Chapter 2. The Jewish and Christian Traditions

¹ Matt. v. 17.

² Matt. xix. 16–22; Mark x. 17–22.

³ It is a frequent theme of the prophets. Take, for instance, Malachi: ‘Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother?’

¹ Deut. xv. 7–11.

¹ Deut. xxiv. 6.

² Ecclesiasticus xxxiv. 22.

³ Exod. xxii. 26–27.

⁴ The ‘Law of the Corner’ will be found with slightly different content in the Books of Leviticus, xix. 9–10, and of Deuteronomy, xxiv. 19–21. The Rabbi Maimonides, than whom there could be no greater authority, summarises the position as follows: In a Vineyard, there are four gifts for the poor (fallen grapes; small bunches; the corner; and that-which-is-left-through-forgetfulness); in Corn, there are three gifts (the gleanings; that-which-is-left-through-fortgefulness; and the corner); in Trees, two gifts (that-which-is-left-through-forgetfulness and the corner). But let no one imagine that it is all plain sailing after that. There are nice questions as to when a field is to be deemed to be two fields, calling for two corners. In the case of gleanings, there is (e.g.) the knotty problem of grains of corn found in the receptacle of ants: for who can tell where the ants got them? So, if a sheaf is forgotten by the owner, but not by the labourers, or vice versa, it is not forgotten; it is not a thing-left-through-forgetfulness, until all men have forgotten it. On the other hand, if the owner forgets and later remembers the sheaf when he is in town, this does not suffice to save the sheaf: ‘for it is said, “when thou cuttest down thine harvest in the field,”—not indeed in the city.’ So, by parity of reasoning, if a strong wind lifts a sheaf into a neighbouring field and it is forgotten, it is nevertheless not a thing-left-through-forgetfulness within the meaning of the Act; for it no longer satisfies the words ‘thine harvest in thy fields.’ Is it necessary to add that the number of such fine problems approaches infinity?

⁵ Deut. xv. 1.

¹ Lev. xxv. 8–17.

² As, e.g., by Adler.

¹ It has been well observed that to-day if a student copies from one book, he is guilty of plagiarism; whereas if he quotes from two books, he is engaged in research. The ancient world had not attained consciousness of this important distinction.

² Without pursuing abstruser authorities, reference should be made to Josephus: Jewish War, Book 2, section viii, para. 2–13; Philo: Quod omnis probus liber sit, sections 12–13; Porphyry: De Abstinentia, Book IV, para. 11–13. Pliny; Natural History, Book V, para. 15.

¹ Emile Faguet goes further; ‘A en juger par les Evangiles, Jésus ne fut pas socialiste, et justement il fut essénien’ (Le Socialisme en 1907, p. 4).

¹ Matt. xix. 16–26; Mark x. 17–27; Luke xviii. 18–27.

¹ Thonissen, Le Socialisme dans le Passé, p 59.

² Matt. v.; Luke vi. 20–26.

¹ The version in the Gospel of Barnabas may be of passing interest: ‘Blessed are the poor who truly hate the delights of the world, for they shall abound in the delights of the kingdom of God.’

² The Apostle James, it is true (chap. v. 1), exclaims, ‘Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you’; but his view is in fact quite different from that of Luke. James's words lead up to and are part of a denunciation of certain rich men for certain specific acts of exploitation and injustice. To Luke, wealth, as such, and rich men, as such, are offensive.

³ Acts iv. 34–35. See also Acts ii. 44.

¹ 2 Cor. ix. 7; but the whole chapter is interesting. See also 1 Cor. xvi. 3. Probably the most explicit and the most egalitarian Pauline utterance on this question has, perhaps rather oddly, been cited with relative infrequency in this long controversy. Even here, however, the underlying principle is that of voluntary liberality, leading in practice to equality: ‘For I mean not that other men be eased, and ye be burdened; but by an equality, that now at this time your abundance may be a supply for their want, that their abundance also may be a supply for your want: that there may be equality’ (2 Cor. viii. 13–14).

¹ O'Brien: An Essay on Mediaeval Economic Teaching.

¹ Compare St. Paul: ‘Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions’(Galatians iii. 19).

¹The Instructor, Book III, chap. 6.

²Ibid.

³Ibid.

⁴ In fact, whether consciously or otherwise, St. Clement is here virtually quoting the Book of Ecclesiasticus; ‘For the good are good things created from the beginning; so evil things for sinners.’ Here, however, the implication is that the ordinary things of life (salt, honey, milk, clothing, the blood of the grape, etc.) which are good to the godly, are to the sinner turned into evil.

¹ Loeb edition, pp. 291–293.

² Loeb edition, p. 299.

³ It is rather surprising that St. Clement does not call in aid the distinction between a counsel of perfection applicable to some, and a precept applicable to all. St. Ambrose, on the other hand, takes the injunction to the rich young man as the classical example of the distinction (Concerning Widows, chap. 2).

¹Duties of the Clergy, Book I, chap. 28 (p. 23 in edition of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers).

²Ibid. p. 23.

³ Letter 63, p. 470, same edition.

⁴ At the same time, in illustration of the intermingling of many lines of thought, perhaps ultimately inconsistent, to which the Fathers, no less than other men, were subject, it may be noted that in one place St. Ambrose cites St. Luke's abbreviated version of the Sermon on the Mount, and comments: ‘Thus it is stated as plainly as possible that poverty, hunger and pain, which are considered to be evils, not only are not hindrances to a blessed life, but are actually so many helps towards it’ (Duties of the Clergy, Book II, chap. 5). This is the ascetic doctrine, undiluted and undisguised.

¹Apology, chap. 39, pp. 113–115 (Mr. Bindley's translation).

²Epitome of the Divine Institutes, chap. 38.

¹Divine Institutes, Book V, chap. 5.

² Introduction to works of St. Basil (Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), p. lxiii.

¹ Letter 236.

²Second Homily to the People of Antioch, p. 41 in Library of Fathers (1842).

¹ Those who are interested in the vitality and the endurance of a tradition may find it illuminating to note how precisely the essentials of the Christian Fathers are produced by a writer as late as Bossuet. One significant passage may provide sufficient illustration: ‘Si nous voulions monter à l'origine des choses, nous trouverions peut-être qu'ils (i.e. the poor) n'auraient pas moins de droit que vous aux biens que vous possédez. La nature, ou plutôt, pour parler plus chrétiennement, Dieu, le Père commun des hommes, a donné dès le commencement un droit égal à tous ses enfants sur toutes les choses dont ils ont besoin pour la conservation de leur vie. Aucun de nous ne se peut vanter d'être plus avantagé que les autres par la nature; mais l'insatiable désir d'amasser n'a pas permis que cette belle fraternité pût durer longtemps dans le monde. Il a fallu venir au partage et à la propriété qui a produit toutes les querelles et tous les procès: de là est né ce mot de mien et de tien, cette parole si froide, dit l'admirable saint Jean Chrysostome’ (Panégyrique de saint François d'Assise, vol. 4, p. 434 of edition of 1846).

¹Summa Theologica, II/II, Quaestio 66, Art. 1.

¹Summa Theologica, II/II, Quaestio 66, Art. 2.

¹Loc. cit., Art. 7.

¹Loc. cit., Quaestio 32.