All Things in Common: The Economic Practices of the Early ChristiansAll Things in Common gets behind the "communism of the apostles" passages in Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-37, using the anthropological categories of "social relationship" espoused by David Graeber and other anthropologists. Looking at sources ranging from the Qumran scrolls to the North African apologist Tertullian to the Roman satirist Lucian, All Things in Common reconstructs the economic practices of the early Christians and argues that what is described in Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-37 is a long-term, widespread set of practices that were taken seriously by the early Christians, and that differentiated them significantly from the wider world. This book takes into account Judean and Hellenistic parallels to the early Christian community of goods, as well as the socioeconomic context from which it came, and traces its origins back to the very teachings of Jesus and his declaration of the Jubilee. This book will be of interest to anyone interested in Christian history, and especially the socioeconomic aspects of early Christianity, as well as anyone interested in Christian ethics and New Testament studies. It would also be of interest to anyone interested in possible alternatives to the ideology of capitalism. |
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Contents
1 | |
15 | |
The Essenes a Jewish messianic Community | 27 |
4 | 38 |
The Economic Practices of the Early Christians | 48 |
The Tragedy of the Commons | 70 |
The View from the outside | 76 |
The Theological origins of Christian sharing | 83 |
A Universal Community | 104 |
Why others get it Wrong | 110 |
Conclusion | 118 |
125 | |
Other editions - View all
All Things in Common: The Economic Practices of the Early Christians Roman A. Montero Limited preview - 2017 |
Common terms and phrases
ability according Acts ancient apostles Barnabas book of Acts bread and circuses century Christ common property communist relationships Covenant culture Damascus Document David graeber Dead sea scroll debt described Didache distribution early Christian community economic relations economic relationships Epistle of Barnabas Essenes example fact fellowship first-century formal communism freedom friendship gift giving god’s graeber greaber greek hellenistic herodian herodian elite holding all things human ibid idea ideal ideology individuals informal communism James Jerusalem Jesus Jesus’s declarations Jewish Jewish-Roman war Jews Josephus Jubilee Julian Justin martyr kingdom Koine greek land lending lives look lord’s lucian luke melchizedek messianic modern moral obligation munity mutual obligations nomic one’s pagan passages Paul Paul’s philanthropy Philo political poor prophet Qumran religious rich righteousness Roman world rules seen sense simply social society solidarity someone teachings Tertullian theology things in common tradition violence wealth welfare system widows