the beginning of a phenomenon which he calls the "Great Renunciation" in which "millions of people would renounce sex and money in God's name."
In Roman Catholicism, poverty is one of the evangelical counsels
. Pope Benedict XVI distinguishes "poverty chosen" (the poverty of spirit proposed by Jesus), and "poverty to be fought" (unjust and imposed poverty). He considers that the moderation implied in the former favors solidarity, and is a necessary condition so as to fight effectively to eradicate the abuse of the latter. Certain religious order
s also take a vow
of extreme poverty. For example, the Franciscan
orders have traditionally foregone all individual and corporate forms of ownership.
and Puritan
theologies which view hard work and frugal lifestyles as spiritual acts in themselves. John Wesley
was a strong proponent of wealth creation. However, to avoid wealth becoming an obstacle to faith, Wesley exhorted his audiences to "earn all they can, save all they can and give away all they can." Included among those who view wealth as an outcome of faith are modern-day preachers and authors who propound prosperity theology
, teaching that God promises wealth and abundance to those who will believe in him and follow his laws.
Prosperity theology
(also known as the "health and wealth gospel") is a Christian
religious belief whose proponents claim the Bible
teaches that financial blessing is the will of God
for Christians. Most teachers of prosperity theology maintain that a combination of faith
, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will always cause an increase in material wealth for those who practice these actions. Prosperity theology is almost always taught in conjunction with continuationism
.
Prosperity theology first came to prominence in the United States
during the Healing Revival
s in the 1950s. Some commentators have linked the genesis of prosperity theology with the influence of the New Thought
movement. It later figured prominently in the Word of Faith
movement and 1980s televangelism
. In the 1990s and 2000s, it became accepted by many influential leaders in the charismatic movement
and has been promoted by Christian missionaries throughout the world. It has been harshly criticized by leaders of mainstream evangelicalism
as a non-scriptural doctrine or as an outright heresy
.
as being particularly emphatic in his distaste for money. According to Kahan, the Platonic view of the soul being above the body and money being beneath both of those is an attitude that "would pass into the Christian moral tradition and figure among the moral assumptions by which ... many Western intellectuals have been guided."
However, Kahan notes that later Greek philosophers generally did not adopt Plato's extreme position of rejecting private property and the making of money. Kahan argues that Aristotle was more representative of Greek thought on the topic and ultimately more influential on Western thinkers. Aristotle distinguished between the making of money to satisfy real needs (which he considered to be a virtuous activity) and the accumulation of money for its own sake (which he considered to be a deleterious activity). Kahan identifies this distinction as another Greek concept that would be adopted by later Western thinkers.
Kahan summarizes Greek attitudes towards money and commerce as "Wanting money too much, wanting too much money and earning money by labor are all things that harm the community as well as the individual."
According to Kahan, the Roman philosophers adopted the Greek attitudes towards wealth and money. He cites Cicero
and Seneca
as examples of Roman thought about the making of money. He highlights a passage by Cicero which denigrates craftsmen, merchants and tradesmen as servile, contemptible and vulgar. In Cicero's estimation, "farming is the most pleasant livelihood, the most fruitful, and the most worthy of a free man."
Kahan also cites Cicero
as an example of Roman attitudes towards generosity viz. "Generosity should not be the cause of poverty.... the greatest advantage of wealth is the ability to be generous while not depriving oneself of one's inheritance.
Perrotta points out that material wealth is highly valued in the Old Testament; the Hebrews seek it and God promises to bless them with it if they will follow his commandments. Joseph Francis Kelly writes that biblical writers leave no doubt that God enabled men such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Solomon to achieve wealth and that this wealth was a sign of divine favor. However, Kelly also points out that the Old Testament insisted that the rich aid the poor. Prophets such as Amos castigated the rich for oppressing the poor and crushing the needy. In summary, Kelly writes that, "the Old Testament saw wealth as something good but warned the wealthy not to use their position to harm those with less. The rich had an obligation to alleviate the sufferings of the poor."
While Jesus never condemns wealth as evil per se, he consistently addresses the danger of riches as a hindrance to full commitment to
God. In the interpretation of the parable of the Sower, “the deceit of wealth and the desires for other things” (Mk. 4.19; cf. Mt. 13.22; “riches” in Lk. 8.14) choke the word.
Jesus pits Mammon as personified riches against God, which claims a person’s service and loyalty as God does, but rejects a possibility of dual service on our part: no one can serve both God and Mammon; money as a competing object of devotion is implicitly renounced. In the story of the rich young ruler seeking to inherit eternal life (Mk. 10.17–30; Mt. 19. 16–29; Lk. 18.18–30), the man’s wealth precludes him from following Jesus and therefore entering the kingdom. Jesus pronounces the rich entering the kingdom of God a virtual impossibility without divine help. Secondly, while Jesus warns the peril of earthly riches as a stumbling block, he also contrasts them with the eternal value of heavenly riches.
In the Sermon on the Mount/Plain, Jesus exhorts his audience to store up for themselves treasures in heaven as opposed to on earth, for what lasts eternally is only the heavenly ones (Mt. 6.19–21; Lk. 12.33–34). Luke makes explicit that one stores treasures in heaven by “sell[ing] your possessions and give to the poor” (12.33). In the same Gospel, Jesus berates the rich man who put his security in his earthly riches as a “fool” because he “stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God” (12.21). A clear example of storing one’s heavenly treasures and being rich toward God is shown in the story of Zacchaeus, the repentant tax collector, who not only welcomed Jesus to his house but promised to “give half of [his] possessions to the poor” and to pay back four times if he defrauded anyone (19.8). Thus, as widely acknowledged, Luke strongly ties the right use of riches with discipleship. Thirdly, as securing heavenly treasure is translated into caring for the poor, God has a special interest in the poor. This theme is consistent with God’s protection and care of the poor in the Old Testament. Jesus proclaims his mission in terms of Isaiah 61.1–2 (Lk. 4.18–21; Mt. 11.5) with a specific reference to preaching good news to the poor. Moreover, Jesus precisely commands the rich ruler to sell his possessions, give them to the poor, and follow him as the latter seeks eternal life (Mt. 19.21; Mk. 10.21; Lk. 18.22).
Again, Luke is well known for his particular concern for the poor as the objects of Jesus’ compassion and ministry. In the Beatitudes, they are the recipients of God’s kingdom as the corresponding woes are pronounced to the rich (6.20, 24; cf. Mt. 5.3). God’s special interest in the poor is also expressed in the theme of the eschatological “great reversal” of fortunes between the rich and the poor (1.53).
In the parable of the messianic banquet, it is the “the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame” who become
God’s honored guests, while others reject the invitation because of their earthly possessions (14.21; cf. 14.13).
the period: “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Paul’s focus of generosity is devoted to the collection for the church in Jerusalem (Gal. 2.10; 1 Cor. 16.1–4; 2 Cor 8.1 – 9.15; Rom. 15.25–31) as an important symbol of unity between Jewish and gentile believers with an appeal to material and spiritual reciprocity.
The Letter of James stands out in terms of its vehement condemnation of the oppressive rich, who were presumably outsiders to its Christian community, which mostly consisted of the poor. Reflecting the Old Testament prophetic tradition of the “wicked rich” and the “pious poor” and adopting its voice, James indicts the rich with the sins of hoarding wealth, defrauding wages, luxurious lifestyle, and condemning and murdering the righteous, and exposes the ironies and folly of their actions as “digging their own graves” in the imminent day of God’s judgment (5.1–6).
Alan Kahan points to the fact that Jesus was a poor man as emblematic of "a revolution in the way poverty and wealth were viewed." This is not to say that Christian attitudes borrowed nothing from its Greco-Roman and Jewish precursors. Kahan acknowledges that, "Christian theology absorbed those Greco-Roman attitudes towards money that complemented its own." However, as Kahan puts it, "Never before had any god been conceived of as poor." He characterizes Christian charity as being "different in kind from the generosity praised in the classical tradition."
Alan Kahan contrasts the attitudes of early Christians with those of classical thinkers such as Seneca. The New Testament urges Christians to sell material possessions and give the money to the poor. According to Kahan, the goal of Christian charity is equality, a notion which is absent in the Greco-Roman attitudes toward the poor.
Cosimo Perrotta characterizes the Christian attitude vis-a-vis poverty and work as being "much closer to the tradition of the Old Testament than to classical culture." However, Irving Kristol suggests that Christianity's attitude towards wealth is markedly different from that of the Hebrews in the Old Testament. Kristol asserts that traditional Judaism has no precepts that parallel the Christian assertion that it is difficult for a rich man to get into heaven.
Perrotta characterizes Christianity as not disdaining material wealth as did classical thinkers such as Socrates, the Cynics and Seneca and yet not desiring it as the Old Testament writers did.
condemned private property and advocated the communal ownership of property as an ideal for Christians to follow. However, they recognized early on that this was an ideal which was not practical in everyday life and viewed private property as a "necessary evil resulting from the fall of man."
Robert Grant points out that, while almost all of the Church Fathers condemn the "love of money for its own sake and insist upon the positive duty of almsgiving", none of them seems to have advocated the general application of Jesus' counsel to the rich young man viz. to give away all of his worldly possessions in order to follow him.
Augustine
urged Christians to turn away from the desire for material wealth and success. He argued that the accumulation of wealth was not a worthy goal for Christians.
Clement of Alexandria counselled that property be used for the good of the community, he sanctioned private ownership of property and the accumulation of wealth. Lactantius
wrote that "the ownership of property contains the material of both vices and virtues but communism [communitas] contains nothing but license for vice."
Madeleine Gray describes the medieval system of social welfare as one that was "organized through the church and underpinned by ideas on the spiritual value of poverty.
According to Kahan, Christian theologians regularly condemned merchants. For example, he cites Honorius of Autun who wrote that merchants had little chance of going to heaven whereas farmers were likely to be saved. He further cites Gratian
who wrote that "the man who buys something in order that he may gain by selling it again unchanged and as he bought it, that man is of the buyers and sellers who are cast forth from God's temple."
However, the medieval era saw a change in the attitudes of Christians towards the accumulation of wealth. Thomas Aquinas
defined avarice not simply as a desire for wealth but as an immoderate desire for wealth. Aquinas wrote that it was acceptable to have "external riches" to the extent that they were necessary for him to maintain his "condition of life". This argued that the nobility had a right to more wealth than the peasantry. What was unacceptable was for a person to seek to more wealth than was appropriate to one's station or aspire to a higher station in life.
Ironically, the church evolved into being the single most powerful institution in medieval Europe, more powerful than any single potentate. The Church was so wealthy that, at one time, it owned as much as 20-30% of the land in Western Europe in an era when land was the primary form of wealth. Over time, this wealth and power led to abuses and corruption.
. By the eleventh century, Benedictine
monasteries had become wealthy, owing to the generous donations of monarchs and nobility. Abbots of the larger monasteries achieved international prominence. In reaction to this wealth and power, a reform movement arose which sought a simpler, more austere monastic life in which monks worked with their hands rather than acting as landlords over serfs.
At the beginning of the 13th century, mendicant orders
such as the Dominicans and the Franciscans departed from the practice of existing religious orders by taking vows of extreme poverty and maintaining an active presence preaching and serving the community rather than withdrawing into monasteries. Francis of Assisi
viewed poverty as a key element of the imitation of Christ
who was "poor at birth in the manger, poor as he lived in the world, and naked as he died on the cross".
The visible public commitment of the Franciscans to poverty provided to the laity a sharp contrast to the wealth and power of the Church, provoking "awkward questions".
labored to remind the church hierarchy and the laity that money was the root of all evil.
Usury
originally was the charging of interest
on loan
s; this included charging a fee for the use of money, such as at a bureau de change
. In places where interest became acceptable, usury was interest above the rate allowed by law. Today, usury commonly is the charging of unreasonable or relatively high rates of interest.
The first of the scholastics, Saint Anselm of Canterbury, led the shift in thought that labeled charging interest the same as theft. Previously usury had been seen as a lack of charity.
St. Thomas Aquinas
, the leading theologian of the Catholic Church, argued charging of interest is wrong because it amounts to "double charging", charging for both the thing and the use of the thing.
This did not, as some think, prevent investment. What it stipulated was that in order for the investor to share in the profit he must share the risk. In short he must be a joint-venturer. Simply to invest the money and expect it to be returned regardless of the success of the venture was to make money simply by having money and not by taking any risk or by doing any work or by any effort or sacrifice at all. This is usury. St Thomas quotes Aristotle as saying that "to live by usury is exceedingly unnatural". St Thomas allows, however, charges for actual services provided. Thus a banker or credit-lender could charge for such actual work or effort as he did carry out e.g. any fair administrative charges.
with setting the stage for the later development of capitalism
in northern Europe. In this view, elements of Calvinism represented a revolt against the medieval condemnation of usury
and, implicitly, of profit in general. Such a connection was advanced in influential works by R. H. Tawney
(1880–1962) and by Max Weber
(1864–1920).
Calvin criticized the use of certain passages of scripture invoked by people opposed to the charging of interest. He reinterpreted some of these passages, and suggested that others of them had been rendered irrelevant by changed conditions. He also dismissed the argument (based upon the writings of Aristotle
) that it is wrong to charge interest for money because money itself is barren. He said that the walls and the roof of a house are barren, too, but it is permissible to charge someone for allowing him to use them. In the same way, money can be made fruitful.
s, work was not simply arduous drudgery required to sustain life. Joseph Conforti describes the Puritan attitude toward work as taking on "the character of a vocation — a calling through which one improved the world, redeemed time, glorified God, and followed life's pilgrimage toward salvation." Gayraud Wilmore characterizes the Puritan social ethic as focused on the "acquisition and proper stewardship of wealth as outward symbols of God's favor and the consequent salvation of the individual." Puritans were urged to be producers rather than consumers and to invest their profits to create more jobs for industrious workers who would thus be enabled to "contribute to a productive society and a vital, expansive church." Puritans were counseled to seek sufficient comfort and economic self-sufficiency but to avoid the pursuit of luxuries or the accumulation of material wealth for its own sake.
propounded a thesis that Reformed (i.e., Calvinist) Protestantism had engendered the character traits and values that under-girded modern capitalism. The English translation of these articles were published in book form in 1930 as "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
. Weber argued that capitalism
in northern Europe evolved because the Protestant (particularlyCalvinist
) ethic
influenced large numbers of people to engage in work in the secular world, developing their own enterprise
s and engaging in trade
and the accumulation of wealth
for investment. In other words, the Protestant work ethic
was a force behind an unplanned and uncoordinated mass action
that influenced the development of capitalism
.
Weber's work focused scholars on the question of the uniqueness of Western civilization and the nature of its economic and social development. Scholars have sought to explain the fact that economic growth has been much more rapid in Northern and Western Europe and its overseas off shoots than in other parts of the world including those that where the Catholic and Orthodox churches have been dominant over Protestantism. Some have observed that explosive economic growth occurred at roughly the same time, or soon after, these areas experienced the rise of Protestant religions. Stanley Engerman asserts that, although some scholars may argue that the two phenomena are unrelated, many would find it difficult to accept such a thesis.
John Chamberlain wrote that "Christianity tends to lead to a capitalistic mode of life whenever siege conditions do not prevail... [capitalism] is not Christian in and by itself; it is merely to say that capitalism is a material by-product of the Mosaic Law."
Rodney Stark
propounds the theory that Christian rationality is the primary driver behind the success of capitalism and the Rise of the West.
generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality
and solidarity, that understands and values human rights
, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by the Jesuit Luigi Taparelli
in 1840 based on the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas
and given further exposure in 1848 by Antonio Rosmini-Serbati
. The idea was elaborated by the moral theologian John A. Ryan
, who initiated the concept of a living wage
. Father Coughlin also used the term in his publications in the 1930s and the 1940s. It is a part of Catholic social teaching
, Social Gospel
from Episcopalians and is one of the Four Pillars of the Green Party
upheld by green parties worldwide
. Social justice as a secular concept, distinct from religious teachings, emerged mainly in the late twentieth century, influenced primarily by philosopher John Rawls
. Some tenets of social justice have been adopted by those on the left of the political spectrum.
The view that wealth has been taken from the poor by the rich implies that the redistribution of that wealth is more a matter of restitution than of theft.
is a body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of poverty
and wealth
, economics
, social organization and the role of the state
. Its foundations are widely considered to have been laid by Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical letter
Rerum Novarum
, which advocated economic distributism
and condemned socialism
.
According to Pope Benedict XVI
, its purpose "is simply to help purify reason and to contribute, here and now, to the acknowledgment and attainment of what is just…. [The Church] has to play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice…cannot prevail and prosper", According to Pope John Paul II
, its foundation "rests on the threefold cornerstones of human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity". These concerns echo elements of Jewish law and the prophetic books of the Old Testament
, and recall the teachings of Jesus Christ recorded in the New Testament
, such as his declaration that "whatever you have done for one of these least brothers of Mine, you have done for Me."
Catholic social teaching is distinctive in its consistent critiques of modern
social and political ideologies both of the left and of the right: liberalism
, communism
, socialism
, libertarianism
, capitalism
, fascism
, and Nazism
have all been condemned, at least in their pure forms, by several popes since the late nineteenth century.
Arnold Toynbee
characterized Communist ideology as a "Christian heresy" in the sense that it focused on a few elements of the faith to the exclusion of the others. Donald Treadgold interprets Toynbee's characterization as applying to Christian attitudes as opposed to Christian doctrines. In his book, "Moral Philosophy", Jacques Maritain
echoed Toynbee's perspective, characterizing the teachings of Karl Marx
as a "Christian heresy". After reading Maritain, Martin Luther King, Jr.
commented that Marxism had arisen in response to "a Christian world unfaithful to its own principles." Although King criticized the Soviet Marxist-Leninist Communist regime sharply, he nonetheless commented that Marx's devotion to a classless society made him almost Christian. Tragically, said King, Communist regimes created "new classes and a new lexicon of injustice."
generally refers to those on the Christian left
whose politics are both Christian
and socialist and who see these two philosophies as being interrelated. This category can include Liberation theology
and the doctrine of the social gospel
.
The Rerum Novarum
encyclical
of Leo XIII (1891) was the starting point of a Catholic doctrine
on social questions that has been expanded and updated over the course of the 20th century. Despite the introduction of social thought as an object of religious thought, Rerum Novarum explicitly rejects what it calls "the main tenet of socialism":
The encyclical promotes a kind of corporatism
based on social solidarity among the classes with respects for the needs and rights of all.
In the November 1914 issue of the The Christian Socialist, Episcopal bishop Franklin Spencer Spalding
of Utah, U.S.A. stated:
Despite the explicit rejection of Socialism, in the more Catholic countries of Europe
the encyclical's teaching was the inspiration that led to the formation of new Christian-inspired Socialist parties
. A number of Christian socialist movements and political parties throughout the world group themselves into the International League of Religious Socialists
. It has member organizations in 21 countries representing 200,000 members.
Christian socialists draw parallels between what some have characterized as the egalitarian and anti-establishment message of Jesus
, who–according to the Gospel
–spoke against the religious authorities of his time, and the egalitarian, anti-establishment, and sometimes anti-clerical message of most contemporary socialisms. Some Christian Socialists have become active Communists
. This phenomenon was most common among missionaries
in China
, the most notable being James Gareth Endicott
, who became supportive of the struggle of the Communist Party of China
in the 1930s and 1940s.
is a Christian movement in political theology
which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions. It has been described by proponents as "an interpretation of Christian faith through the poor's suffering, their struggle and hope, and a critique of society and the Catholic faith and Christianity through the eyes of the poor", and by detractors as Christianized Marxism
.
Although liberation theology has grown into an international and inter-denominational movement, it began as a movement within the Roman Catholic church in Latin America in the 1950s–1960s. Liberation theology arose principally as a moral reaction to the poverty caused by social injustice
in that region. The term was coined in 1971 by the Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez
, who wrote one of the movement's most famous books, A Theology of Liberation. Other noted exponents are Leonardo Boff
of Brazil, Jon Sobrino
of El Salvador, and Juan Luis Segundo
of Uruguay.
The influence of liberation theology diminished after proponents using Marxist concepts were admonished by the Vatican
's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
(CDF) in 1984 and 1986. The Vatican criticized certain strains of liberation theology for focusing on institutional dimensions of sin to the exclusion of the individual; and for allegedly misidentifying the church hierarchy as members of the privileged class.
Mahoney characterizes the saying of Jesus in as having "imprinted themselves so deeply on the Christian community through the centuries that those who are well off, or even comfortably off, often feel uneasy and troubled in conscience."
At one end of the spectrum is a view which casts wealth and materialism as an evil to be avoided and even combatted. At the other end is a view which casts prosperity and well-being as a blessing from God. Some Christians argue that a proper understanding of Christian teachings on wealth and poverty needs to take a larger view where the accumulation of wealth is not the central focus of one's life but rather a resource to foster the "good life". David Miller has constructed a three-part rubric which presents three prevalent attitudes among Protestants towards wealth. According to this rubric, Protestants have variously viewed wealth as: (1) an offense to the Christian faith (2) an obstacle to faith and (3) the outcome of faith.
Wealth as an offense to faith
According to Kahan, there is a strand of Christianity that views the wealthy man as "especially sinful". In this strand of Christianity, Kahan asserts, the day of judgment is viewed as a time when "the social order will be turned upside down and ... the poor will turnout to be the ones truly blessed."David Miller suggests that this view is similar to that of the third century Manicheans who saw the spiritual world as being good and the material world as evil with the two being in irreconcilable conflict with each other. Thus, this strand of Christianity exhorts Christians to renounce material and worldly pleasures in order to follow Jesus. As an example, Miller cites Jesus' injunction to his disciples to "take nothing for the journey."
Wealth as an obstacle to faith
According to David Miller, Martin LutherMartin Luther
Martin Luther was a German priest, professor of theology and iconic figure of the Protestant Reformation. He strongly disputed the claim that freedom from God's punishment for sin could be purchased with money. He confronted indulgence salesman Johann Tetzel with his Ninety-Five Theses in 1517...
viewed Mammon (or the desire for wealth) as "the most common idol on earth". Miller cites Jesus' encounter with the rich ruler as an example of wealth being an obstacle to faith. According to Miller, it is not the rich man's wealth per se that is the obstacle but rather the man's reluctance to give up that wealth in order to follow Jesus. Miller cites Paul's observation in 1st Timothy
First Epistle to Timothy
The First Epistle of Paul to Timothy, usually referred to simply as First Timothy and often written 1 Timothy, is one of three letters in the New Testament of the Bible often grouped together as the Pastoral Epistles, the others being Second Timothy and Titus...
that, “people who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction." . Paul continues on with the observation that "the love of money is the root of all evil."
Miller emphasizes that "it is the love of money that is the obstacle to faith, not the money itself."
Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, "How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!" The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, "Children, how hard it is[a] to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God." The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, "Who then can be saved?" Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God."
Kahan cites Jesus' injunction against amassing material wealth as an example that the "good [Christian] life was one of poverty and charity, storing up treasures in heaven instead of earth.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Jesus counsels his followers to remove from their lives those things which cause them to sin, saying "If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to go with two hands into hell, where the fire never goes out." . In order to remove the desire for wealth and material possessions as an obstacle to faith, some Christians have taken vows of poverty. Christianity has a long tradition of voluntary poverty which is manifested in the form of asceticism, charity and almsgiving.
Kahan argues that Christianity is unique because it sparked the beginning of a phenomenon which he calls the "Great Renunciation" in which "millions of people would renounce sex and money in God's name."
In Roman Catholicism, poverty is one of the evangelical counsels
Evangelical counsels
The three evangelical counsels or counsels of perfection in Christianity are chastity, poverty , and obedience . As Jesus of Nazareth stated in the Canonical gospels , they are counsels for those who desire to become "perfect"...
. Pope Benedict XVI distinguishes "poverty chosen" (the poverty of spirit proposed by Jesus), and "poverty to be fought" (unjust and imposed poverty). He considers that the moderation implied in the former favors solidarity, and is a necessary condition so as to fight effectively to eradicate the abuse of the latter. Certain religious order
Religious order
A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. The order is composed of initiates and, in some...
s also take a vow
Vow
A vow is a promise or oath.-Marriage vows:Marriage vows are binding promises each partner in a couple makes to the other during a wedding ceremony. Marriage customs have developed over history and keep changing as human society develops...
of extreme poverty. For example, the Franciscan
Franciscan
Most Franciscans are members of Roman Catholic religious orders founded by Saint Francis of Assisi. Besides Roman Catholic communities, there are also Old Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, ecumenical and Non-denominational Franciscan communities....
orders have traditionally foregone all individual and corporate forms of ownership.
Wealth as an outcome of faith
One line of Protestant thinking views the pursuit of wealth as not only acceptable but as a religious calling or duty. This perspective is generally ascribed to CalvinistCalvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
and Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
theologies which view hard work and frugal lifestyles as spiritual acts in themselves. John Wesley
John Wesley
John Wesley was a Church of England cleric and Christian theologian. Wesley is largely credited, along with his brother Charles Wesley, as founding the Methodist movement which began when he took to open-air preaching in a similar manner to George Whitefield...
was a strong proponent of wealth creation. However, to avoid wealth becoming an obstacle to faith, Wesley exhorted his audiences to "earn all they can, save all they can and give away all they can." Included among those who view wealth as an outcome of faith are modern-day preachers and authors who propound prosperity theology
Prosperity theology
Prosperity theology or gospel is a Christian religious belief whose proponents claim the Bible teaches that financial blessing is the will of God for Christians. Most teachers of prosperity theology maintain that a combination of faith, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will...
, teaching that God promises wealth and abundance to those who will believe in him and follow his laws.
Prosperity theology
Prosperity theology
Prosperity theology or gospel is a Christian religious belief whose proponents claim the Bible teaches that financial blessing is the will of God for Christians. Most teachers of prosperity theology maintain that a combination of faith, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will...
(also known as the "health and wealth gospel") is a Christian
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
religious belief whose proponents claim the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
teaches that financial blessing is the will of God
God in Christianity
In Christianity, God is the eternal being that created and preserves the universe. God is believed by most Christians to be immanent , while others believe the plan of redemption show he will be immanent later...
for Christians. Most teachers of prosperity theology maintain that a combination of faith
Faith in Christianity
Faith, in Christianity, has been most commonly defined by the biblical formulation in the Letter to the Hebrews as "'the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen". Most of the definitions in the history of Christian theology have followed this biblical formulation...
, positive speech, and donations to Christian ministries will always cause an increase in material wealth for those who practice these actions. Prosperity theology is almost always taught in conjunction with continuationism
Continuationism
Continuationism is a Christian theological belief that the gifts of the Holy Spirit have continued to this present age, specifically the sign gifts such as tongues and prophecy...
.
Prosperity theology first came to prominence in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
during the Healing Revival
Healing Revival
The Healing Revival is a term used by many American Charismatics in reference to a revival movement in the late 1940s and 1950s. Although it was concurrent with the more well known evangelical revival led by Billy Graham, and in some ways more broad, it is not recognized in either standard...
s in the 1950s. Some commentators have linked the genesis of prosperity theology with the influence of the New Thought
New Thought
New Thought promotes the ideas that "Infinite Intelligence" or "God" is ubiquitous, spirit is the totality of real things, true human selfhood is divine, divine thought is a force for good, sickness originates in the mind, and "right thinking" has a healing effect.Although New Thought is neither...
movement. It later figured prominently in the Word of Faith
Word of Faith
Word of Faith is a family of Christian churches as well as a label applied by some observers to a teaching movement kindred to many Pentecostal and charismatic churches and individuals worldwide. The basic doctrine preached is that of salvation through Jesus Christ and what that salvation entails...
movement and 1980s televangelism
Televangelism
Televangelism is the use of television to communicate the Christian faith. The word is a portmanteau of television and evangelism and was coined by Time magazine. A “televangelist” is a Christian minister who devotes a large portion of his ministry to television broadcasting...
. In the 1990s and 2000s, it became accepted by many influential leaders in the charismatic movement
Charismatic movement
The term charismatic movement is used in varying senses to describe 20th century developments in various Christian denominations. It describes an ongoing international, cross-denominational/non-denominational Christian movement in which individual, historically mainstream congregations adopt...
and has been promoted by Christian missionaries throughout the world. It has been harshly criticized by leaders of mainstream evangelicalism
Evangelicalism
Evangelicalism is a Protestant Christian movement which began in Great Britain in the 1730s and gained popularity in the United States during the series of Great Awakenings of the 18th and 19th century.Its key commitments are:...
as a non-scriptural doctrine or as an outright heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
.
Precursors to Christianity
Cosimo Perrotta describes the early Christian period as one which saw "the meeting and clash of three great cultures: the Classical, the Hebrew (of the Old Testament) and the Christian." Perrotta describes the cultures as having radically different views of money and wealth. Whereas the Hebrew culture prized material wealth, the Classical and Christian cultures either held them in contempt or preached indifference to them. However, Perrotta points out that the motivation of the Classical and Christian cultures for their attitudes were very different and thus the logical implications of the attitudes resulted in different outcomes.Classical Greco-Roman views
Alan Kahan characterizes PlatoPlato
Plato , was a Classical Greek philosopher, mathematician, student of Socrates, writer of philosophical dialogues, and founder of the Academy in Athens, the first institution of higher learning in the Western world. Along with his mentor, Socrates, and his student, Aristotle, Plato helped to lay the...
as being particularly emphatic in his distaste for money. According to Kahan, the Platonic view of the soul being above the body and money being beneath both of those is an attitude that "would pass into the Christian moral tradition and figure among the moral assumptions by which ... many Western intellectuals have been guided."
However, Kahan notes that later Greek philosophers generally did not adopt Plato's extreme position of rejecting private property and the making of money. Kahan argues that Aristotle was more representative of Greek thought on the topic and ultimately more influential on Western thinkers. Aristotle distinguished between the making of money to satisfy real needs (which he considered to be a virtuous activity) and the accumulation of money for its own sake (which he considered to be a deleterious activity). Kahan identifies this distinction as another Greek concept that would be adopted by later Western thinkers.
Kahan summarizes Greek attitudes towards money and commerce as "Wanting money too much, wanting too much money and earning money by labor are all things that harm the community as well as the individual."
According to Kahan, the Roman philosophers adopted the Greek attitudes towards wealth and money. He cites Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
and Seneca
Seneca
-People:*Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Seneca the Younger aka Seneca , son of Seneca the Elder, Roman philosopher and playwright, tutor and advisor of Nero*Seneca the Elder , Roman orator and writer...
as examples of Roman thought about the making of money. He highlights a passage by Cicero which denigrates craftsmen, merchants and tradesmen as servile, contemptible and vulgar. In Cicero's estimation, "farming is the most pleasant livelihood, the most fruitful, and the most worthy of a free man."
Kahan also cites Cicero
Cicero
Marcus Tullius Cicero , was a Roman philosopher, statesman, lawyer, political theorist, and Roman constitutionalist. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the equestrian order, and is widely considered one of Rome's greatest orators and prose stylists.He introduced the Romans to the chief...
as an example of Roman attitudes towards generosity viz. "Generosity should not be the cause of poverty.... the greatest advantage of wealth is the ability to be generous while not depriving oneself of one's inheritance.
Jewish attitudes in the Old Testament
Perrotta characterizes the attitude of the Jews as expressed in the Old Testament scriptures as being "completely different from the classical view." He points out that servile and hired work was not scorned by the Jews of the Old Testament as it was by Greco-Roman thinkers. Instead, such work was protected by biblical commandments to pay workers on time and not to cheat them. The poor were protected from being exploited when in debt. Perrotta asserts that the goal of these commandments was "not only to protect the poor but also to prevent the excessive accumulation of wealth in a few hands." In essence, the poor man is "protected by God". However, Perrotta points out that poverty is not admired nor is it considered a positive value by the writers of the Old Testament. The poor are protected because the weak should be protected from exploitation.Perrotta points out that material wealth is highly valued in the Old Testament; the Hebrews seek it and God promises to bless them with it if they will follow his commandments. Joseph Francis Kelly writes that biblical writers leave no doubt that God enabled men such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Solomon to achieve wealth and that this wealth was a sign of divine favor. However, Kelly also points out that the Old Testament insisted that the rich aid the poor. Prophets such as Amos castigated the rich for oppressing the poor and crushing the needy. In summary, Kelly writes that, "the Old Testament saw wealth as something good but warned the wealthy not to use their position to harm those with less. The rich had an obligation to alleviate the sufferings of the poor."
New Testament
Kelly points to passages in the New Testament that show Jesus:- Identifying with the poor
- Lamenting the rich young man's attachment to his material wealth (see Jesus and the rich young manJesus and the rich young manJesus and the rich young man is an episode in the life of Jesus in the New Testament that deals with eternal life. It appears in the Gospel of Matthew , the Gospel of Mark and the Gospel of Luke ....
)
While Jesus never condemns wealth as evil per se, he consistently addresses the danger of riches as a hindrance to full commitment to
God. In the interpretation of the parable of the Sower, “the deceit of wealth and the desires for other things” (Mk. 4.19; cf. Mt. 13.22; “riches” in Lk. 8.14) choke the word.
Jesus pits Mammon as personified riches against God, which claims a person’s service and loyalty as God does, but rejects a possibility of dual service on our part: no one can serve both God and Mammon; money as a competing object of devotion is implicitly renounced. In the story of the rich young ruler seeking to inherit eternal life (Mk. 10.17–30; Mt. 19. 16–29; Lk. 18.18–30), the man’s wealth precludes him from following Jesus and therefore entering the kingdom. Jesus pronounces the rich entering the kingdom of God a virtual impossibility without divine help. Secondly, while Jesus warns the peril of earthly riches as a stumbling block, he also contrasts them with the eternal value of heavenly riches.
In the Sermon on the Mount/Plain, Jesus exhorts his audience to store up for themselves treasures in heaven as opposed to on earth, for what lasts eternally is only the heavenly ones (Mt. 6.19–21; Lk. 12.33–34). Luke makes explicit that one stores treasures in heaven by “sell[ing] your possessions and give to the poor” (12.33). In the same Gospel, Jesus berates the rich man who put his security in his earthly riches as a “fool” because he “stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God” (12.21). A clear example of storing one’s heavenly treasures and being rich toward God is shown in the story of Zacchaeus, the repentant tax collector, who not only welcomed Jesus to his house but promised to “give half of [his] possessions to the poor” and to pay back four times if he defrauded anyone (19.8). Thus, as widely acknowledged, Luke strongly ties the right use of riches with discipleship. Thirdly, as securing heavenly treasure is translated into caring for the poor, God has a special interest in the poor. This theme is consistent with God’s protection and care of the poor in the Old Testament. Jesus proclaims his mission in terms of Isaiah 61.1–2 (Lk. 4.18–21; Mt. 11.5) with a specific reference to preaching good news to the poor. Moreover, Jesus precisely commands the rich ruler to sell his possessions, give them to the poor, and follow him as the latter seeks eternal life (Mt. 19.21; Mk. 10.21; Lk. 18.22).
Again, Luke is well known for his particular concern for the poor as the objects of Jesus’ compassion and ministry. In the Beatitudes, they are the recipients of God’s kingdom as the corresponding woes are pronounced to the rich (6.20, 24; cf. Mt. 5.3). God’s special interest in the poor is also expressed in the theme of the eschatological “great reversal” of fortunes between the rich and the poor (1.53).
In the parable of the messianic banquet, it is the “the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame” who become
God’s honored guests, while others reject the invitation because of their earthly possessions (14.21; cf. 14.13).
Acts of the Apostles
Luke’s concern for the rich and the poor continues in the Acts with a greater focus on the unity of the nascent Christian communities. The two famous passages (2.43–45; 4.32–37), which have been appealed to throughout history as the “normative ideal” of the community of goods for Christians, rather describe the extent of fellowship (koinōnia) in Jerusalem community as a part of distinctive Christian identity. Acts also portrays both positive and negative uses of wealth: those who practiced almsgiving and generosity to the poor (9.36; 10.2, 4) and those who gave priority to money over the needs of others (5.1–11; 8.14–24).Epistles
For Paul, riches mainly denotes the character and activity of God and Christ – spiritual blessings and/of salvation – (e.g., Rom. 2.4; 9.23; 2 Cor. 8.9; Eph. 1.7, 18; 2.4, 7) although he occasionally refers to typical Jewish piety and Greco-Roman moral teachings of the time, such as generosity (Rom. 12.8, 13; 2 Cor. 8.2; Eph. 4.28; 1 Tim. 6.17 ) and hospitality (1 Tim. 5.10) with warnings against pride (1 Tim. 6.17) and greed (1 Cor. 5.11; 1 Tim. 3.8). 1 Tim. 6.10 seems to reflect a popular Cynic-Stoic moral teaching ofthe period: “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.” Paul’s focus of generosity is devoted to the collection for the church in Jerusalem (Gal. 2.10; 1 Cor. 16.1–4; 2 Cor 8.1 – 9.15; Rom. 15.25–31) as an important symbol of unity between Jewish and gentile believers with an appeal to material and spiritual reciprocity.
The Letter of James stands out in terms of its vehement condemnation of the oppressive rich, who were presumably outsiders to its Christian community, which mostly consisted of the poor. Reflecting the Old Testament prophetic tradition of the “wicked rich” and the “pious poor” and adopting its voice, James indicts the rich with the sins of hoarding wealth, defrauding wages, luxurious lifestyle, and condemning and murdering the righteous, and exposes the ironies and folly of their actions as “digging their own graves” in the imminent day of God’s judgment (5.1–6).
- If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15)
Revelation
Finally, the Revelation treats earthly riches and commercial activities with great ambivalence. While Jesus exposes the true poverty of the Laodicean church’s boast of wealth (3.17–18), he presents himself as the true source and dispenser of wealth (cf. 2 Cor. 8.13–15). Later, earthly riches and businesses activities are associated with the sins of Babylon, the earthly power of evil with self-accorded glory and luxury, whose fall is imminent (18.1–24). However, the Revelations also portrays the New Jerusalem with a lavish materialistic description, made of pure gold decorated with “every kind of precious stone” (21.18–19).Early Christianity
Early Christianity appears to have adopted many of the ethical themes found in the Hebrew Bible. However, the teachings of Jesus and his apostles as presented in the New Testament exhibit an "acute sensitivity to the needs of the disadvantaged" that Frederick sees as "adding a critical edge to Christian teaching where wealth and the pursuit of economic gain are concerned.Alan Kahan points to the fact that Jesus was a poor man as emblematic of "a revolution in the way poverty and wealth were viewed." This is not to say that Christian attitudes borrowed nothing from its Greco-Roman and Jewish precursors. Kahan acknowledges that, "Christian theology absorbed those Greco-Roman attitudes towards money that complemented its own." However, as Kahan puts it, "Never before had any god been conceived of as poor." He characterizes Christian charity as being "different in kind from the generosity praised in the classical tradition."
Alan Kahan contrasts the attitudes of early Christians with those of classical thinkers such as Seneca. The New Testament urges Christians to sell material possessions and give the money to the poor. According to Kahan, the goal of Christian charity is equality, a notion which is absent in the Greco-Roman attitudes toward the poor.
Cosimo Perrotta characterizes the Christian attitude vis-a-vis poverty and work as being "much closer to the tradition of the Old Testament than to classical culture." However, Irving Kristol suggests that Christianity's attitude towards wealth is markedly different from that of the Hebrews in the Old Testament. Kristol asserts that traditional Judaism has no precepts that parallel the Christian assertion that it is difficult for a rich man to get into heaven.
Perrotta characterizes Christianity as not disdaining material wealth as did classical thinkers such as Socrates, the Cynics and Seneca and yet not desiring it as the Old Testament writers did.
Patristic era
Many of the Church FathersChurch Fathers
The Church Fathers, Early Church Fathers, Christian Fathers, or Fathers of the Church were early and influential theologians, eminent Christian teachers and great bishops. Their scholarly works were used as a precedent for centuries to come...
condemned private property and advocated the communal ownership of property as an ideal for Christians to follow. However, they recognized early on that this was an ideal which was not practical in everyday life and viewed private property as a "necessary evil resulting from the fall of man."
Robert Grant points out that, while almost all of the Church Fathers condemn the "love of money for its own sake and insist upon the positive duty of almsgiving", none of them seems to have advocated the general application of Jesus' counsel to the rich young man viz. to give away all of his worldly possessions in order to follow him.
Augustine
Augustine of Hippo
Augustine of Hippo , also known as Augustine, St. Augustine, St. Austin, St. Augoustinos, Blessed Augustine, or St. Augustine the Blessed, was Bishop of Hippo Regius . He was a Latin-speaking philosopher and theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province...
urged Christians to turn away from the desire for material wealth and success. He argued that the accumulation of wealth was not a worthy goal for Christians.
Clement of Alexandria counselled that property be used for the good of the community, he sanctioned private ownership of property and the accumulation of wealth. Lactantius
Lactantius
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius was an early Christian author who became an advisor to the first Christian Roman emperor, Constantine I, guiding his religious policy as it developed, and tutor to his son.-Biography:...
wrote that "the ownership of property contains the material of both vices and virtues but communism [communitas] contains nothing but license for vice."
Medieval Europe
By the beginning of the medieval era, the Christian paternalist ethic was "thoroughly entrenched in the culture of Western Europe." Individualist and materialist pursuits such as greed, avarice, and the accumulation of wealth were condemned as unChristian.Madeleine Gray describes the medieval system of social welfare as one that was "organized through the church and underpinned by ideas on the spiritual value of poverty.
According to Kahan, Christian theologians regularly condemned merchants. For example, he cites Honorius of Autun who wrote that merchants had little chance of going to heaven whereas farmers were likely to be saved. He further cites Gratian
Gratian
Gratian was Roman Emperor from 375 to 383.The eldest son of Valentinian I, during his youth Gratian accompanied his father on several campaigns along the Rhine and Danube frontiers. Upon the death of Valentinian in 375, Gratian's brother Valentinian II was declared emperor by his father's soldiers...
who wrote that "the man who buys something in order that he may gain by selling it again unchanged and as he bought it, that man is of the buyers and sellers who are cast forth from God's temple."
However, the medieval era saw a change in the attitudes of Christians towards the accumulation of wealth. Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...
defined avarice not simply as a desire for wealth but as an immoderate desire for wealth. Aquinas wrote that it was acceptable to have "external riches" to the extent that they were necessary for him to maintain his "condition of life". This argued that the nobility had a right to more wealth than the peasantry. What was unacceptable was for a person to seek to more wealth than was appropriate to one's station or aspire to a higher station in life.
Ironically, the church evolved into being the single most powerful institution in medieval Europe, more powerful than any single potentate. The Church was so wealthy that, at one time, it owned as much as 20-30% of the land in Western Europe in an era when land was the primary form of wealth. Over time, this wealth and power led to abuses and corruption.
Monasticism
As early as the 6th and 7th centuries, the issue of property and move of wealth in the event of outside aggression had been addressed in monastic communities via agreements such as the Consensoria MonachorumConsensoria Monachorum
In Christian monasticism, the Consensoria Monachorum, also known as the refers to an agreement among a group of people to establish a monastic community....
. By the eleventh century, Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
monasteries had become wealthy, owing to the generous donations of monarchs and nobility. Abbots of the larger monasteries achieved international prominence. In reaction to this wealth and power, a reform movement arose which sought a simpler, more austere monastic life in which monks worked with their hands rather than acting as landlords over serfs.
At the beginning of the 13th century, mendicant orders
Mendicant Orders
The mendicant orders are religious orders which depend directly on the charity of the people for their livelihood. In principle, they do not own property, either individually or collectively , believing that this was the most pure way of life to copy followed by Jesus Christ, in order that all...
such as the Dominicans and the Franciscans departed from the practice of existing religious orders by taking vows of extreme poverty and maintaining an active presence preaching and serving the community rather than withdrawing into monasteries. Francis of Assisi
Francis of Assisi
Saint Francis of Assisi was an Italian Catholic friar and preacher. He founded the men's Franciscan Order, the women’s Order of St. Clare, and the lay Third Order of Saint Francis. St...
viewed poverty as a key element of the imitation of Christ
Imitation of Christ
In Christian theology, the Imitation of Christ is the practice of following the example of Jesus. In Eastern Christianity the term Life in Christ is sometimes used for the same concept....
who was "poor at birth in the manger, poor as he lived in the world, and naked as he died on the cross".
The visible public commitment of the Franciscans to poverty provided to the laity a sharp contrast to the wealth and power of the Church, provoking "awkward questions".
Early attempts at reform
Widespread corruption led to calls for reform which called into question the interdependent relationship of church and state power. Reformers sharply criticized the lavish wealth of churches and the mercenary behavior of the clergy. For example, reformer Peter DamianPeter Damian
Saint Peter Damian, O.S.B. was a reforming monk in the circle of Pope Gregory VII and a cardinal. In 1823, he was declared a Doctor of the Church...
labored to remind the church hierarchy and the laity that money was the root of all evil.
Usury
Usury
Usury Originally, when the charging of interest was still banned by Christian churches, usury simply meant the charging of interest at any rate . In countries where the charging of interest became acceptable, the term came to be used for interest above the rate allowed by law...
originally was the charging of interest
Interest
Interest is a fee paid by a borrower of assets to the owner as a form of compensation for the use of the assets. It is most commonly the price paid for the use of borrowed money, or money earned by deposited funds....
on loan
Loan
A loan is a type of debt. Like all debt instruments, a loan entails the redistribution of financial assets over time, between the lender and the borrower....
s; this included charging a fee for the use of money, such as at a bureau de change
Bureau de Change
A bureau de change or currency exchange is a business whose customers exchange one currency for another. Although originally French, the term bureau de change is widely used throughout Europe, and European travellers can usually easily identify these facilities when in other European countries...
. In places where interest became acceptable, usury was interest above the rate allowed by law. Today, usury commonly is the charging of unreasonable or relatively high rates of interest.
The first of the scholastics, Saint Anselm of Canterbury, led the shift in thought that labeled charging interest the same as theft. Previously usury had been seen as a lack of charity.
St. Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...
, the leading theologian of the Catholic Church, argued charging of interest is wrong because it amounts to "double charging", charging for both the thing and the use of the thing.
This did not, as some think, prevent investment. What it stipulated was that in order for the investor to share in the profit he must share the risk. In short he must be a joint-venturer. Simply to invest the money and expect it to be returned regardless of the success of the venture was to make money simply by having money and not by taking any risk or by doing any work or by any effort or sacrifice at all. This is usury. St Thomas quotes Aristotle as saying that "to live by usury is exceedingly unnatural". St Thomas allows, however, charges for actual services provided. Thus a banker or credit-lender could charge for such actual work or effort as he did carry out e.g. any fair administrative charges.
Reformation
The rising capitalistic middle class resented the drain of their wealth to the church; in northern Europe, they supported local reformers against the corruption, rapacity and venality which they viewed as originating in Rome.Calvinism
One school of thought attributes CalvinismCalvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
with setting the stage for the later development of capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
in northern Europe. In this view, elements of Calvinism represented a revolt against the medieval condemnation of usury
Usury
Usury Originally, when the charging of interest was still banned by Christian churches, usury simply meant the charging of interest at any rate . In countries where the charging of interest became acceptable, the term came to be used for interest above the rate allowed by law...
and, implicitly, of profit in general. Such a connection was advanced in influential works by R. H. Tawney
R. H. Tawney
Richard Henry Tawney was an English economic historian, social critic, Christian socialist, and an important proponent of adult education....
(1880–1962) and by Max Weber
Max Weber
Karl Emil Maximilian "Max" Weber was a German sociologist and political economist who profoundly influenced social theory, social research, and the discipline of sociology itself...
(1864–1920).
Calvin criticized the use of certain passages of scripture invoked by people opposed to the charging of interest. He reinterpreted some of these passages, and suggested that others of them had been rendered irrelevant by changed conditions. He also dismissed the argument (based upon the writings of Aristotle
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath, a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. His writings cover many subjects, including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, linguistics, politics, government, ethics, biology, and zoology...
) that it is wrong to charge interest for money because money itself is barren. He said that the walls and the roof of a house are barren, too, but it is permissible to charge someone for allowing him to use them. In the same way, money can be made fruitful.
Puritanism
For PuritanPuritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
s, work was not simply arduous drudgery required to sustain life. Joseph Conforti describes the Puritan attitude toward work as taking on "the character of a vocation — a calling through which one improved the world, redeemed time, glorified God, and followed life's pilgrimage toward salvation." Gayraud Wilmore characterizes the Puritan social ethic as focused on the "acquisition and proper stewardship of wealth as outward symbols of God's favor and the consequent salvation of the individual." Puritans were urged to be producers rather than consumers and to invest their profits to create more jobs for industrious workers who would thus be enabled to "contribute to a productive society and a vital, expansive church." Puritans were counseled to seek sufficient comfort and economic self-sufficiency but to avoid the pursuit of luxuries or the accumulation of material wealth for its own sake.
The rise of capitalism
In two journal articles published in 1904-05, German sociologist Max WeberMax Weber
Karl Emil Maximilian "Max" Weber was a German sociologist and political economist who profoundly influenced social theory, social research, and the discipline of sociology itself...
propounded a thesis that Reformed (i.e., Calvinist) Protestantism had engendered the character traits and values that under-girded modern capitalism. The English translation of these articles were published in book form in 1930 as "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is a book written by Max Weber, a German sociologist, economist, and politician. Begun as a series of essays, the original German text was composed in 1904 and 1905, and was translated into English for the first time by Talcott Parsons in 1930...
. Weber argued that capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
in northern Europe evolved because the Protestant (particularlyCalvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
) ethic
Protestant work ethic
The Protestant work ethic is a concept in sociology, economics and history, attributable to the work of Max Weber...
influenced large numbers of people to engage in work in the secular world, developing their own enterprise
Organization
An organization is a social group which distributes tasks for a collective goal. The word itself is derived from the Greek word organon, itself derived from the better-known word ergon - as we know `organ` - and it means a compartment for a particular job.There are a variety of legal types of...
s and engaging in trade
Trade
Trade is the transfer of ownership of goods and services from one person or entity to another. Trade is sometimes loosely called commerce or financial transaction or barter. A network that allows trade is called a market. The original form of trade was barter, the direct exchange of goods and...
and the accumulation of wealth
Wealth
Wealth is the abundance of valuable resources or material possessions. The word wealth is derived from the old English wela, which is from an Indo-European word stem...
for investment. In other words, the Protestant work ethic
Protestant work ethic
The Protestant work ethic is a concept in sociology, economics and history, attributable to the work of Max Weber...
was a force behind an unplanned and uncoordinated mass action
Mass action (sociology)
Mass action in sociology refers to the situations where a large number of people behave simultaneously in a similar way but individually and without coordination....
that influenced the development of capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
.
Weber's work focused scholars on the question of the uniqueness of Western civilization and the nature of its economic and social development. Scholars have sought to explain the fact that economic growth has been much more rapid in Northern and Western Europe and its overseas off shoots than in other parts of the world including those that where the Catholic and Orthodox churches have been dominant over Protestantism. Some have observed that explosive economic growth occurred at roughly the same time, or soon after, these areas experienced the rise of Protestant religions. Stanley Engerman asserts that, although some scholars may argue that the two phenomena are unrelated, many would find it difficult to accept such a thesis.
John Chamberlain wrote that "Christianity tends to lead to a capitalistic mode of life whenever siege conditions do not prevail... [capitalism] is not Christian in and by itself; it is merely to say that capitalism is a material by-product of the Mosaic Law."
Rodney Stark
Rodney Stark
Rodney Stark is an American sociologist of religion. He grew up in Jamestown, North Dakota in a Lutheran family. He spent time in the U.S. Army and worked as a journalist before pursuing graduate studies at The University of California, Berkeley...
propounds the theory that Christian rationality is the primary driver behind the success of capitalism and the Rise of the West.
Social justice
Social justiceSocial justice
Social justice generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality and solidarity, that understands and values human rights, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by...
generally refers to the idea of creating a society or institution that is based on the principles of equality
Social equality
Social equality is a social state of affairs in which all people within a specific society or isolated group have the same status in a certain respect. At the very least, social equality includes equal rights under the law, such as security, voting rights, freedom of speech and assembly, and the...
and solidarity, that understands and values human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
, and that recognizes the dignity of every human being. The term and modern concept of "social justice" was coined by the Jesuit Luigi Taparelli
Luigi Taparelli
Luigi Taparelli D’Azeglio was an Italian Catholic scholar of the Society of Jesus who coined the term social justice. He cofounded the journal Civiltà Cattolica in 1850 and wrote for it for twelve years. He was particularly concerned with the problems arising from the industrial revolution...
in 1840 based on the teachings of St. Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas
Thomas Aquinas, O.P. , also Thomas of Aquin or Aquino, was an Italian Dominican priest of the Catholic Church, and an immensely influential philosopher and theologian in the tradition of scholasticism, known as Doctor Angelicus, Doctor Communis, or Doctor Universalis...
and given further exposure in 1848 by Antonio Rosmini-Serbati
Antonio Rosmini-Serbati
Blessed Antonio Rosmini-Serbati was an Italian Roman Catholic priest and philosopher. He founded the Rosminians, officially the Institute of Charity or Societas a charitate nuncupata.-Biography:...
. The idea was elaborated by the moral theologian John A. Ryan
John A. Ryan
Monsignor John Augustine Ryan was a leading moral theologian, priest, professor, author, and social justice advocate. Ryan lived during a decisive moment in the development of Catholic social teaching within the United States...
, who initiated the concept of a living wage
Living wage
In public policy, a living wage is the minimum hourly income necessary for a worker to meet basic needs . These needs include shelter and other incidentals such as clothing and nutrition...
. Father Coughlin also used the term in his publications in the 1930s and the 1940s. It is a part of Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching is a body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of poverty and wealth, economics, social organization and the role of the state...
, Social Gospel
Social Gospel
The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada...
from Episcopalians and is one of the Four Pillars of the Green Party
Four Pillars of the Green Party
The Four Pillars of the Green Party are a foundational statement of Green politics and form the basis of many worldwide Green parties. The Four Pillars are:* Ecological wisdom* Social justice* Grassroots democracy* Nonviolence...
upheld by green parties worldwide
Global Greens
The Global Greens is a global network of Green parties and political movements. It was founded in 2001 in Canberra, Australia at the First Global Greens Congress, where the Global Green Charter was approved. The Second Global Greens Congress was held in 2008 in Sao Paolo, Brazil...
. Social justice as a secular concept, distinct from religious teachings, emerged mainly in the late twentieth century, influenced primarily by philosopher John Rawls
John Rawls
John Bordley Rawls was an American philosopher and a leading figure in moral and political philosophy. He held the James Bryant Conant University Professorship at Harvard University....
. Some tenets of social justice have been adopted by those on the left of the political spectrum.
The view that wealth has been taken from the poor by the rich implies that the redistribution of that wealth is more a matter of restitution than of theft.
Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teachingCatholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching is a body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of poverty and wealth, economics, social organization and the role of the state...
is a body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
and wealth
Wealth
Wealth is the abundance of valuable resources or material possessions. The word wealth is derived from the old English wela, which is from an Indo-European word stem...
, economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
, social organization and the role of the state
State (polity)
A state is an organized political community, living under a government. States may be sovereign and may enjoy a monopoly on the legal initiation of force and are not dependent on, or subject to any other power or state. Many states are federated states which participate in a federal union...
. Its foundations are widely considered to have been laid by Pope Leo XIII's 1891 encyclical letter
Encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...
Rerum Novarum
Rerum Novarum
Rerum Novarum is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on May 15, 1891. It was an open letter, passed to all Catholic bishops, that addressed the condition of the working classes. The encyclical is entitled: “Rights and Duties of Capital and Labour”...
, which advocated economic distributism
Distributism
Distributism is a third-way economic philosophy formulated by such Catholic thinkers as G. K...
and condemned socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
.
According to Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI
Benedict XVI is the 265th and current Pope, by virtue of his office of Bishop of Rome, the Sovereign of the Vatican City State and the leader of the Catholic Church as well as the other 22 sui iuris Eastern Catholic Churches in full communion with the Holy See...
, its purpose "is simply to help purify reason and to contribute, here and now, to the acknowledgment and attainment of what is just…. [The Church] has to play her part through rational argument and she has to reawaken the spiritual energy without which justice…cannot prevail and prosper", According to Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II
Blessed Pope John Paul II , born Karol Józef Wojtyła , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church and Sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death on 2 April 2005, at of age. His was the second-longest documented pontificate, which lasted ; only Pope Pius IX ...
, its foundation "rests on the threefold cornerstones of human dignity, solidarity and subsidiarity". These concerns echo elements of Jewish law and the prophetic books of the Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
, and recall the teachings of Jesus Christ recorded in the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
, such as his declaration that "whatever you have done for one of these least brothers of Mine, you have done for Me."
Catholic social teaching is distinctive in its consistent critiques of modern
Modernity
Modernity typically refers to a post-traditional, post-medieval historical period, one marked by the move from feudalism toward capitalism, industrialization, secularization, rationalization, the nation-state and its constituent institutions and forms of surveillance...
social and political ideologies both of the left and of the right: liberalism
Liberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
, communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
, socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
, libertarianism
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
, capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
, fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
, and Nazism
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
have all been condemned, at least in their pure forms, by several popes since the late nineteenth century.
Marxism
Irving Kristol posits that one reason that those who are "experiencing a Christian impulse, an impulse toward the imitatio Christi, would lean toward socialism ... is the attitude of Christianity toward the poor. "Arnold Toynbee
Arnold Toynbee
Arnold Toynbee was a British economic historian also noted for his social commitment and desire to improve the living conditions of the working classes.-Biography:...
characterized Communist ideology as a "Christian heresy" in the sense that it focused on a few elements of the faith to the exclusion of the others. Donald Treadgold interprets Toynbee's characterization as applying to Christian attitudes as opposed to Christian doctrines. In his book, "Moral Philosophy", Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain
Jacques Maritain was a French Catholic philosopher. Raised as a Protestant, he converted to Catholicism in 1906. An author of more than 60 books, he helped to revive St. Thomas Aquinas for modern times and is a prominent drafter of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights...
echoed Toynbee's perspective, characterizing the teachings of Karl Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
as a "Christian heresy". After reading Maritain, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr. was an American clergyman, activist, and prominent leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement. He is best known for being an iconic figure in the advancement of civil rights in the United States and around the world, using nonviolent methods following the...
commented that Marxism had arisen in response to "a Christian world unfaithful to its own principles." Although King criticized the Soviet Marxist-Leninist Communist regime sharply, he nonetheless commented that Marx's devotion to a classless society made him almost Christian. Tragically, said King, Communist regimes created "new classes and a new lexicon of injustice."
Christian socialism
Christian socialismChristian socialism
Christian socialism generally refers to those on the Christian left whose politics are both Christian and socialist and who see these two philosophies as being interrelated. This category can include Liberation theology and the doctrine of the social gospel...
generally refers to those on the Christian left
Christian left
The Christian left is a term originating in the United States, used to describe a spectrum of left-wing Christian political and social movements which largely embraces social justice....
whose politics are both Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
and socialist and who see these two philosophies as being interrelated. This category can include Liberation theology
Liberation theology
Liberation theology is a Christian movement in political theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions...
and the doctrine of the social gospel
Social Gospel
The Social Gospel movement is a Protestant Christian intellectual movement that was most prominent in the early 20th century United States and Canada...
.
The Rerum Novarum
Rerum Novarum
Rerum Novarum is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on May 15, 1891. It was an open letter, passed to all Catholic bishops, that addressed the condition of the working classes. The encyclical is entitled: “Rights and Duties of Capital and Labour”...
encyclical
Encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Catholic Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop...
of Leo XIII (1891) was the starting point of a Catholic doctrine
Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching is a body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of poverty and wealth, economics, social organization and the role of the state...
on social questions that has been expanded and updated over the course of the 20th century. Despite the introduction of social thought as an object of religious thought, Rerum Novarum explicitly rejects what it calls "the main tenet of socialism":
"Hence, it is clear that the main tenet of socialism, community of goods, must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonwealth. The first and most fundamental principle, therefore, if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability of private property." Rerum Novarum, paragraph 16
The encyclical promotes a kind of corporatism
Corporatism
Corporatism, also known as corporativism, is a system of economic, political, or social organization that involves association of the people of society into corporate groups, such as agricultural, business, ethnic, labor, military, patronage, or scientific affiliations, on the basis of common...
based on social solidarity among the classes with respects for the needs and rights of all.
In the November 1914 issue of the The Christian Socialist, Episcopal bishop Franklin Spencer Spalding
Franklin Spencer Spalding
Franklin Spencer Spalding was an Episcopal Bishop of Utah during the early 20th century who advocated Socialism as part of the Christian message.In November 1914 issue of The Christian Socialist Spalding states:...
of Utah, U.S.A. stated:
"The Christian Church exists for the sole purpose of saving the human race. So far she has failed, but I think that Socialism shows her how she may succeed. It insists that men cannot be made right until the material conditions be made right. Although man cannot live by bread alone, he must have bread. Therefore the Church must destroy a system of society which inevitably creates and perpetuates unequal and unfair conditions of life. These unequal and unfair conditions have been created by competition. Therefore competition must cease and cooperation take its place."
Despite the explicit rejection of Socialism, in the more Catholic countries of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
the encyclical's teaching was the inspiration that led to the formation of new Christian-inspired Socialist parties
Christian Democracy
Christian democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Christian principles to public policy. It emerged in nineteenth-century Europe under the influence of conservatism and Catholic social teaching...
. A number of Christian socialist movements and political parties throughout the world group themselves into the International League of Religious Socialists
International League of Religious Socialists
The International League of Religious Socialists is an umbrella organization of religious socialist movements in political parties throughout the world. Founded in the 1920s, it has member groups in 21 countries totalling 200,000 members...
. It has member organizations in 21 countries representing 200,000 members.
Christian socialists draw parallels between what some have characterized as the egalitarian and anti-establishment message of Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
, who–according to the Gospel
Gospel
A gospel is an account, often written, that describes the life of Jesus of Nazareth. In a more general sense the term "gospel" may refer to the good news message of the New Testament. It is primarily used in reference to the four canonical gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John...
–spoke against the religious authorities of his time, and the egalitarian, anti-establishment, and sometimes anti-clerical message of most contemporary socialisms. Some Christian Socialists have become active Communists
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
. This phenomenon was most common among missionaries
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, the most notable being James Gareth Endicott
James Gareth Endicott
James Gareth Endicott was a Canadian clergyman, Christian missionary and socialist.- Family and early life :Endicott was born in Szechuan Province, China, the third of five children to a Methodist missionary family and became fluent in Chinese. His family returned to Canada in 1910...
, who became supportive of the struggle of the Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
in the 1930s and 1940s.
Liberation theology
Liberation theologyLiberation theology
Liberation theology is a Christian movement in political theology which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions...
is a Christian movement in political theology
Political theology
Political theology or public theology is a branch of both political philosophy and practical theology that investigates the ways in which theological concepts or ways of thinking underlie political, social, economic and cultural discourses....
which interprets the teachings of Jesus Christ in terms of a liberation from unjust economic, political, or social conditions. It has been described by proponents as "an interpretation of Christian faith through the poor's suffering, their struggle and hope, and a critique of society and the Catholic faith and Christianity through the eyes of the poor", and by detractors as Christianized Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
.
Although liberation theology has grown into an international and inter-denominational movement, it began as a movement within the Roman Catholic church in Latin America in the 1950s–1960s. Liberation theology arose principally as a moral reaction to the poverty caused by social injustice
Social injustice
Social injustice is a concept relating to the claimed unfairness or injustice of a society in its divisions of rewards and burdens and other incidental inequalities...
in that region. The term was coined in 1971 by the Peruvian priest Gustavo Gutiérrez
Gustavo Gutiérrez
Gustavo Gutiérrez Merino, O.P., is a Peruvian theologian and Dominican priest regarded as the founder of Liberation Theology...
, who wrote one of the movement's most famous books, A Theology of Liberation. Other noted exponents are Leonardo Boff
Leonardo Boff
Leonardo Boff was born 14 December 1938 in Concórdia, Santa Catarina state, Brazil. He is a theologian, philosopher and writer, known for his active support for the rights of the poor and excluded....
of Brazil, Jon Sobrino
Jon Sobrino
Jon Sobrino, S.J. is a Jesuit Catholic priest and theologian, known mostly for his contributions to liberation theology....
of El Salvador, and Juan Luis Segundo
Juan Luis Segundo
Juan Luis Segundo, S.J. was a Jesuit priest and theologian who was one of the most important figures in the movement known as "Liberation theology." He wrote numerous books on theology, ideology, faith, hermeneutics, and social justice, and was an outspoken critic of what he perceived as church...
of Uruguay.
The influence of liberation theology diminished after proponents using Marxist concepts were admonished by the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith , previously known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman and Universal Inquisition , and after 1904 called the Supreme...
(CDF) in 1984 and 1986. The Vatican criticized certain strains of liberation theology for focusing on institutional dimensions of sin to the exclusion of the individual; and for allegedly misidentifying the church hierarchy as members of the privileged class.